^HV  OF  PRIWC?^ 


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BX  9225  .A37 

Alexander,  Henry  Carringtori 

1835-1894. 
The  life  of  Joseph  Addison 

Alexander,  D.D. 


THE  LIFE 


JOSEPH  ADDISON  ALEXANDER, D.D 


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THE    LIFE     ^^<i£c.'c/,t  sttt' 

f 


JOSEPH  iDDISON  ALEXANDER,  D.D, 

PROFB^OR  IN   THE    THEOLOGrCAL    SEMINARY    AT    PRINCETON,  NKW    JERSEY. 


BT 


HENRY  CARRINGTON  ALEXANDER. 


TWO  VOLUMES   IN  ONE. 
VOLUME  L 

V.AJ  ?w,J>jH,i^  n,  I 

NEW  YORK: 

SCRIBNER,    ARxAISTPtONG     &    CO., 

1875. 


Bntered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  ]  86f>, 

Bv  CHARLES  SCRIBNER  &  CO., 

In  the  Clerli's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the 
Sonthern  District  of  New  Yort 


J^/t^a^J^ 


)      ^  t 


EDITOE'S   NOTE   TO   NEW  EDITION. 


The  Pu])lisliers  having  seen  proper  to  bring  out 
a  cheaper  edition  of  this  work  in  one  volume,  have 
kindly  afforded  me  the  opportunity  of  adding  a 
few  words  to  the  statement  just  made.  Availing 
myself  of  this  courtesy,.  I  desire  to  express  my  sense 
of  the  favor  the  l^ook  has  met  with  in  some  quar- 
ters, and  to  say  that  I  hope  the  reduction  in  its  size 
will  not  prove  unacceptable  to  tliat  class  of  readers 
who  do  not  like  to  see  biographies  of  this  chai'acter 
run  to  two  volumes.  The  life  of  a  quiet  scholar 
cannot  be  expected  to  arrest  the  attention  of  the 
multitude,  but  may  often  have  attractions  for  a 
select  few.  If  it  should  turn  out  to  be  so  in  the 
present  instance,  it  will  be  owing  chiefly  to  the 
facts  recorded  and  the  subject  delineated,  but 
largely  also  to  the  kindness  and  skill  of  those  wdio 
have  assisted  the  editor. 

H.  C.  A. 

April  6,  1875. 


P  BE  F  A  O  E. 

I  SHALL  make  no  apology  for  writing  the  Life  of 
Joseph  Abdison  Alexandei..  If  the  facts  recorded  m 
these  volumes  be  not  a  sufficient  justihcation  there  could 
be  no  other.  Why  the  duty  has  been  devolved  on  his 
nephew  rather  than  upon  some  one  else,  is  a  question 
which  need  not  be  discussed  here.  It  is  enough  to  say 
that  the  work  was  undertaken  not  at  his  own  instance 
but  in  compliance  with  the  wishes  of  the  surviving  mem- 
bers of  the  family. 

The  task,  though  a  grateful,  has  been  an  arduous  one. 
The  thing  aimed  at  has  been  not  so  much  any  mere  lite- 
rary excellence  as  an  array  of  competent  and  mcontro- 
veAible  testimony.  The  career  of  a  qiiiet  student  affords 
small  material  in  the  way  of  biographic  mcident  but  it  is 
hoped  that  the  remarkable  private  and  domestic  character, 
and  personal  traits  and  idiosyncrasies,  of  the  subject  ol  these 
memoirs,  have  not  been  lost  sight  of  in  the  attempt  to  por- 
tray his  life  as  a  recluse  scholar,  as  a  teacher,  as  a  mmister 
of  the  Word,  and  as  an  author. 

The  present  biographer  is  indebted  to  so  many  sources 
and  especially  to  so  many  individual  friends,  for  much  of 
the  substance  of  his  narrative  as  well  as  for  much  that  is 
valuable  and  entertaining  in  the  way  of  criticism,  descrip- 
tion and  illustrative  remark  and  anecdote,  that  he  hnds 
himself  unable  to  make  particular  acknowledgments  to 
them  all,  or  even  to  cite  every  one  of  his  authorities  by 
name.  In  most  cases  he  has  done  so  m  the  body  of  he 
two  volumes  which  are  now  respectfully  offered  to   the 


yi  PREFACE. 

candid  judgment  of  his  readers.  Where  nothing  is  said  to 
the  contrary,  it  will  he  right  to  infer  that  any  matter  in- 
corporated in  the  words  of  another  was  contributed  origin- 
ally to  this  work.  Sometimes  the  language  is  much  stronger 
than  he  should  have  dared  to  use  himself,  but  is  retained  as 
shoAving  his  uncle's  rare  gift  of  inspiring  his  pupils  with 
enthusiastic,  if  extravagant,  admiration. 

To  the  rule  of  making  no  specific  acknowledgments  ©f 
personal  obligation  in  the  Preface,  there  must,  however, 
be  one  signalexception ;  and  that  is  in  the  case  of  a  sur- 
viving brother  of  the  deceased,  and  the  editor  of  several  of 
his  posthumous  volumes,  the  Kev.  Samuel  D.  Alexander, 
D.  D.,  of  Kew  York.     Indeed  so  large  and  important  has 
been  i)r.  Alexander's  share  in  these  labours,  that  it  is  only 
because  of  his  earnest  protestation,  and  inflexible  purpose 
to  the  contrary,  that  his  name  is  not  associated  with  that 
of  the  nominal  author  upon  the  title-page.     The  first  rough 
draught  of  the  narrative  was  prepared  by  him,  from  the 
journals  of  his  lamented  brother,  and  his  subsequent  toils 
and  efforts  bearing  in  one  way  or  other  upon  the  book  as 
it  is  now  presented,  have  been  excessive  and  invaluable. 
I  may  add  that  the  reader  will  not  stray  far  from  the  truth, 
if  he  will  bear  in  mind  that  while  we  have  both  worked  in 
the  quarry  and  upon  the  block,  the  work  of  my  relative 
and  coadjutor  has  been  mainly  though  by  no  means  exclu- 
sively in  the  quarry,  and  my  own  principally  upon  the 
block,  though  also  very  extensively  in  the  quarry.     Each 
of  as  has  exercised  the  powers  of  the  veto  and  of  elimina- 
tion, though  the  present  writer  has  reserved  to  himself  the 
power  of  decisive  choice  in  the  few  cases  where  there  has 
been  a  fixed  difference  of  opinion  between  us.     Where  the 
opinions  of  the  subject  of  this  memoir  are  given  without 
comment,  it  is  not  to  be  taken  for  granted  that  they  are 
also  those  of  his  biographer. 

We  have  discovered  with  regret  that  many  errors  have 


PEEFACE.  VU 


crept  into  the  printing  tliat  could  not  be  indicated  within 
the  ordinary  limits  of  a  table  of  errata.     Some  of  these  are 
trivial  or  will   at  once  be  detected  as   typographical  mis- 
takes,   but   others   for   which   we    equally   repudiate   the 
responsibility  are  more  serious,  or  of  such  a  nature  as  to 
baffle  all  curiosity  as  to  their  precise  extent  and  origin. 
Under  these  circumstances  we  throw  ourselves  upon  the 
mercy  of  those  of  our  readers  who,  having  suffered  them- 
selves in  like  manner  and  from  the  same  cause,  will,  we 
trust,  regard  om-  frailty  and  unavoidable  misfortune  with 
indul2;ence.     The  v/riting  of  this  work  was  not  commenced 
until  after  the  late  war  ;  and  though  the  printing  began  as 
far  back  as  I^ovember  1868,  the  publication  has  been  de- 
layed until  the  present  moment  for  reasons  which  we  the 
editors  could  neither  remove  nor  modify.     Some  of  these 
reasons  might  also  be  pleaded  in  extenuation  of  the  man- 
ner in  which  the  volumes  are   now  put  before  the  pub- 
lic.    It  is  true  the  copy  as  furnished  to  the  printer  was  in 
a  state  not  at  all  unlike  that  of  the  leaves  of  the  Delphic 
sibyl.    But,  to  borrow  a  caveat  from  the  Preface  of  "  Alex- 
ander on  Isaiah,"  "  instead  of  resorting  to  the  nsnal  apolo- 
gies of   distance  from  the  press  and  inexperience  in  the 
business,  or  appealing  to  the  fact  that  the  sheets  could  be 
subjected  only  once  "  to  our  revision,  we  prefer  to  commit 
om-selves  to  the  generosity  of  those  who  are  willing  to  be- 
lieve that  in  spite  of  present  appearances  we  have  made 
every  reasonable  effort  to  secure  accuracy.     For  the  foot 
notes  that  are  given  without  signature,  I  am,  except  in 
one  '^  instance,  myself  responsible. 

May  the  Lord  make  this  account  of  the  life  of  one  of 
his  devoted  servants,  instrumental  to  the  promotion  of  his 

°™S^°''-^'  H.C.A. 

*  The  foot-note  at  the  bottom  of  p.  45,  should  have  been  under  the  signa- 
ture,  "  E.  B." 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

Parenta-e.-The  Mother.-The  Father.-The  Old  Pine  SUeel  Church.-James 
Alcs°ander.— Lombard  Street.— Old  Philadelphians.  -Gemantown.— James 
Ross —Anecdotes  of  Addison.-Princeton.-The  College.— Nassau  Hall.— 
Revolutionary  Incidents.-Thirst  for  Knowlcdge.-Lovc  of  Books.-Rapid 
Growth.— Beginnings  in  Latin.— Introduction  to  Hebrew.— Other  Oriental 
Languages.— Princeton  under  Dr.  Green.— Passion  for  Music— European 
and  Am°erican  Choirs.— Influence  of  this  Taste  on  his  Sermons.— Imagina- 
tion and  Fancy.— Intellectual  Amusements.— The  Boyish  Orator.— Facetious 
Turn.— First  Efforts  at  Verse.— Early  Poetical  Ventures.— Early  Attempts 
at  Rhyming.— Poetical  Talents.— Early  Teachers.— Jemmy  Hamilton.— 
Salmon  Strong.— Horace  S.  Pratt.— Classical  School— Robert  Baird.— 
Talent  for  Writing.— Great  Industry.— Facsimile  of  Arabic— At  School.— 
Trenton  Reminiscences.— Traits  of  Character.— Personal  Appearance.— 
Mr.  King's  Recollections.— Humorous  Writing.—"  The  Medley."— Original 
ComposUion.— Stony  Brook.— Mr.  Baird.— Edward  Irving.— James.— Ap- 
pointed Tutor.— Charaeteristics.-Visits  Philadelphia Page  1 

CHAPTER  II. 
Dr.  Lindsley.— His  Pupils.— Power  of  Memory.- Princeton  of  1824.— College 
Curriculum.- Old  Commencement.— Princeton  Society  and  Celebrities.- 
Mr.  Janvier.— The  McCarriers.— Jemmy  McCarrier.— Mr.  Alexander  in 
College.— His  Speeches.— At  College— Habits  and  Appearance.— Quickness 
of  PiTrts.- Many-sided  Character.— Judge  Napton.— Early  Taste  for  Litera- 
ture.-Moral  Habits.— Highly  Gifted. -Character  of  his  Mind.-Equality 
of  his  Faculties.— College  Club.— G.  W.  Boiling.— Valedictory.-Clerk  of 
Common  Council.— First  Letter.— Letters  Received.— Visits  Long  Branch. 
—Letter  of  Mrs.  Graham.— Mr.  McCall.— His  Scholarship 61 

CHAPTER  III. 

Declines  the  Tutorship.— Charles  Campbell.— Testimony  of  Professor  Hart.— 

Philological  Society.— Love  for  English  Classics.— The  Patriot.— Persian 

Poets.— Oriental  Scenes.— Persian  Legends.— Persian  Mind.— Persian  My- 

thology.— Poet's  Paradise.— Literary  Caprices.— Imitation  of  Johnson.— 


X  CONTENTS. 

Arabian  Nights.— Articles  signed  Trochilus.— Commencement,  1827.— 
Alumni  Association.— Foreign  News.—"  The  Sea."— Critique  on  Shelley.— 
Party  Politics.— Puzzling  Leader  of  August,  1827.— Writing  of  Fiction.— 
Jewess  of  Damascus.— The  Emporium.— Estimate  of  Time.— Reading  Ho- 
mer.—Early  Letter.— When  Written.— Admiration  of  Hebrew.— Italian 
and"  Spanish  Studies.— Tears  of  Esau.— Monthly  Magazine.— Writing 
Verses.— Dr.  Snowden.— His  Letters.— Monthly  Magazine.— Persia  and  the 
East— Fall  of  Ispahan.— A  Vision  of  Greece.— English  Poets.— Change  of 
Studies P^S^^^ 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Journal.— Daily  Studies.— English  Reading.— Early  Criticism.— Studies  for  the 
Month.— Studies  for  the  Week.— Quarterly  Retrospect.— Varied  Reading.- 
Philological  Society  formed.— Scenery  of  Princeton.— Devoted  to  his 
Books.— Nucleus  of  a  Library.— Begins  Chinese.— Retrospect  of  the  Year. 
—Memoranda  of  Dr.  Rice.— Old  Black  and  Peter  Arun.— Their  Character- 
istics.—Johnson,  Crow,  Lane.— Reading  for  the  Day.— Aristophanes  and 
Shakespeare.— Enghsh  Metaphysics.— Brown's  Lectures.— Dante  and  Spen- 
ser.—Scott's  Napoleon.— Scott's  Style.— Persian  New  Testament.— Greek 
Writers.— Letter  from  his  Brother.— Scott's  Napoleon.— Estimate  of  Xeuo- 
phon.— Hearing  Sermons.- Joseph  Sandford.— Recollections  of  Dr.  Rice.— 
Visit  to  New  York '^'^^ 

CHAPTER  V. 
Rczeau  Brown.— Visits  New  Haven.— Seeking  the  Ministry.— In  Philadelphia. 
—Failing  Health.- His  Death.— Traits  of  Character.— Lines  on  his  Death. 
—Their  Character.— About  the  Geography.— Daily  Study.— Pope.— Biblical 
Repertory.— The  Repertory.— Change  of  Plan.— Its  Writers.— The  Druses. 
—Extracts.— Study  of  Arabic— An  Old  Tradition.— Study  of  Arabic— Rob- 
ert Walsh.— Opinions  of  him.— Walsh  in  Paris.— Recollections  of  Dr. 
Jones.— An  Incident.— Contribulions.—Letter    to    Dr.   Hall.— Article   on 


Coffee. 


.182 


CHAPTER  VI. 
Becomes  a  Teacher.— The  East.— Early  Dreams.— Study  of  Greek.— Remarka- 
ble Letter.— Greek  Grammar.— Hellenistic  Studies.— Purity  of  Life.— Con- 
version.—Diary  of  Experience.— Comfort  in  the  Bible.— Light  in  Darkness. 
— Confessions. — Experimental  Journal 212 

CHAPTER  VII. 
Entrance  upon  his  Professorship.- Progress  in  Studies.— Subjects  of  Study.— 
Pursuing  Hebrew.— Leading  Characteristics.— In  the  Class.— Mr.  George 


CONTENTS.  XI 

Leyburn.— Articles  Written.— Parke  Godwin,  Esq.— Studies  of  the  Tear.— 
TurkisQ  Language.  —  Burlesque  Writing.  —  Metaphysics.  —  Grammatical 
Studies.— Journal.— Keligious  Experience.— The  Two  Brothers.— His  Read- 
ins;  —He  Loves  the  Bible.— Temptation.— Daily  Reading.— Letter  to  Mr. 
Hail P^S0242 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Oriental  Preferences.— The  Koran.- Mohammedanism.— The  False  Prophet.— 
The  Perspicuous  Book.— The  Study  of  Arabic— Foreiga  Grammars.— Fa- 
miliarity with  Current  Arabic— Henry  Vethake.— College  Manners.- Anec 
dotes.— Public  Prayers.— Modesty  and  Skill  as  a  Teacher.— The  Trenton 
Pastor.— Newspaper  Scribblings.— Progress  in  Studies 265 

CHAPTER  IX. 
Sails  from  New  York.— Ship  Samson.— English  Stage  Coach.— Portsmouth  to 
London.— House  of  Commons.— Edward  Irving.— His  Church.—"  Tongues." 
—Coach-ride  from  Oxford.— Dashing  Coachman.— Visits  Prof.  Lee.— La- 
fayette.—A  Visit.- Religious  Service.— TravelUng  Companions.— Letter.— 
Singing  School.— Swiss  Songs.— Visits  Merle.— Letter  Finished.— Verses 
Written  at  Turin.— Poem. — Travelling  Companions.— Journey.— On  to 
Rome.— Via  Cassia.— Thoughts  of  Home.— Leaves  Rome— New  Chair  in 
the  College.— Tholuck.— Von  Gerlach.— Daily  Life  in  Germany.— Professor 
Pott.— Contribution  of  Professor  Sears.— Walk  with  Tholuck.— Anecdotes. 

Tholuck's  Estimate  of  Alexander. — Anecdote  of  Louis  von  Gerlach. — 

Karl  Ritter  and  Hengstenberg.— Neander  and  Schleiermacher.— Visits  Ne- 
ander.— Bopp,  Rheinwald  and  Nitzsch.— Reminiscences  by  Dr.  Samuel  Mil- 
ler.— Paris  and  Princeton  Habits  Contrasted 283 

CHAPTER  X. 
The  New  Professor.— Severity  in  the  Class-room.— Growth  in  Gentleness.— Dr. 
Lyon's  Recollections.— Manners  in  his  Study.— Power  of  Sarcasm.— Lite- 
rary Recreations. — Knowledge  of  European  Politics. — The  Literary  Asso- 
ciation.—Repertory  Articles.— Evening  Diversions.— Colloquy  with  Three 
Bishops.- Remarks  of  Dr.  Scott.— Dr.  Hilyer.— Studies  of  the  Brothers.— 
Bearing  in  his  Private  Classes.— Testunony  of  Professor  Hart— Tribute  by 
Dr.  Wilson.— Biblical  and  Oriental  Labours. — Plan  of  Study. — His  New 
Chair. — Messianic  Interpretation. — English  Reviews. — Miscellaneous  Read- 
ing.—Bible  Study 332 

CHAPTER  XI. 
Old  and  New  School.— Scripture   Reading.— Professorship   Declined.— Dean 
Swift.— Mr.  James  Alexander.— Dr.  Archibald  Alexander.— His  Preaching. 


Xii  CONTENTS. 

—Private  Classes.— Personal  Traits.— Bearing  towards  his  Class.— Sharp 
Censure.— Conversation.— Observer  of  Men.— Dr.  Hall— Correspondence.- 
Arabic  Letter.— Prayers.— A  Specimen.— Resolutions—Estimate  of  his 
Prayers.— Prayers  before  Lecture Page  358 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Discursive  Reading.-Quarterly  Rcview.-Dr.  Ramsey.-Abhorrcnce  of  Drones. 
—Gentleness.— Interest  in  his  Class.— Oral  Expositions.— Massive  Intellect. 
—Impetuous  Feehngs.- Current  Stories.— Offensive  Manners.— Effects  of  the 
Weather.— Art  Napoleon.— Private  Pupils.— Rhyming  Letter.— Travelling. 
— Teachm-  under  Difficulties.  -Writing  Letters.— Alphabets.— Correspond- 

"  380 

ence. — Seeking  Books .  .'■> 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
Personal  Appearance.— Social  Intercourse.— High  Pressure  Teaching.— Hard 
Study.— Stolid  Students.— Assembly  of  183Y.— A  Latin  Tense.— Picture  of 
Princeton.- Contributions  to  the  Papers.— Letters  to  a  Pupil.— True  Hap- 
piness.—Isaiah  begun.— The  Doomed  Man.— When  Written.-Parallel  Bi- 
ble.— Letters  to  Dr.  Hall— First  Efforts  in  Pulpit.— Experiments  with  his 
Class.— Questions  in  the  Class.— Methods  of  Study.— With  his  Private 
Class.— Bible  Studies.— A  Poem  Suggested.— A  Sermon.— Princeton  Re- 
view.— A  Letter.— Philosophical  Club.— Curious  Incident.— Missionary 
Herald.— Diary.— A  Sermon.— Exegetical  Study.— A  Candidate.— Beggars. 
—Growth  in  Grace.— Scripture  Reading 402 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
As  a  Preacher.— Dr.  Ramsey's  Estimate.— First  Sermon.— Diversity  of  Methods. 
—True  Eloquence.— Travelling.— Preaching.— Views  of  the  Disruption.— Ir. 
Boston.— Dr.  Hodge's  Estimate.— Letters  to  a  Boy.— Day-Book.— Writing 
Sermons.— Journal— An  Elocutionist.— Dr.  Abel  Stevens.— Style  of  Preach- 
ing.— Invitations  to  Preach.— Installation.— Inaugural— A  Sermon.— Man- 
ne'rof  Preaching.— Writing  Sermons.— Not  dependent  on  Notes.— Scripture 
Study.— Cicero.— Talk  of  the  Brothers.- His  Ordination 439 

CHAPTER  XV. 
Presbyterial  Examination.— Joseph  John  Gurney.— Little  George.— Dr.  Jacobus, 
—Power  over  the  Class.— First  Thoughts  of  Isaiah.— Isaiah.— Hebrew  Text. 
—Princeton.— Preaching.— As  a  Teacher.— His  Audience  Moved 468 


CONTENTS, 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Lines  to  John.— Good  Advice.— Indoor  Life.— News  from  Abroad.- Modem 
Oratory.— Impassioned  Appeal.— Brilliant  Preaching.— Archibald  Alexan- 
der.—Teaching  Children.— The  Elder  Brother.— His  Method  of  Story  Tell- 
jng.—Old  Bibles.— Henry  James.— Knowledge  of  Fassing  Events.— Man- 
ner with  Strangers.— Powers  of  Entertainment.— Concealing  his  Feelings.— 
As  a  Talker.— Afraid  of  Mannerism.— Extemporary  Efforts.— The  City  with 
Foundations.- His  Day  Books.— No  Display  of  Learnlng.—In  Argument.— 
A  Letter.— Tours  about  Home.— No  previous  Plan.— His  Tastes  in  Travel 
—Paintings.— Trip  to  Ticonderoga.— At  Washington.— Visits  Congress.— 
Ham  and  Eggs.— Avoids  Publicity.— Ecclesiastical  Courts.— Some  People.— 
In  his  Study.  —  A  Religious  Instructor.  —  Amusing  Letter.  —  Sharp 
Hit Page  481 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
Prelatists.— Good-natured  Criticism.— Sharp  Eeviews.— Oxford  Tracts.— Ritu- 
alists and  the  Chinese.— A  Contrast.-Newmania.— Power  of  Sarcasm.— 
Many  Articles.— List  of  Articles.— Reveal  the  Man.— Variety.— Overflow.— 
Rhythmic  Peculiarity.— Abrupt  Appeals.— True  Poetry.— Genius  Tram- 
meUed ^^3 

CHAPTER    XVm. 

Papers  for  Children.— Ridge  Recorder.— Chicken  College.— Advertisements.- 
A  Child  of  Nature.— Polygonal.-Judge  Breckinridge.— Grateful  Testi 
monies.— Early  Recollections.— Wistar's  Magazine.— A  Favourite  Scholar. 
-Interruptions.— Little  Girls.— Children's  Lives.— Rhyming  Epistles.— Life 
of  Wiss.— Don  Patrick.— Wistar's  Magazine.— Don  Barbaros,sa.— The  Lurid 
Leper.— House   of    Correction.— End   of    Children's  Papers.— This  was  a 


Man 


542 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

Laborious  Studies.— Dr.  Green.— As  an  Orientalist.— Felix  Trembled.— A 
Friend  of  the  Student.— Professor  Phillips.— An  Indiscretion.— Abundant 
Work.— Candour.— Amusing  Sketch.— Park's  Matriculation.— First  Recita- 
tion.—Change  of  Feeling.— A  First  Impression.- Character  of  Class  In- 


VI  CONTENl'S. 

structions. — Facts  from  the  Journal. — Memoirs  of  the  Alexanders. — A 
Giant. — His  Day  Books.— Attachment  of  his  Students. — He  loved  Confi- 
dence    Page  566 

CHAPTER   XX. 

A  Great  Teacher. — Letter  to  a  Girl.-- -The  Doctorate. — Isaiah  begun.— Prince- 
ton of  that  Day.— Conversation  of  Brothers.— Dr.  Alexander  in  New  York. 
—Scheme  of  Lectures.— A  Playful  Letter.— Reading  Books.— Preparing  to 
"Write. — Contempt  for  Conventions. — A  Busy  Biographer.- Introduction  to 
Isaiah.— Hard  Work.— Origin  of  Work  on  Isaiah.— Feats  of  Memory.— 
Grateful  Employments. — Private  Instructions.— Appearance  of  Work  on 
Earlier  Prophecies. — Correspondence 588 

CHAPTER   XXI. 

Rapid  Work. — Other  Occupations. — Personal  Characteristics. — Brilliancy  in 
Pulpit.— Jewish  Admirers.- Analytical  Mind.— Steadfast  Orthodoxy.— Con- 
structive Powers.— Original  Genius. — Not  an  Innovator. — Distaste  for 
Metaphysics.— Biblical  Mysticism.— Powers  of  Generalization.- Analysis 
and  Synthesis. — Extract  from  Sermon. — Qualities  as  a  Sermonizer.— Intel- 
lectual Symmetry. — Jeremy  Taylor. — Dr.  Chalmers. — Great  Men  Classified. 
—Appearance  of  Later  Prophecies.— Rigid  Translation.— Colloquies.— En- 
gagement in  Philadelphia G14: 

CHAPTER  XXn. 
Ilis  Popularity  as  a  Preacher. — Preaching  in  New  York. — Effects  upon  Culti- 
vated Women. — A  Lady's  Estimate. — Effects  upon  Prominent  Men. — His 
Printed  Sermons.— His  Piety.— He  abhorred  Notoriety.— Dr.  Read.— Eff"oct3 
upon  a  Reporter.— An  Anecdote.— Dr.  McGill  Hears  him  Preach.— Disdain 
of  Art.— At  the  House  of  Dr.  Harris.— Two  Evenings  with  Dr.  Alexander. 
—His  Humour  Inexhaustible.— The  Second  Evening.— Addisonian  Inflec- 
tion.—Unfinished  Work 639 

CHAPTER  XXIII. 
A  Solace  for  Annoyances.— New  Works  Suggested.— Second  Church,  Phila- 
delphia.—Chair  of  Church  History.— A  Change  Contemplated.— A  New 
Professor. — Personal  Recollections.— Commentary  on  the  Psalms. — Averse 
to  Public  Display.— Not  Misanthropical.— Inauguration.— Dr.  Miller's  De- 
cline-Revival in  Princeton.— Addresses  during  the  Revival 659 

CHAPTER   XXIV. 
Mother's   Magazine.— Enjoying    Himself.— Noting   Coincidences.— Treatment 
of  Books.— Marking  Books.— University  of  Virginia.— Princeton  Magazine. 


CONTEinS.  Vll 

—Primitive  Church  Offices.— Sickness  of  his  Father.— Approaching  his  End 
—The  Burial.— Deep  Grief.— To  a  Fatherless  Child.— Head  of  the  House. 
—A  Study  Table Page  674 

CHAPTER   XXV. 

A.  Bookish  Letter.— Sudden  CmII  to  Preach.— Local  Novelty.— Scenes  from  his 
Window.— Among  Men.— Death  of  his  Mother.— Studying  Church  History. 
— Reading  Danish. — In  New  Haven. — Interpretation. — How  to  Teach  it. — 
Book  of  Travels.— Sails  for  Europe.— His  Journals.— A  Predicament.- Dr. 
Candlish.— His  Sermon.— Its  Effects.— Candlish  Again.— A  Scotch  Guide.— 
Dr.  Hamilton. — His  Sermon. — Dr.  Cumming.— In  the  Courts. — Shea  and 
Talfourd.— A  Concert.— Mr.  Binney.— Hears  Melvill.— His  Sermon.— Over 
to  France.— M.  Cocqnerel.- M.  Pressense.— On  the  Rhine.— A  Latin  Con- 
versation. — Two  Priests. — Holland. — Mr.  Chalmers. — Returns  Home. .  .691 


CHAPTEPw    XXVI. 

Death  of  Relatives. — Daily  Studies.— Too  Exegetical.— Dr.  Cattell. — Shaving. 
Book.— Meeting  of  the  Brothers. — Daily  Records.— Comical  Adventure. — 
The  Gift  of  a  Cutter.— Dr.  SchafF.— Dr.  Smith's  Visit.— Another  Interview. 
— Final  Conclusions. — Church  History. — A  Foreign  Student's  Estimate. — 
Relations  with  his  Colleagues.— Not  Unfeeling.- Dr.  Hodge.— The  Elder 
Brother ^'^^ 

CHAPTER  XXVn. 

A  New  Book. — Pallavicino. — Visit  to  Richmond. — House  of  Dr.  Moore. — Do- 
mestic Incidents. — Remembering  the  Children. — Clifton.— From  Staunton 
to  Lexington. — Dr.  Dabney. — New  Monmouth. — Dr.  Ramsey. — Impression 
of  Dr.  Wilson. — Visits  to  his  Relations. — Polite  Conversation. — Self-for- 
getfuluess. — Preachmg  in  Staunton. — Social  Traits.— Col.  Baldwin 750 

CHAPTER  XXVIIL 

Daily  Readings.— Dr.  Waldegrave. — Repertory  Essays.— FertiUty  of  Inven- 
tion.— Plan  for  Isaiah. — Preaching  for  his  Brother. — Death  of  Dr.  Rice. — 
Mode  of  Working. — A  Literary  Curiosity. — Frequent  Changes. — An  Im- 
portant Proposition. — Letter  to  Mr.  Scribner. — His  Commentaries. — 
Knowledge  of  Many  Autliors.— No  Parade  of  Learning.— Publication  of 
Acts. — At  Home. — Family  Worship. — As  a  Talker. — Recreation. — Sarcasm. 
— His  Study. — Visitors. — Humming  Tunes. — An  Incident. — Little  Kind- 
nesses  >^^ 


VUl  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  XXIX. 
Dr.  Dabney. — "Writing  in  New  York. — A  Graphic  Letter. — Professor  Eepburn. 
— Fond  of  Experiments. — Proposed  Journey. — Extract  from  Journal. — 
Deep  in  bis  Work. — Biblical  History. — Commentary  on  Acts. — Affairs  in 
New  York. — Method  of  Teaching  History. — Letter  to  Dr.  Schaff.— Summer 
W'ork. — A  Memorable  Interview. — Brilliant  Conversation. — For  Whom  he 
WTfote. — Arrival  of  Dr.  James  Alexander. — Journal. — Professor  Cameron. 
—Fruits  of  his  Ministry Page  797 

CHAPTER   XXX. 
Visit  to  Richmond. — Mrs.  McClung.— Letter  to  Dr.  Hall.— A  High  Compliment. 
— Writing  in  New  York. — An  Adjourned  Meeting. — A  Musical  Festival. — 
Many  Studies. — Erasmus. — A  Latin  Classic 819 

CHAPTER  XXXI. 
Decline  of  Health. — Versatility. — Conversation  in  the  Cars.— Knowledge  of  the 
Reviews  — His  Piety. — Rare  Humour. — Life  of  Hall. — A  Readable  Letter. — 
Wit  and  Humour. — A  Portrait. — A  Happy  Home. — An  Instance  of  his 
Kindness. — His  affectionate  Softness. — Manner  of  Giving. — Sincerity  and 
Affection. — Visiting  the  Sick. — At  his  own  Fireside. — A  Joyful  Tribute. 830 

CHAPTEli  XXXII. 
A  Humorous  Letter. — A  Long  Journey. — Love  of  Change. — A  Military  Parade. 
— A  Crimean  Soldier. — Review  at  Quebec. — Self-Identification. — All  Right. 
— Travelling  Incognito. — The  Unknown. — Thrice  Transplanted. — As  a  Lin- 
guist.— List  of  Languages.— Summary  of  Languages. — Dialects. — Few 
Equals. — List  of  Articles.— In  the  Repertory 849 

CHAPTER  XXXIII. 
A  Heart-Searching  Prayer. — The  Departing  Saint. — A  New  Sorrow.— Hia 
Brother's  Death. — An  Affecting  Sermon. — Letter  to  Dr.  Hall— Change  in 
his  Looks. — Seminary  Changes. — Last  Message  to  the  Students. — Impres- 
sions of  Dr.  Hodge. — Visible  Decline. — Anxiety  of  Friends. — Last  of  his 
Diary.— His  last  Readings.— Jottings  in  the  Margin.— Growing  Worse.— 
A  Slight  Improvement. — A  Note  from  Dr.  Jones. — A  last  Letter.— Bishop 
of  Carlisle.— Grateful  for  Little  Kindnesses.— Last  Books  Read.— Still 
Weaker.— Asleep  in  Jesus.— Longed  for  Rest.— He  Died  Silent.— Appear- 
ance after  Death.— Undeveloped  Power.— The  Burial— Tribute  of  Dr. 
Burrowes.— Dr.  Humphrey's  Address.— Chara;teristic3.—Use  of  German 
Critics. — His  last  Article.— Epitaph  of  Edwards 868 

IKDEX 905 


THE    LIFE 


REV.  JOSEPH  ADDISON  ALEXANDER,  D.  D. 


CHAPTER  I. 


JOSEPH  ADDISOX  ALEXANDEPv,  the  subject  of  tliis 
memoir,  was  the  third  son  of  the  late  Archibald  Alexander, 
D.  D.,  of  Princeton,  and  was  born  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia, 
on  the  24th  day  of  April,  1809.  Of  his  father  I  need  not  speak. 
His  mother  was  the  daughter  of  the  Rev.  James  Waddel,  of 
Louisa  and  of  Hanover  Presbytery,  who  is  still  spoken  of  in 
Virginia  and  elsewhere  us  the  "Blind  Preacher,"  and  whose 
name  is  preserved  in  the  well-known  essay  of  Mr.  Wirt  in  the 
British  Spy.  The  late  Governor  Barbour  was  wont  to  speak 
of  hira  as  the  most  eloquent  man  he  ever  heai-d,  with  the 
single  exception  of  Patrick  Henry.  Mrs.  Alexander  was  a 
beautiful  and  lovely  girl,  and  was  comely  and  fascinating 
almost  to  the  day  of  her  death.  The  portrait  by  Mooney, 
which  is  in  the  possession  of  the  family,  is  very  like  her.  She 
had  dark  liquid  eyes,  and  her  face  wore  a  look  of  repose, 
benevolence,  good  sense,  and  sometimes,  when  animated  in  con- 
versation, of  gentle  raillery  and  humour.  Her  sensibility 
was  extreme  and  tremulous.  She  had  a  sweet  gayety  of  spir- 
its, shaded  at  times  by  a  pensive  melancholy.  She  was,  in 
every  acceptation  of  the  word,  devotedly  pious.  Her  labo- 
rious readings  to  her  aged  and  sightless  father  had  injured 
her  own  vision.  She  loved  her  Saviour,  and  the  house, 
1 


2  PARENTAGE.  ^1909- 

people,  works,  and  word  of  her  God.  She  was  foud  of  re- 
h<'ious  books.  No  one  could  take  a  more  unaffected  pleasure 
•ux  the  writhigs  of  Flavel,  Bates,  and  other  non-conformists. 
It  was  her  study  to  do  good,  and  to  make  her  home  and  the 
home  of  her  hushand  and  children  cheerful  and  happy ;  nor 
did  any  one  ever  succeed  better  in  such  an  attempt.  Though 
naturally  diffident  and  very  sensitive,  she  loved  company, 
jiud  when  she  pleased  was  one  of  the  most  entertaming 
persons  in  the  world.  Her  children  were  all  proudly  attached 
to  her,  and  her  son  Addison  not  only  loved  but  admired  her 
above  all  living  Avomen.*     There  was  an  indescribable  charm 

*  The  testimony  of  one  of  Addison's  teachers  on  this  point  is  exceedingly 
just  and  valuable.  It  is  contained  in  a  letter  from  the  Rev.  Dr.  R.  Baird  to 
the  Presbyterian,  which  he  wrote  at  Yonkers,  N.  Y.,  May  12,  1860. 

"  I  may  remarlv,  in  passing,  that  few  men  in  our  country  or  any  other,  had 
greater  advantages  for  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  and  the  formation  of  well- 
developed  characters,  than  the  sons  of  the  late  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander.    Their 
mother  was  a  daughter  of  the  celebrated  Dr.  Waddel    of  Virginia,  of  whose 
eloquence  William  Wirt  has  given  such  a  glowing  description  in  his  British 
Spy,  and  possessed  much  of  her  father's  character  and  strength  of  mind.     She 
was'a  woman  of  excellent  judgment,  well-cultivated  intellect,  most  amiable  dis- 
position, much  decision  of  character,  sincere  piety,  and  even  in  old  age  retained 
much  of  the  beauty  of  her  youth,  and  of  those  pleasant  and  winning  manners 
which  are  better  than  beauty.     Well  qualified  as  she  was  to  adorn  any  circle 
of  society  in  which  she  might  have  moved,  she  devoted  herself  with  most  unre- 
mitting care  to  the  training  of  her  children,  rightly  believing  that  this  was  the 
first  and  great  duty  which  she  owed  to  the  Saviour  and  to  them.     Her  delight- 
ful influence  greatly  contributed  to  make  home  the  most  pleasant  place  in  the 
world  to  them.     The  company,  too,  of  an  accomplished  and  affectionate  sister, 
and  often  that  of  most  agreeable  female  relatives  from  the  Old  Dominion,  as 
well  as  of  friends  from  Philadelphia,  where  their  father  had  been  pastor  of  a 
church  during  several  years,  contributed  to  make  the  house  of  their  parents  aU 
that  could  be  desired.     I  have  sometimes  thought  that  it  was  almost  too 
pleasant ;  on  any  other  principle  it  is  hard  to  account  for  the  fact  that  so  many 
of  them  have  remained  unmarried. 

"  The  influence  of  their  father  was  not  less  happy  and  effective  than  that  of 
their  excellent  mother  on  all  these  sons.  Dr.  Alexander  was  a  kind  father,  but 
not  too  indulgent.  At  all  times  he  lived  on  terms  of  great  intimacy  with  them, 
and  sometimes,  especially  in  his  younger  life,  would  take  part  in  their  youthful 


iET.  1.]  THE    MOTHER.  3 

about  her  voice  and  manner,  and  she  had  a  fine  and  cultivated 
understanding. 

It  is  impossible  to  exaggerate  the  ^influence  of  sucb  a 
mother  upon  the  mind  and  character  of  her  children.  In  ap 
pearance,  and  many  habits  and  traits  of  character  and  intellect, 
Addison  was  like  the  Alexanders,  and  especially  like  his  father; 
but  in  many  particulars  of  mind  and  disposition  he  was,  to  use 
the  language  of  another  who  is  not  a  resident  of  Staunton  and 
not  related  to  the  family,  "  his  grandfather's  son  (James  Wad- 
del)."  He  was  slill  more  his  mother's  son;  though  in  after 
years  he  grew  to  be  more  and  more  in  person,  if  not  in  tem- 
perament, like  his  father  and  one  or  two  of  his  father's  sisters. 

The  commentator  on  Isaiah  had  the  most  exalted  notion  of 
his  mother's  rare  powers  as  an  interpreter  of  Scripture.  He 
preferred  her  plain,  unaided  judgments  to  the  opinions  of  all 
the  Fathers  and  Councils.  It  would  be  hard  to  find  a  more 
passionately  devoted  son.  He  has  been  heard  to  expatiate 
with  delight  on  tlie  soft  attractions  and  ingratiating  charm  of 
her  society.  His  eye  would  sometimes  kindle,  and  his  voice 
become  tender,  when  he  was  on  this  theme.  She  was  equally 
wrapt  up  in  her  famous  son.  But  if  she  indulged  him  it  was 
in  reason,  and  with  a  wise  consideration  of  the  future.  The 
truth  was,  from  the  very  beginning  the  boy  needed  little 
guidance  and  little  correction.  Even  his  profound,  sagacious 
father,  that   thoughtful  and    patient  student  of  mental   and 

sports  with  evident  gratification  to  himself  as  well  as  to  them.  I  often  had  oc- 
casion to  call  upon  him  in  his  study  at  night,  and  frequently  found  some  of  the 
smaller  boys  about  him,  reading  or  amusing  themselves ;  and  he  told  me  that 
it  never  interfered  with  his  studies.  They  had  free  access  to  his  library,  which 
was  large,  and,  as  they  grew  up,  to  the  libraries  of  the  Institutions  in  Prince- 
ton. And  as  all  the  sons  received  a  classical  education,  and  graduated  at  the 
College  of  that  place,  they  had  abundant  advantages  for  becoming  well-in- 
structed men.  The  daily  converse  witli  their  parents  did  much  to  cieate  and 
increase  the  love  of  knowledge  for  wliich  they  became  so  much  distinguished. 
I  have  been  told  by  the  late  James  W.  Alexander,  that  he  had  heard  at  liia 
father's  table  very  many  of  the  most  important  things  which  he  ever  learned. 
The  advantages  of  growing  up  under  such  an  influence,  and  in  the  midst  of  so 
many  incentives  to  the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  cannot  be  overrated." 


4 


THE    FATHEU.  P^""' 


spiritual  plienomena,  though  ever  on  the  alert  as  regarded  ac^s 
of  disobedience,  like  the  father  of  Pascal  left  his  son  pretty 
much  to  liis  oNvn  be«t.  His  discipline  "v^^as  suggestive  rather 
than  strictly  coercive.  He  saw  clearly  from  the  first  that  Ad- 
dison was  to  be  his  own  master.  The  frmts  ot  this  training 
are  now  evident  in  the  life  and  fame  of  the  great  Biblical 
scholar  We  cannot  but  rejoice  that  his  powers  were  not  too 
much  restrained  in  infancy  and  youth,  but  were  allowed  to 
develop  themselves  in  the  natural  ways.  There  are  few  cases 
in  which  such  a  course  would  be  wise  ;  but  this  was  one  of 

them.  ,      ,.    1  1 

His  ancestry  was  Scotch-Irish,  and   as  much  of  the  manly 
and  racy  vigour  of  his  mind,  and  bold  intrepidity  as  well  as 
honest  frankness  of  his  temper,  are  traceable  to  this  sturdy 
stock,  I  think  it  well  to  say  a  word  or  two  about  the  emigra- 
tion to  this  country  from  the  North  of  Ireland.*     Many  of 
these  stout  Presbyterians  went  to  the  Great  Valley,  and  laid 
the  foundations  of  civil   and   religious   liberty  m  Virginia. 
These  reputable  settlers  had  been  taught  to  thirst  for  the  best 
literature  of  the  ags.     Their  earliest  predilections  were  tor  the 
union  of  regulated  freedom  and  sound  learning.     Their  de- 
scendants followed  in  their  fcotsteps.      "Reasons  might  be 
given  why  the  sons  of  Scottish  settlers  in  Ulster,  more  than 
any  others  of  the  British  isles,  should  come  to  this  country; 
impelled  by  the  same  causes  which  drove  the  Huguenot  and 
the  Palatine.     During  their  sojourn  in  Ireland,  they  had  never 
lost  one  Scottish  peculiarity  of  mind  or  dialect.     They  came 
ready  to  coalesce  with  the  Puritan  sons  of  men  who  had  some- 
times fought,  and  sometimes  suffered  with  their  fathers.     A 
common  creed  and  common  purpose  knit  them  together  in  as- 
sertino-  the  consecration  of  science  and  letters  to  the  church."  f 
The  catalogue  of  Princeton  College  shows  that  no  other  race 
added  so  many  to  the  names  of  her  alumni.     With  some  ex- 

*  Fee  the  account  by  Dr.  A.  Alexander,  in  his  biography  by  his  son,  p.  2. 
f  Address  at  Centennial  Celebration  of  the  College  by  Rev.  J.  W.  Alexan- 
der D.D.     This  address  has  never  been  published. 


^T.3.]  THE    OLD    PINE    STREET    CHURCH.  5 

ceptions,  the  founders  of  the  college  were  of  this  stock,  and 
mingled  cordially  with  their  brethren  of  English  descent. 
"Carolina,  East  Jersey  and  Maryland  received  these  exiles, 
panting  irom  persecution,  as  early  as  1679.  They  spread 
themselves  over  the  Great  Valley,  a  hardy,  athletic,  shrewd, 
inquisitive,  and  remarkably  persistent  race."  *  This  was  the 
stock  from  which  Archibald,  and  James,  and  Addison  Alex- 
ander sprung. 

Dr.  Alexander  removed  to  Philadelphia  in  the  winter  of 
180G-1S07,  and  became  the  pastor  of  the  Third  Presbyterian 
Church,  now  known  as  the  old  Pine  street  Church.  His  eldest 
son  speaks  of  having  had  a  few  dim  recollections  of  Prince  Ed- 
ward, and  clearly  remembered  the  old  prayer-room  of  Hamp- 
den Sidney  College.  He  also  had  some  iaint  remembrance  of 
the  journey  to  Philadelphia.  His  first  bright  reminiscences 
were  connected  with  a  house  in  Pine  street,  just  opposite  St. 
Peter's  churchyard.  This  was  the  first  house  occupied  by  his 
father.  He  calls  to  mind  his  surprise  at  the  burial  of  several 
persons  with  military  honours,  and  wondered,  as  children  will, 
why  they  should  fire  guns  over  the  grave.  He  says  that  in 
the  spring  the  rank  grass,  interspersed  wnth  buttercups  and 
dandelions,  made  the  churchyard  a  delightful  spot.  He  was 
afterwards  told  by  his  mother  that  he  was  a  stubborn  and  un- 
governable child.  He  was  once  taken  home  by  her  and  cor- 
rected ior  playing  with  a  little  girl  in  church — he  never  re- 
peated the  offence.  An  old  Bible  lay  in  the  pastor's  pew, 
which  the  little  urchins  used  to  tear  up  and  twist  into  "  ear- 
ticklers,"  which  they  profanely  used  during  prayers.  He  well 
remembered  the  singing  of  James  McGathery,  who  was  pre- 
centor, and  the  acerbity  of  David  Allen,  the  old  Scotch  sexton, 
and  the  goats  w-hich  used  to  browse  in  the  churchyard.  A 
very  excellent  Quaker  lady  named  Price  lived  next  to  them  in 
Pine  street,  who  was  very  kind  to  James  and  used  to  encour- 
age him  to  get  upon  a  table  and  preach,  which  he  was  accus- 
tomed to  do  with  much   applause.      An   old   family  servant 

*  Ibid. 


6  JAMES   ALEXANDER.  [1813. 

named  Daphne,  once  a  slave  in  Virginia,  avIio  returned  to  the 
Valley  after  receiving  her  freedom,  and  who  lived  to  a  great 
age,  was  full  of  anecdotes  relating  to  these  juvenile  exploits. 
Slie  could  tell  them  long  after  she  had  forgotten  nearly  every 
thing  else.  Mrs.  Price  was  still  living  in  1829,  and  spoke  of 
James  as  "a  vei-y  pious  ciiild."  He  was  however  too  much 
given  to  imitate  the  clerical  actions  of  his  father,  and  was 
once  chastised  for  solemnly  pouring  water  on  a  little  chair  and 
uttering  the  formula  of  baptism.  Once  during  the  prevalence 
of  a  thur.der-stoi-m,  he  said  to  his  brother  or  his  nurse  that  it 
was  "  God  talking,"  and  even  undertook  to  tell  what  He  was 
saying  ;  for  which  he  afterwards  had  some  twinges. 

The  cries  of  the  man  who  sold  clams  and  oysters  were 
matters  of  deep  interest  in  those  days.  Even  Addison  could 
also  recall  the  song  of  the  little  chimney  sweeps.  The  nurse 
used  to  take  the  older  boys  to  a  cake  shop  in  the  vicinity,  and 
the  eldest  of  them  in  his  simplicity  thought  that  what  they 
got  upon  trust  they  got  for  nothing. 

The  next  house  in  which  they  lived  was  on  the  south  side 
of  Lombard  street,  between  Second  and  Third  streets.  It  was 
used  in  1828  as  a  "  iinding  store  "  for  shoemakers.  One  of  the 
boys  remembered  being  taken  thither  in  a  coach,  but  none  of 
the  circumstances  attending  the  removal.  This  must  have 
been  in  1808,  and  consequently  before  the  birth  of  Addison, 
which  occurred  the  following  spring.  This  event  was  dis- 
tint'.tly  remembered  by  his  brother  James,  who  was  moved  by 
it  to  tears.  He  says  it  gave  him  much  pain,  and  in  the  ten- 
derness of  his  heai't  he  wept  to  think  that  he  should  be  sup- 
planted in  the  affections  of  his  parents.  Little  did  he  know 
the  joy  he  was  to  take  in  his  new  brother. 

The  late  Dr.  Addison  Waddel,  afterwards  of  Staunton, 
Virginia,  his  mother's  brother,  was  at  that  time  living  with 
Dr.  Alexander.  Here  it  was  that  James  began  to  study  the 
Latin  grammar,  reciting  it  to  his  father,  and  he  long  afterwards 
regretted  his  "  wicked  craft "  in  peeping  over  his  shoulder  at 
the  book.  The  study  fronted  the  street,  on  the  first  floor,  with 
a  little  window  opening  upon  the  stairway,  through  which  the 


^T.4.1  LOMBARD    STREET.  V 

boys  used  to  look  in  upon  marriages  which  sometimes  took 
place  there.     These  were  the  days  of  the  first  stir  in  America 
about  Bible  Societies,  and  the  Philadelphia  pastor  used  to  give 
Bibles  to  poor  people.     In  the   little  court  behind  the   house 
was  an  arbour  covered  with  a  grape-vine,  and  some  little  beds 
of  flowers.     Long  afterwards  Dr.  James  W.  Alexander  could 
scarcely  ever  see  a  2>inlc  without  thinking  of  Lombard  street. 
It  was,  he  says,  with  an  indescribable  pensive  satisfaction  that 
he  looked  back  upon  those  days  of  comparative   innocence. 
He  scarcely  ever  went  to  bed  without  talking  to  his  mother 
about  the  unpardonable  sin ;  which  he  stood  in  daily  fear  of 
committing.     There  were  no  Sunday  Schools  then,  but  he  re- 
membered going   every  Saturday    afternoon    to  Pine   street 
Church  to  be  catechised.     Almost  every  day  he  went  to  Sec- 
ond street,  to  the  house  of  Mr.  John  Steele,  who  having  no 
children  of  his  own  was  very  kind  to  him.     He  was  an  Irish- 
man, and  a  brother  of  the  ReA\  Robert  Steele  of  Abingdon, 
Pa.,  and  the  Rev.  Samuel  Steele  of  Kentucky.     Here  the  little 
visitor  used  to  read  the   Pilgrim's   Progress,  and  the    Olney 
Hymns,  which  he  always  held  in  high  affection.     On  his  sev- 
enth birthday  his  father  presented  him  with  Day's  Sanford  and 
Merton,  telling  him  that  he  was  "  now  a  youth,  and  must  begin 
to  prepare  for  manhood."     This  somewhat  singular  advice 
was  heeded.     The  lad  was  fond  of  reading,  and  used  to  ])ace 
the  floor  for  hours.     He  fairly  gorged  the  English  classics,  and 
in  course  of  time  not  a  few  of  the  Latin  ones,  especially  the 
poets.       He  used  to  say  that  he  had  read  the  whole  college 
course  in  Latin,  and  possibly  in  Greek,  before  he  was  matric- 
ulated.    He  recollected  well  that  Dr.  James  P.  Wilson  of  the 
First  Church,  told  him  that  he  was  "  a  little  2yeri2KiMic  philos- 
opher."    This  habit   of  pacing  his   study   floor   he   kept  up 
through  life.     He  went  to  his  first  school  about  1810-1811.  It 
was  under  the  charge  of  Madam     Thomson,  as  the  scholars 
called  her,  on  the  north  side  of  Lombard  street,  below  Third. 
He  never  could  remember  learning  to  read  and  write,  nor  did 
he  ever  have  any  distinct  impressions  about  beginning  Latin. 
About  the  time  of  the  birth  of  his  brother  Addison,  i  e.,  in 


8  OLD    PHILADELPIIIANS.  [1813. 

April,  1809,  he  began  to  go  to  the  school  of  a  Mr.  Littell, 
and  retained  a  disagreeable  remembrance  of  "the  squalid 
and  dark  appearance  of  the  room,"  and  the  tricks  which 
the  rude  boys  used  to  play  upon  him,  who,  taking  advantage 
of  his  smallness  and  timidity,  appear  to  have  fogged  him 
dreadfully.  His  principal  reminiscences  of  Lombard  street 
were  the  marriages  which  took  place  in  his  father's  study,  his 
frequent  visits  to  the  market,  the  book-binder's,  and  the  flour 
shop,  the  song  of  the  oysterman,  which  I  have  often  heard  him 
sing,  and  the  books  given  him  by  his  friends. 

The  family  next  removed  to  Fourth  street  below  Lombard, 
west  side,  next  door  but  one  to  Gaskill  street.  "  And  here," 
he  records,  "  a  crowd  of  early  impressions  contend  for  prece- 
dence." There  he  began  to  remember  his  father's  preaching, 
the  people  that  used  to  visit  them,  and  the  tradesmen  with 
whom  they  had  dealings.  The  house  was  occupied  at  a  later 
day  by  a  Major  Linnard.  In  the  neighbourhood  was  a  choco- 
late factory  in  which  James  took  much  interest,  and  a  gilder's 
shop,  out  of  the  windows  of  which  were  thrown  the  little  red 
books  in  which  gold-foil  is  kept.  The  little  fragments  of  the 
precious  metal  he  accounted  a  great  prize.  The  coicp  d''oeilo£ 
a  print-shop  two  doors  off  from  his  father's  house  remained  in 
his  memory.  Near  them  on  Gaskill  street  was  a  mustard  fac- 
tory. His  father's  study  was  here  the  front  room  on  the  sec- 
ond story,  and  in  it  were  spent  some  of  his  son's  happiest 
hours.  His  father  used  to  give  him,  on  slips  of  paper,  a  text 
for  every  day ;  and  these,  when  a  certain  number  had  been 
learned,  he  would  redeem  with  small  gifts  of  money.  Dr. 
Alexander,  with  several  others  of  the  city  clergy,  took  lessons 
in  Hebrew  about  this  time  from  one  ITorwitz,  a  Jew,  who  after- 
wards fell  into  some  degree  of  disrepute. 

The  family  commonly  spent  their  summers  at  German- 
town,  six  or  seven  miles  out  of  town,  where  they  hired  a  small 
house  for  the  season.  This  captivating  region,  as  it  is  now, 
of  suburban  drives  and  cottages,  of  green  and  shadoAved 
lawns,  and  clambering  exotics,  was  already  beautiful,  though 
plain  and  little  celebrated.     Old  Dr.  Blair  was  then  alive,  and 


^T.4,:  GEllMANTOWN.  9 

James  Alexander  was  often  at  Lis  house.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Dunn 
"was  the  Presbyterian  minister,  and  his  son  James's  intimate 
friend.  One  of  his  little  Philadelphia  comrades  was  Silas,  a 
brother  of  the  late  George  Potts,  D.D.,  of  New  York.  One 
day  an  English  missionary  was  addressing  a  large  number 
of  children,  of  whom  he  would  collect  hundreds,  upon  the 
journeys  of  St.  Paul,  and  particularly  his  imprisonment  at 
Antioch.  Having  finished  his  "  preachment,"  he  began  to 
catechii5e  the  boys  and  girls  on  what  they  had  heard.  Among 
other  questions,  he  proposed  this,  "  Who  was  Silas's  com- 
panion ?  "  George  Potts  answered  with  a  very  loud  voice — 
"James  Alexander,  sir," — to  the  great  amusement  of  the  con- 
gregation. 

During  all  the  time  of  their  living  in  Philadelphia,  so  far  as 
he  can  recollect,  he  was  constant  in  the  performance  of  the 
duty  of  secret  prayer,  had  a  very  tender  conscience,  and  was 
often  exercised  about  the  concerns  of  his  soul.  He  was  pleased 
at  the  thought  that  he  should  one  day  be  a  preacher,  and  once 
wrote  a  sermon,  part  of  which  was  recovered  and  held  in  trust 
for  him  by  one  of  his  aunts. 

He  went  to  school,  v/hile  they  lived  in  Fourth  street,  to  a 
Mr.  McCleese,  who  had  nearly  100  pupils,  and  used  the  ferule 
in  Lombard  street,  the  north  side.  Here  he  was  taught  read- 
ing, writing,  &c.  In  Germantown  he  was  put  under  the  care 
of  a  Miss  Hotchkiss,  and  all  that  he  could  remember  was  that 
he  once  was  made  to  wear  the  fool's  cap,  with  bells,  and  that 
he  used  to  Avrite  in  Carver's  copy-books. 

His  first  Latin  teacher  was  the  Rev.  Samuel  B.  Hare,  in 
after  days  his  predecessor  in  Trenton,  and  then  President  of 
Dickinson  College.  He  next  went  to  the  noted  James  Ross, 
author  of  the  Latin  grammar,  whom  he  pronounced  "  an  Or- 
bilius  in  severity,  but  a  most  accurate  scholar  of  the  old  Brit- 
ish school."  The  famous  pedagogue  was  wont  to  call  his  little 
pupil,  "Alexander  Magnus,"  in  allusion  to  his  diminutive  size. 
Ross  scourged  the  elder  scholars  unmercifully,  but  James  must 
have  pleased  him,  either  by  his  deportment  or  his  recitations, 
for  the  crabbed  master  always  treated  him  with  positive  affec- 


10 


JAMES   ROSS.  ^^^^ 


tion.     Years  after,  he  sent  his  old  pupil,  who  wasby  this  tmae 
a  well-known  clergyman,  Stockius's  Greek  Lexicon,  with  a 
kind  inscription,  which  was  doubtless  not  in  the  vulgar  tongue. 
Dr  James  Alexander  had  no  recollection  of  the  sermons  he 
heard  in  Philadelphia,  except  one  from  his  father  in  commem- 
oration  of  the  burning  of  the  theatre  in  Richmond,  which  was 
printed,  and  from  which  extracts  were  taken  by  his  biog- 
rapher.    Once,  indeed,  he  went  witli  Martha  Jones,  a  negro 
servant,  to  St.  Thomas's  African  Episcopal  Church  ;  where, 
and,  as  I  believe,  for  the  only  time  in  his  life,  he  saw  the  rite 
of  confirmation  solemnized  by  Bishop  White.     His  father  he 
says,  sometimes   took  him  (I  presume  on  week  days)  to  the 
Komish  chapels;  and  he  retained   a  lively  impression  of  the 
music,  vestments,  incense,  holy  water,  *  &c. 

It  is  now  high  time  we  were  inquiring  about  the  early  lue 
of  Addison,  who  at  the  latest  date  involved  in  the  preceding 
narrative  was  little  more  than  a  mere  babe. 

Addison  was  a  little  Hercules,  even  in  his  cradle.     There 

was  never  a  moment's  doubt  as  to  the  boy's  capacity,  and  it 

was  alwavs  evident  that  he  was  destined,  if  he  lived,  for  some- 

thino-  o-reat.     He  was  regarded  as  a  prodigy  before-he  left  his 

nurse'^arms;  but  the  accounts  of  his  very  early  days  are,  as 

usual   in    such    cases,  provokingly  slight  and    fragmentary. 

When  but  a  few  months  old,  at  a  time  when  infants  of  the 

common  order  manifest  scarcely  any  signs  of  intelligence,  I  am 

informed  his  perceptions  were  singularly  quick,  and  his  evident 

appreciation  of  what  was  said  to  him  was  truly  wonderfuL 

The  materials  out  of  which  the  story  of  his  childhood  will  have 

to  be  made  up  are  too  meagre  to  afford  much  satisfaction  to 

those  who  are  curious  in  such  matters,  and  may  perhaps  not 

be  thought  to  bear  out  the  impression  produced  upon  the 

minds  of  all  who  came  in  contact  with  this  remarkable  boy, 

that  he  was  gifted  from  the  first  with  faculties  of  the  highest 

*  These  particulars  of  the  Pliiladelphia  life  are  for  the  most  part  abridged 
from  a  manuscript  by  Dr.  James  W.  Alexander,  entitled  "  Recollections  of  my 
Early  Life."     The  language  is  largely  though  not  exclusively  his  own. 


^T.4.]  ANECDOTES    OF    ADDISON.  11 

order,  and  that  those  faculties  were  ah-eady  well  developed 
at  an  astonishingly  early  period.  Whatever  may  be  the  judg- 
ment of  the  reader  as  to  the  inferences  to  be  drawn  from  the 
particular  facts  about  to  be  recited,  there  can  be  no  question 
in  any  reasonable  mind  that  considers  the  unanimity  of  the 
witnesses  who  speak  of  this  period,  or  that  duly  reflects  upon 
the  degree  of  mental  advancement  implied  in  the  diaries  of  a 
somewhat  later  period,  that  the  boy  Addison  was  worthy  of 
being  mentioned  among  les  etifam  celebres. 

The  lew  anecdotes  which  are  preserved  of  this  i?eriod  will 
doubtless  interest  some  on  account  of  their  unquestioned  au- 
thenticity. They  also  shed  some  light  on  the  character  and 
disposition  of  the  man,  which  were  in  many  respects,  and  more 
than  is  usually  the  case,  the  same  with  those  of  the  boy. 

When  he  was  still  in  the  arms  of  his  nurse,  his  mother  was 
in  the  habit  of  saying  to  him,  "  Addison,  say  your  prayers :  " 
upon  which  he  would  shut  his  eyes,  place  the  palms  of  his 
hands  together,  and  look  up  with  an  appearance  of  solemn 
reverence. 

When  he  was  about  two  years  old,  his  father  read  one 
morning,  at  the  daily  worship  of  the  family,  the  eleventh  chap- 
ter of  the  Evangelist  John,  in  which  the  account  is  given  of 
the  raising  of  Lazarus.  Addison  seemed  to  have  listened  at- 
tentively to  the  narrative,  and  in  the  course  of  the  morning, 
when  but  one  person  was  in  the  room,  was  observed  to  take 
a  small  book  from  the  table  and  place  it  in  a  corner  on  the 
floor,  and  after  standing  over  it  for  a  short  time,  was  heard  to 
say  in  a  loud  voice,  "  Lazarus,  come  forth :  "  immediately  after 
which  he  placed  the  book  on  end. 

On  one  occasion  he  was  sent  by  his  mother  to  carry  to  his 
father's  study  a  manuscript  in  which  she  had  been  placing  a 
stitch.  On  leaving  the  study  he  turned  round  to  make  a  bow 
(which  was  an  accomplishment  that  had  been  lately  taught 
him),  but  stepped  too  far  back  and  fell  a  short  distance  down 
the  staircase,  which  was  immediately  at  the  study  door,  and 
fractured  his  collar-bone.  His  brother  James,  who  was  then  a 
little  boy  of  seven,  was  immediately  despatched  for  the  late 


12  ANECDOTES    OF    ADDISOH.  tl813. 

Dr.  Jolm  Dorsey,  at  that  time  rising  into  eminence  as  a  surgeon, 
wlio  promptly  repaired  to  his  assistance,  reduced  the  fracture, 
and  secured  the  arm  to  the  breast  in  many  fokls  of  linen,  •'secun- 
dum artem.  While  his  arm  Avas  thus  confined,  Addison  indulged 
in  much  of  that  playful  humour  which  in  after  life  so  distm- 
guished  him  in  the  family.  _ 

At  the  age  of  four  years  he  remo^^ed  with  his  lather's  family 
to  Princeton,  which  was  destined  to  be  the  spot  of  his  life-long 
residence,  the  place  of  his  early  education,  the  field,  more  than 
any  other,"  upon  which,  in  after  years,  he  was  to  deploy  his 
splendid  abilities,  and  which  was  to  be  the  theatre  of  his  ex- 
traordinary labours  and  hard-earned  unregarded  fame.  It  was 
here  too  that  his  body  was  to  rest  in  hope. 

He  was  at  this  time  a  gentle,  retiring,  observing,  thoughtful 
cliilci— full  of  animal  spirits  and  genuine  humour;  the  delight 
of  the  household,  the  astonishment  and  despair  of  his  little 
school-fellows ;  invariably  attracting  the  notice  of  every  vis- 
itor by  the  sparkle  of  his  wit,  and  the  originality  of  his  re- 
marks. 

There  is  to  some  minds  a  strange  beguiling  pleasure  in  the 
attempt  to  trace  out  the  localities  which  have  been  the  home  of 
men  of  worth  or  talents.    Princeton  is  ten  miles  from  the  State 
capital,  in  Mercer  county,  and  lies  embosomed  in  a  very  lovely 
region,  of  late  years  made  more  pleasing  and  fragrant  than 
ever  before.     It  is  the  centre  of  a  Avide  circumference  of  cham- 
paign country,  broken  in  the  rear  of  the  town  by  abrupt  rocky 
barriers,  and'  terminated  in  the  extreme  distance  on  several 
sides  by  a  faint  wavy  line  of  blue  hills,  which  sometimes  shine 
with  a  light  as  soft  as  that  of  Pentelicus,  but  are  often  nearly 
invisible!     The  level  fields  and  graceful  laps  of  tilled  suriace 
composing  this  fine  prospect  show  every  token  of  thrift,  plenty, 
and  the  most  careful  husbandry.     The  whole  is   dotted  over 
with  snug  homesteads  and  orchards,  and  intersected  Avith  neat 
fences.     Ked  and   Avhite   cattle   are   everywhere   to   be   seen 
browsing  upon  the  close-cut  pastures.     Through  the  midst  of 
plain,  2;rove,  green  protuberance  and  meadow,  the  landscape  is 
etreaked  by  the  sinuous  current  of  Stony  Brook,  or  as  it  is 


Ail.  4.] 


PKINCETON.  IS 


known  fit  one  romantic  spot,  Pretty  Brook,  a  stream  of  pellucid 
brightness  when  not  troubled  by  rains,  and  that,  as  it  glides 
within  its  tortuous  avenue  of  tall  trees,  whispers  to  itself  le- 
gends of  Revolutionary  battle. 

From  the  heart  of  the  town  itself  there  are  a  number  of  in- 
viting views  commanded  by  those  buildings  which  are  lavour- 
ably  situated.  One  of  the  best  of  these  cheered  the  eyes  of 
Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  for  forty  years,  as  he  sat  in  his  study 
wrapt  in  thought  but  now  and  then  darted  glances  of  admira- 
tion through  his  south  window.  Another  broad  and  grateful 
prospect  enlivens  both  sides  of  the  main  thoroughfare  where, 
after  penetrating  the  town,  it  goes  on  easterly  towards  Kings- 
ton. 

Still  another  of  these  refreshing  pastoral  landscapes,  though 
in  some  particulars  the  same  with  one  of  those  just  mentioned, 
is  thus  described  by  Professor  James  Alexander  in  his  unpub- 
lished journal  for  Saturday  the  19th  of  May,  1838.  Alluding 
to  his  keen  enjoyment  that  year  of  "  the  placid  raptiire  of 
spring,"  he  writes  as  follows  :  "  From  my  soiUh  study  window 
the  prospect  is  delightful;  hill,  fprest,  field  and  orchard— it 
only  lacks  mountain  and  water.  In  the  background,  Rocky 
Hill  begins  to  show  a  feathery  green  upon  its  thickest  forest. 
On  this  side  and  next  to  it  stripes  of  green  graiufields  ;  and 
still  farther  hitherward,  as  the  ground  slopes  down  toward  the 
laro-e  and  lovely  orchard  just  in  the  richest  bloom !" 

The  street  which  passes  in  front  of  the  College  branches 
some  hundreds  of  yards  beyond  it  to  the  west  into  two  beau- 
tiful village  roads,  which  for  years  have  been  studded  with 
dwellings  and  gardens.  On  one  of  these  is  Morven,  the  seat 
of  the  Stocktons,  adorned  with  the  oldest  of  elms,  catalpas,  and 
walnuts,  and  on  the  other,  under  its  own  ample  summer  shade, 
is  the  Theological  Seminary.  Between  the  two  lie  the  Lenox 
Library,  the  beautified  grounds  of  the  late  John  R.  Thomson, 
Esq.,  and  the  green  turf  and  trim  hemlock  hedges  of  Profes- 
sor Wm.  Henry  Green :  while  far  to  the  west  and  some  distance 
beyond  the  borough  limits  are  the  delightful  groves,  parterres^ 
and  winding  walks  and  drives  of  Judge  Richard  S.  Field. 


14  THE    COLLEGE.  [1813. 

Of  course  this  description  belongs  to  the  town  and  its  en- 
virons of  to-day,  not  in  all  the  particulars  mentioned,  to  the 
surroundings  of  President  Green. 

If  Princeton  cannot  lay  claim  to  the  rows  of  mighty  elms 
which  have  thrown  their  immemorial  charm  over  New  Haven, 
it  has  nevertheless  an  abundant  shadow  not  only  from  the 
elm  but  from  the  maple,  the  sugar  maple,  the  paper  mulberry, 
the  buttonwood,  and  the  weeping-willow,  with  here  and  there 
a  forlorn  relic  in  the  shape  of  a  half-extinct  Lombard y  poplar. 
In  June  and  July  the  place  is  now  fairly  embowered  in  foliage. 
Its  College  lawns  are  not  greatly  surpassed  in  New  England. 
Its  public  buildings  are  picturesque,  and  on  every  account  well 
deserving  of  attention  at  the  hands  of  the  antiquary  and  the 
scholar.  Its  libraries  are  important  and  costly.  Its  literary 
and  theological  name  has  long  been  honoured  on  both  sides  of 
the  Atlantic.  It  can  show  an  imposing  catalogue  of  Alumni, 
and  can  count  among  its  nursing  fathers  not  only  men  like 
Dickinson,  Burr,  Davies,  Finley,  and  Green,  grave  masters  as 
these  were  of  the  old-time  piety,  learning  and  eloquence,  but 
"that  prodigy  of  metaphysical  acumen,  Jonathan  Edwards,"* 
that  intellectual  giant  and  almost  universal  genius,  Wither- 
spoon,  and  that  scholar  of  magnificent  and  princely  gentleman- 
hood,  Samuel  Stanhope  Smith.f 

The  town  of  Princeton  is  intimately  connected  v/ith  the 
Revolutionary  Annals.  The  President,  Dr.  Witherspoon, 
who  for  obvious  reasons  was  regarded  with  a  peculiar  enmity 
by  the  Royal  army,  fled  from  his  country  home  at  Tusculum, 


*  Robert  Hall  in  the  Sermon  on  Modern  Infidelity. 

\  Samuel  Stanhope  Smith. — "  A  little  later,  we  who  first  saw  these  shades 
in  1812,  recall  the  venerable  form  of  the  President,  as  he  laid  aside  bis  symbols 
of  learned  rule  ;  beautiful  and  lordly  in  his  decay,  unsurpassed  in  our  [mem- 
ory] for  perfect  gracefulness  and  a  stateliness  which  had  lost  all  that  was  once 
[considered]  as  pomp.  He  crept  to  the  retirement  where  he  renewed  his  [early 
love]  of  classical  [studies]  with  two  beloved  grandsons,  one  of  whom  has  been 
for  twenty  years  in  Teru.  And  we,  my  beloved  coevals,  of  1819,  joined  in  the 
concourse  which  followed  the  remains  to  the  cemetery,  where  you  have  seen  his 
tomb  which  you  have  visited." — Centennial  Address,  1847. 


^T.4]  NASSAU    HALL.  15 

"taking  only  a  wagon-load  of  his  effects,  and  driving  his  stock 
before  him."  Onthe22dof  July,  of  the  same  year,  two  stories 
of  the  college  were  full  of  Hessian  soldiers.  On  the  1st  of  Jan., 
1111,  Mawhood's  brigade  were  quartered  in  Nassau  Hall,^- 
and  made  their  barracks  in  the  dormitories,  using  the  base< 
ment  for  their  stables.  Nor  is  this  believed  to  be  the  first 
instance  of  such  outrages.  The  college  lawn  is  said  to  have 
been  covered  with  their  crimson  uniforms.  Washington,  as 
all  the  world  knows,  retreated  from  Trenton,  on  January  the 
2d.  A  little  after  sunrise,  he  exposed  himself  before  the  lines 
at  Stony  Brook.  This  was  the  commencement  of  the  battle 
of  Princeton.  The  Hessians  in  the  college  building  ran  out 
tumultuously  at  the  front  doorways,  on  the  approach  of  the 
American  troops,  and  fell  back  to  New  Brunswick.  The  mark 
of  a  ball  from  one  of  the  American  cannon  was  at  one  time 
to  be  seen  'near  the  projection  of  the  old  Hall.'  Another 
cannon   ball  entered  a  window,  and   struck  the  portrait   of 

*  I^assau  Hall.  This  was  the  name  suggested  for  the  old  college  building 
by  Governor  Belcher,  under  whose  fostering  care  it  was  erected.  His  words  are 
still  preserved.  The  original  thought  was  to  call  it  Belcher  Hall.  The  worthy 
Governor  seems  to  have  been  also  the  first  to  suggest,  and  in  this  very  letter  to 
the  trustees,  in  1756,  the  motto  of  the  Cliosophic  Society.  "  I  take  a  particular 
grateful  notice  of  the  respect  and  honour  you  are  desirous  of  doing  me  and  my 
family,  in  calling  the  edifice  lately  erected  in  Princeton  by  the  name  of  Belcher- 
Hall  ;  but  you  will  be  so  good  as  to  excuse  me,  while  I  absolutely  decline  such 
an  honour,  for  I  have  always  been  very  fond  of  the  motto  of  a  late  great  person- 
age, Prodesse  quam  conspici.  But  I  must  not  leave  this  head  without  asking 
the  favour  of  your  naming  the  present  building  JVassati  Hall ;  and  this  I  hope 
you  will  take  as  a  further  instance  of  my  real  regard  to  the  future  welfare  and 
interest  of  the  college,  as  it  will  express  the  honour  we  retain,  in  this  remote 
part  of  the  globe,  to  the  immortal  memory  of  the  glorious  king  William  the 
Third,  who  was  a  branch  of  the  illustrious  house  of  Nassau.  *  »  *  «  And 
who,  for  the  better  establishment  of  the  true  religion  and  English  liberty, 
brought  forward  an  act  in  the  British  Parliament,  for  securing  the  Crown  of 
Great  Britain  to  the  present  royal  family,  whereby  we  now  become  happy 
under  the  best  of  kings,  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  English  liberty  and  prosperity. 
And  God  Almighty  grant,  we  may  never  want  a  sovereign  from  his  loins  to 
sway  the  British  sceptre  in  righteousness."— Extracted  from  a  slip  of  an  old 
newspaper,  which  is  made  use  of  in  the  Centennial  Address. 


16  REVOLUTION AKY    INCIDENTS.  tl813, 

George  II.,  tearing  it  from  the  frame,  which  has  since  been 
graced  by  Pcale's  full-length  of  Washington,  and  the  death 
of  Mercer.  A  mess  of  the  40th  regiment  of  British  had 
ordered  a  breakfast  in  the  President's  house,  and  were  just 
sitting  down  to  it  when  the  ilring  began.  That  breakfast  was 
eaten  with  appetite  by  the  American  officers.  The  college, 
became  a  hospital  for  the  wounded,  and  so  continued  to  be 
for  six  or  eight  months.  During  these  bewildering  changes, 
tiie  old  Hall  was  sadly  knocked  to  pieces.  Every  perishable 
part  of  the  structure  was  destroyed.  "  The  wood- work  was 
used  for  iiiel,  and  the  apparatus,  including  Rittenhouse's 
orrery,  was  demolished  or  injured."  There  is  still  in  the 
space  to  the  rear  of  the  old  college,  and  in  the  very  centre 
of  the  enclosure  formed  by  the  ancient  edifice  and  the  new 
buildings,  a  thirty-two  pounder  left  by  the  British  in  their 
fright,  which  was  abandoned  by  Washington  "  on  account  of 
its  carriage  being  broken."  There  is,  of  course,  a  legend  con- 
nected with  this  old  piece. 

The  Continental  troops  occupied  the  college  as  barracks 
till  about  the  fifteenth  of  June  of  the  same  year,  and  as  an 
hospital,  from  the  first  of  October  till  the  twenty-third  of 
November  of  the  year  following.  The  chcirch  was  repeatedly 
desecrated,  being  occupied  continually  "  by  every  party  pass- 
ing." 

After  this,  Dr.  Witherspoon  granted  two  rooms  to  the 
tailors  of  the  Jersey  Brigade.  The  grant  expired,  or  the 
tailors  yielded  their  claim,  some  time  in  April,  1780.  "The 
college  was  entirely  disbanded,  and  all  regular  business  was 
interrupted  for  two  or  three  years."  *  The  Congress  met  in 
Princeton  in  1783.  A  letter  from  the  Rev.  Ashbel  Green, 
D.  D.  (afterAvards  President  of  the  College),  to  his  father,  dated 
Nassau  Hali,  5th  of  July,  1783,  gives  a  bright  and  cheerful 
glimpse  of  the  place  as  it  was  at  that  day.  ''  The  face  of  things 
is  inconceivably  altered  in  Princeton  within  a  fortnight. 
From  a  little  obscure  village  we  have  become  the  capital  of 

*  In  tlic  above  narr-uive  I  have  made  free  use  of  the  Centennial  Address, 
and  other  sources  of  information. 


Mt.i.-\  REVOLUTIONARY    INCIDENTS.  17 

America.  Instead  of  almost  total  silence  in  the  town,  nothing 
is  to  be  seen  or  heard  but  the  passing  and  rattling  of  wagons, 
coaches,  and  chairs,  the  crymg  about  of  pine-apples,  oranges, 
lemons,  and  every  luxurious  article  both  foreign  and  domestic." 
The  Congress  papers,  which  had  all  been  lodged  in  college, 
amounted  to  about  five  or  seven  wagon-load.  The  members 
sat  from  1 1  to  3.  The  day  before,  he  had  had  "  the  honour  of 
delivering  a  declamation  before  them  on  the  dangers  and 
advantages  of  Republican  government."  After  which  ho 
received  an  invitation  to  dine  with  them.  "Dinner  began 
about  6  o'clock.  It  was  a  public  occasion — all  the  Congress, 
foreign  ministers,  and  gentlemen,  with  the  faculty  of  the  col- 
lege, and  some  gentlemen  of  the  town,  to  the  amount  of  70  or 
80,  were  present."  In  the  evening  sky-rockets  and  a  variety 
of  fireworks  were  displayed,  and  Vv'ere  repeated  on  the  evening 
of  the  day  on  which  he  w^rote.  At  one  o'clock  a  salute  of 
thirteen  guns  was  fired  in  the  front  Campus.  After  dinner 
the  President  gave  out  as  many  toasts,  each  of  wh:ch  was 
accompanied  by  a  discharge  of  artillery.  "  I  retired  to  my 
chamber  about  9  o'clock."  * 

One  of  the  matters  that  was  engaging  the  attention  of 
this  important  body, was  a  proposal  from  a  gentleman  oi"  Vir- 
vinia  to  exhibit  "a  method  of  working  a  boat  of  twenty  tons 
burden  by  the  force  of  machines,  with  only  one  man,  with- 
out sails,  against  the  tide,  so  that  it  shall  run  eight  miles  in 
an  hour;  with  the  tide  twelve  miles  in  an  hour." 

Princeton,  on  account  of  its  salubrious  air,  has  been  hap- 
j)ily  styled  the  Montpellier  of  America.f  It  is  the  seat  of  one 
of  the  oldest  institutions  of  academic  learning  in  the  counti-y, 
and  also  of  the  most  celebrated  of  the  distinctively  Presbyte- 
rian schools  of  theology.  In  addition  to  the  charm  of  the  land- 
scape gardening,  and  of  the  surrounding  scenery  of  nature,  it 
could  always  boast  a  considerable  number  of  highly  cultivated 

*  Culled  from  a  slip  of  the  "Daily  News,"  wliicli  is  given  entire  in  the 
Centennial  Address. 

f  By  Dr.  Witherspoon.     See  Life  of  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander,  p.  385. 


18  THIRST    FOR    KNOWLEDGE.  [1818. 

men  and  women  and  attvactive  households.  But  the  noblest 
part  of  Princeton,  after  all,  as  many  love  to  think,  lies  sleep- 
ing in  its  venerable  graveyard,  vrhere,  enclosed  within  massive 
walls  and  shadowed  by  giant  trees,  repose  the  ashes  of  nearly 
all  the  former  college  Presidents,  and  of  Dod  and  other  col- 
lege professors ;  as  well  as  Samuel  Miller,  Archibald  Alexan- 
der, James  Waddel  Alexander,  and  now,  amidst  the  verdure 
of  nine  years,  of  Joseph  Addison  Alexander,  of  the  Theologi- 
cal Seminary.  Whatever  may  happen  to  the  rest  of  Prince- 
ton, it  may  be  safely  said  of  the  old  cemetery  on  Wither- 
spoon  street,  that  it  will  continue  to  grow  green  with  precious 
and  hallowed  remembrances,  even  as  now,  "  incontaminatis 
honoribus  refulget." 

After  the  removal  to  Princeton,  Addison  made  brave  ad- 
vances.    His  proficiency  in  study,  and  the  ease  and  exactness 
with  which  he  mastered  the  elements  of  knowledge,  were 
almost  incredible.     It  is  impossible  to  point  to  the  time  when 
he  did  not  know  his  letters.     He  soon  learned  to  read,  under 
the  tuition  of  a  young  lady  then  resident  in  the  family,  who 
has  since  that  time  been  made  a  widow,  and  is  believed  to  be 
now  living  in  Texas.     Once  possessed  of  this  delightful  and 
invaluable  art,  his  appetite  for  books  became  perfectly  insa- 
tiable.    He  was  never  at  rest.     His  thirst  for  knowledge  was 
unquenchable  and  constant.     He  hungered  after  his  intellec- 
tual pabulum  as  a  carnivorous  animal  hungers  after  his  prey. 
His  eyes  never  wearied  in  the  attempt  to  decypher  unaccus- 
tomed characters.     The   strangeness  of    a   foreign   language 
was  no  invincible  obstacle  in  his  path.     He  would  get  hold  of 
an  old  grammar,  or  part  of  a  grammar,  or  else  make  one  for 
himself  that  would  answer  for  the  nonce ;  he  would  disinter 
from  a  heap  of  waste  paper  and  forgotten  volumes  some  ven- 
erable dictionary,  with  the  back  gone  and  many  of  the  leaves 
torn  out  or  hopelessly  defaced,  or  in  lieu  of  that  he  would 
store  his  mind  with  the  new  vocabulary  as  he  went  along. 
In  this  way  he  soon  learned  to  knock  a  language  to  pieces, 
resolve  it  into  its  structural  parts,  and  examine  its  hidden 
machinery;  and  all  this  he  did  with  a  vehemence  of  impulse 


^T.  S.] 


LOVE    OF    BOOKS.  1* 


and  a  rapidity  of  work  that  must  have  been  very  startling  to 
the  other  boys,  and  v/as  sufficiently  surprising  to  all  who  were 
in  any  measure  acquainted  with  his  habits.  But  most  of  these 
efforts  were  put  forth  in  solitude,  and  he  did  not  care  to  speak 
of  them  to  a  living  soul.  Some  of  the  facts  here  mentioned 
did  not  come  to  light  till  long  afterwards. 

He  was  at  this  time,  in  all  strictness  of  speech,  what  is 
called  an  omnivorous  reader.  He  read  literally  every  thing 
that  fell  in  his  way.  This  was  one  of  his  characteristics  in 
after-life.  Though  he  often  checked  himself  in  the  indulgence 
of  a  taste  for  general  literature,  the  propensity  was  always 
strong.  Though  he  had  habituated  himself  to  the  most  se- 
vere °and  rigid  courses  of  study,  he  did  not  disdain  to  read 
the  smallest  newspaper,  or  even  the  almanac.  I  have  often 
heard  him  say,  in  response  to  a  question  about  some  par- 
ticular book  of  travels,  then  just  out,  that  "  all  books  of  travel 
were  interesting  to  him."  Though  at  all  times  a  recluse,  sup- 
posed to  be  conversant  only  with  what  was  in  books,  the  say- 
ing of  Terence  was  applicable  to  him,  and  not  only  in  regard 
to  books,  but  in  reference  to  every  thing  else,  humani  nihil 
alienum.  He  woiild  look  out  of  his  open  window,  as  he  gaily 
turned  the  huge  leaves  of  his  folios  at  Princeton,  and  see  more 
of  human  nature  in  an  hour  than  some  men  would  see  in  a 
twelvemonth.     But  I  am  anticipating. 

At  the  time  I  speak  of,  there  were  in  the^  garret  in  his 
father's  house  certain  old  worthless  books,  that  had  been 
thrown  away  with  other  rubbish,  and  had  many  of  them 
passed  entirely  out  of  recollection.  There  the  boyish  scholar 
would  sit  for  hours  together  devouring  the  contents  of  these 
volumes.  Among  the  works  thus  read  was  an  old  romance 
called  "The  Midnight  Bell,"  a  book  full  of  horrors  and 
mysteries.  He  used  often  to  speak  with  zest  in  after  years,  of 
the  terror  with  which  he  gloated  over  the  dark  and  bloody 
revelations  of  this  story,  in  the  silence,  solitude,  and  gloom  of 
that  unfinished  and  unfurnished  attic. 

.  .  There  was  an  odd  mingling  in  him  of  the  solitary  and  social 
tendencies.     From  early  childhood  he  showed  a  disposition  to 


20  RAPID    GllOWTH.  C1S13. 

communicate  his  stores  of  knowledge  to  others.  When  about 
six  vears  old,  it  was  his  daily  custom  to  repair  after  the 
evening  meal  to  tlie  kitchen,  anl  read  aloud  to  an  aged  black 
womai^who  was  cook  in  the  taraily,  trom  Bunyan's  Pilgrim's 
Progress,  stopping  every  now  and  tlien  to  explain  and  coni- 
men't.  as  be  went\aIong.  This  may  be  said  to  have  been  his 
lirst  exegetical  exercise,  as  well  as  his  coup  d'essai  as  an  ex- 
temporaneous orator ;  and  visitors  were  sometimes  taken  to 
the  door  which  separated  the  kitchen  from  the  apartments  of 
the  family,  and  would  stand  there,  as  if  riveted  to  the  sj^ot, 
lisleninu-  to  the  boy-interpreter,  amazed  at  the  display  of  so 
wondcrhil  a  talent  for  language  and  exposition  in  a  mere  child. 
At  a  period  somewhat  later  he  became  possessed  of  a  copy 
of  Miss  Edgeworth's  Tales  of  Fasluonable  Life,  and  grow- 
ing deeply  interested  in  ttaem,  he  was  not  satisfied  \  ndl  he 
ha'tl  read  "them  aloud  to  another  old  black  woman,  who  had 
succeeded  his  first  pui)il  in  the  culinary  department  of  the 
household. 

His  advancement  in  learning  Avas  now^  progressively  rapid. 
It  seems  to  have  resembled  the  quick  but  regular  and  healthy 
budding-out  of  vernal  plants  during  a  favourable  season.  It 
was  uo^iot  house  vegetation  that  was  thus  maturing.  There 
was  no  turning  of  the  natural  processes.  The  ripening  cliange 
that  was  going  on  was  normal — spontaneous— joyous— and  at 
the  same  time  uninterrupted  and  sure.  The  growth  ot  the 
luimtn  mind  is  always  a  surprising  and  edifying  study.  The 
process  is  carried  on  while  men  sleep.  There  is  something 
apparently  automatic  about  it.  The  seed  cometh  up  of  itself, 
the  observer  knoweth  not  how.  The  movement  is  conducted 
through  a  variety  of  stages,  "  Hrst  the  blade— then  the  ear- 
after  that  the  full  corn  in  the  ear."  Great  geniuses  do  not  seem 
to  be  exempt  from  this  universal  law.  The  mightiest  scholars 
have  had  to  begin  with  the  alphabet.  Pascal  rediscovers 
without  assistance,  and  in  childhood,  the  mysteries  of  geom- 
etry, but  he  has  to  proceed  like  other  mortals,  step  by  step 
from  the  definitions  ;  and  his  attainments  are  sticcessive,  and 
in  the  order  prescribed  by  the  experience  of  ages  as  a  ueces- 


^T.6.]  BEGINI^INGS    IN    LATIN.  21 

sity  of  the  human  intellect.  But  in  the  case  of  these  pene- 
trating and  comprehensive  minds  the  rate  of  progress  is 
increased  indefinitely,  and  the  results  are  sometimes  so  mar- 
vellous as  to  appear  incredible.  Such  an  one  was  Joseph 
Addison  Alexaudei*.  As  soon  as  he  was  able  to  understand 
the  meaning  of  English  words  his  father  began  to  teach  him 
Latin.  His  habit  was  to  write  out  for  him  each  day  a  number 
of  Latin  words  on  a  slip  of  paper,  with  the  meanings  in  Eng- 
lish, and  make  him  commit  them  to  memory.  The  same  plan 
was  pursued  with  his  other  sons,  and  subsequently  with  his 
grandsons.  It  Avas  not  long  before  Addison  had  thus  com- 
mitted a  thousand  of  these  Latin  vocables.  In  due  course  of 
time  the  number  had  amounted  to  many  thousands.  This  was 
the  foundation  of  that  enormous  vocabulary  which  was  after- 
wards to  be  of  such  incalculable  service  to  the  commentator 
on  Isaiah,  on  the  Psalms,  on  the  Acts,  on  Mark,  and  on  Mat- 
thew, and  the  remote  origin  of  that  classical  scholarship  which 
shines  with  no  dim  or  uncertain  lustre  in  every  page  of  his 
somewhat  voluminous  writings.  It  is  instructive  to  notice 
here  that  the  same  method  precisely  of  commencing  the  acquisi- 
tion of  a  new  language  was  followed  by  the  polyglot-Car- 
dinal Mezzofanti,*  who  afterwards  so  much  excited  his  mar- 
velling curiosity.f 

The  chosen  playmate  and  most  intimate  friend  of  James 
Alexander,  was  Edward  Kirk,  novv^  the  Rev.  Edward  N.  Kirk, 
D.  D.,  of  Boston.  Dr.  Kirk  has  "  no  distinct  recollections  of 
Addison  beyond  some  very  minor  points."  His  shyness  and 
quietness,  his  studiousness  and  gentleness,  embrace  the  sub- 
stance of  his  image  as  it  hangs  on  the  walls  of  his  fancy. 
"  The  only  external  fact  I  can  recall,  is  his  walking  about 
while  James  and  I  were  playing  ;  he  with  a  little  card  in  his 
Land,  on  which  his  father  had  printed  a  list  of  Latin  words 
with  their  English  equivalents,  to  be  committed  to  memory." 
Thus  it  was  that  the  happy  linguist  began  to  train  that  quick 

*  See  his  Life,  by  President  Russell,  of  Miivnooth. 

f  In  one  of  bis  later  letters  to  his  brother  James,  he  pronounces  the  Italian 
linguist  "  a  marvel." 


22  INTRODUCTION    TO    HEBREW.  D819. 

and  retentive  faculty,  which  in  later  life  enabled  him  to  call 
up  at  will  almost  any  thing  he  liacl  ever  treasured  in  his  mind. 
It  is  easy  to  picture  the  stout  little  fellow,  Avith  his  bright 
affectionate  flice,  and  checks  like  lady-apples,  and  his  alternate 
fits  of  studious  abstraction  and  uncontrollable  liveliness.  He 
was  the  delight  and  pride  of  the  house. 

But  the  young  scholar  was  now  to  enter  a  new  and  bound- 
less field  for  his  exertions.  He  was  to  break  the  lock  from 
the  Semitic  tongues,  and  to  obtain  an  easy  mastery  over 
several  of  the  languages  of  the  Orient.  As  soon  as  he  was 
six  years  old,  or  thereabouts,  his  father  wrote  out  for  him  in 
the  same  manner  as  before,  the  Hebrew  alphabet,  of  which 
the  little  philologist  soon  possessed  himself,  and  thus  laid  the 
groundwork  of  his  subsequent  proficiency  inthat  and  kindred 
languages.  At  a  somewhat  later  period,  the  same  kind  and 
capable  hand  prepared  for  him  a  Hebrew  grammar,  adapted 
to  his  years,  which  manuscript  w^as  carefully  preserved  by  the 
youthful  Hebraist,  and  was  in  his  possession  at  the  time  of 
his  death.  That  old  manuscript  Hebrew  grammar,  in  the  well- 
known  handwriting  of  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander,  is  now  one 
of  the  family  treasures.  The  title-page  of  that  grammar  is  now 
before  me,  and  reads  as  folio v/s  : 

"HEBREW  GRAMMAR, 

■WITH  THE  POINTS, 

Translated  from  Lcicsden^s 

Compend  of  Buxtorf, 

FOR  Joseph  Addison  Alexander. 

Princeton,  New  Jersey, 
A.  D.  1819." 

This  date  furnishes  us  w^th  pretty  exact  information  as  to 
the  time  when  he  commenced  the  regular  study  of  Hebrew. 
It  was  when  he  was  just  ten  years  old.  He  could  read  the 
letters  almost  as  soon  as  he  could  read  English.  What  extra- 
ordinary advances  he  afterwards  made,  in  this  and  cognate 
languages,  we  shall  presently  have  occasion  to  notice. 


^T.10.]  OTHER    ORIENTAL    LANGUAGES.  23 

Little  Addison  taught  himself  to  write,  and  was  able  to  do 
so  before  the  family  were  aware  of  it.  He  soon  acquired  that 
firm,  be:uitiful  hand,  with  which  his  friends  are  so  familiar. 

An  extract  from  a  letter  Jrom  his  father,  to  his  aunt,  Mrs. 
Graham,  dated  July  22,  1817,  gives  an  exact  view  of  what  he 
was  at  this  time  : 

"  Addison  is  also  learning  Latin,  and  greatly  exceeds  all  our  otlier 
children  in  capacity.  He  does  not  equal  James  in  quickness,  nor  Wil- 
liam in  memory ;  but  in  the  clearness  of  his  ideas,  and  his  steady  at- 
tention to  whatever  he  undertakes  to  study,  he  is  greatly  superior  to 
them  both.  He  has  written  several  poems,  but  they  are  not  worth 
sending  so  far." 

The  following  account* by  one  who  was  the  teacher  who 
prepared  him  lor  college,  is  almost  literally  correct,  but  Addi- 
son began  Hebrew  and  Arabic,  and  perhaps  Persian  and 
Sjriac,  at  least  two  years  before  the  date  of  his  connection 
with  that  gentleman  as  a  pupil : 

"Whilst  pursuing  his  studies  with  me,  Addison  (or 'Addy,'asth9 
boys  called  him)  commenced  studying  by  himself  the  Hebrew  language, 
and  had  made  considerable  progress  in  the  Arabic  before  he  entered 
College.  I  am  not  aware  that  he  had  at  thnt  early  period  of  his  life 
done  much  with  the  modern  languages.  In  after  years  his  acquisitions 
of  both  ancient  and  modern  languages  included  nearly  every  one  that 
is  really  worth  learning.  The  Hebrew,  with  the  cognate  languages 
and  dialects,  he  mastered  when  he  was  quite  a  young  man.  French, 
German,  Italian,  and  other  modern  languages  he  next  learned,  includ- 
ing even  the  Turkish.  The  last  languages  which  he  acquired  were  the 
Danish  and  Ci>ptic.  What  is  wonderful  about  his  linguistic  attain- 
ments, they  were  in  many  cases  made  purely  for  the  sake  of  the  litera- 
ture, (poetry,  &c.,)  which  they  contained." 

This  is  an  anticipation  of  disclosures  that  will  be  more 
fully  made  in  the  sequel. 

For  the  sake  of  giving  a  glimpse  of  what  was  going  on  at 
Princeton  about  this  time,  I  insert  here  the  following  extracts 
of  a  letter  from  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  to  one  of  his  wife's 
relatives  in  Virginia,  which  was  written  when  Addison  was 

*  In  the  Presbyterian  of  November  5th,  1853. 


24  PRINCETON    UNDER    DR.   GREEN.  051% 

ten  years  and  one  month  old,  and  wLicli  has  never  before 
been  published.  The  whole  letter  exhibits  much  of  the  shrewd 
discernment  of  human  nature,  and  knowledge  of  what  was 
passing  around  him,  which  so  distinguished  this  venerable 
man,  and  contributed  so  much  to  his  character  for  wisdom. 
We  may  also  see  in  this  simple  and  homely  letter  the  traces 
of  his  amiable  feeling  towards  all,  and  of  his  affectionate  dis- 
position towards  those  with  wliom  he  was  nearly  connected. 

"Pkinceton,  2Iai/  26  th,  1819. 

'<  Dear 

"Yonrs  was  received  tlie  day  before  yesterday.  Since  I  wrote 
before,  noihing  wortliy  of  notice  has  occurred  among  us.  Mr.  Men- 
telLh  arrived  here  la^t  evening,  on  liis  way  home  from  a  long  Soutlieru 
tour,  which  he  took  to  solicit  money  for  building  a  church  in  Detroit. 
Mr.  Rice  and  his  Avife  are  in  Philadelphia,  but  I  have  not  been  there, 
nor  do  I  expect  to  go  tliere,  as  I  understand  that  they  will  not  extend 
their  vi>it  to  this  place.  Mr.  Rice  is  the  Moderator  of  the  General  As- 
sembly, and  preached  an  admired  Missionary  sermon  last  Sumlay  even- 
ing.    Dr.  Hill  and  Mr.  Wilson  of  Fredericksburg  were  also  there. 

"  I  have  this  inornins;  seen  a  letter  from  Armstrong.  He  appears 
innch  engaged  in  liis  work,  and  very  nnuh  pleased.  He  says  he  would 
not  exchange  his  situation  as  a  poor  missionary  at  present,  for  the  best 
congregation  in  the  land.  Peters  has  gone  to  the  Northeast.  Hunter 
is  licensed  and  preaching  in  this  State,  under  the  commission  of  the 
Femiile  Missionary  Society  of  this  town. 

"  The  Seminary,  for  the  last  week,  lias  been  nearly  de-erted.  Pierce, 
Wisner,  and  Davies  were  the  only  persons  seen  about  it.  Wisner  is  a 
fine  fellow. 

"  William  *  has  entered  the  Sophomore  class  half  advanced.  I  had 
no  idea  that  he  would  be  adniitte  1,  but  he  insisted  on  trying,  and 
waited  nearly  three  d;iys  to  be  exnmined.  I  neither  went  with  him  nor 
sent  note  or  message  to  the  faculty  ;  but  when  he  was  introduced  he 
acquitted  hims^^lf  in  a  way  so  masterly  that  Dr.  Green  was  delighted, 
and  told  him  he  had  never  admitted  any  one  with  more  pleasure  in  his 
life,  and  spoke  of  his  elegant  examination  to  the  gentlemen  wlio  Avere 
in  his  house." 

Addison's  early  education  was  almost  entirely  domestic, 
*  His  second  son. 


^T.  10.]  PASSION   FOR    MUSIC.  25 

for  though  before  entering-  college  he  attended  a  variety  of 
schools,  in  which  all  the  usual  branches  were  taught,  be  w^as 
up  to  the  time  of  his  entering  these  schools  under  the  sole 
tuition  of  his  flxther,  to  whom  he  owed  more,  even  in  the  way 
of  mere  learning,  than  to  any  other  living  man.  Nor  is  it  toe 
much  to  say,  that  at  the  time  he  entered  the  first  of  these 
schools,  Addison  if  judged  by  the  ordinary  standard  had  al- 
ready "  received  his  education."  This  is  a  somev\'hat  precari- 
ous assertion,  but  I  hope  to  be  able  to  show  in  the  sequel,  that 
at  the  time  Addison  entered  school  ho  was  in  point  of  scholar- 
ship in  advance  of  many  when  tlicy  leave  college,  and  are  said 
to  be  "  educated  men." 

It  is  difficult  to  say,  w^e  can  only  reasonably  conjecture, 
in  what  relative  order  his  remarkable  powers  first  gave  evi- 
dence of  their  existence,  or  what  was  the  secret  history  of 
their  successive  or  simultaneous  appearances  and  steady  and 
symmetrical  development.  He  early  showed  a  love  of,  and  a 
taste  and  talent  for  music,  and  had  he  devoted  himself  to  the 
cultivation  of  this  gift,  it  is  the  opinion  of  one  v/ho  was  fully 
acquainted  with  the  facts  at  the  time,  a  contemporary  and 
chosen  play-mate,  and  who  is  himself  by  no  means  insensible 
to  the  "  concord  of  sweet  sounds,"  that  he  would  have  become 
as  eminent  in  this  department  as  he  was  in  that  to  which  he 
applied  himself.  This  is  saying  a  great  deal.  The  expert 
commentator  had  certainly  a  fine  ear  for  music. 

There  had  long  been  lying  about  his  father's  house  an  old 
bamboo  cane  or  stafi".  This  staff  was  hollow,  and  had  been 
perforated  with  holes  as  a  flute.  It  also  had  a  coarse  common 
key.  When  about  ten  years  old  he  took  up  this  old  cane  flute, 
and  upon  it  began  to  play.  He  studied  and  copied  music,  and 
learned  it  systematically.  After  practising  for  some  time  in 
this  way,  he  was  presented  with  a  small  octave  flute,  which 
after  a  iew  years  v/as  succeeded  by  a  large  one. 

He  became  a  proficient  on  the  instrument,  and  for  many 
years  the  use  of  the  flute  was  his  favourite  recreation. 

One  of  my  first  recollections  is  seeing  him  with  a  yellow 
flute  in  his  hand  or  at  his  lips.     He  often  played  in  my  hear- 


26  EUROPEAN    AKI)    AMERICAN    CHOIRS.  [1819 

ing,  during  my  early  boyhood,  but  it  was  for  liis  own  amuse- 
ment, not  mine.  He  preferred  being  alone  on  tbese  occasions, 
and  then  I  dare  say  his  delectation  was  often  great.  He  ren- 
dered simple  and  melodious  airs  with  what  afterwards  struck 
me  as  perfect  accuracy  and  much  sweetness.  I  never  heard 
him  attempt  any  thing  hard,  but  on  the  other  hand  I  never 
heard  him  attempt  any  thing  which  he  did  not  execute  with 
consummate  ease.  His  brother  James  w^as  himself  a  delight- 
ful amateur  flute-player.  I  never  heard  the  two  brothers  play- 
ing in  the  same  room. 

^  Among    the    pieces   thus   melodiously   rendered    by   the 
younger  brother,  was   an  affecting  air  which  I  shall  always 
associate  with  an  Arabic  song,  about  a  rose,  which  he  was 
accustomed  to  sing  to  it.     His  voice  was  a  high  tenor,  and 
plaintively  sweet  without  being  strong.     He  was  fond  of  sing- 
ing  hymns,  imderstood   the   mystery  of  "notes,"  and  once 
pointed  out  to  me  a  new  tune,  which  has  rung  in  my  ears 
ever  since.     I  also  remember  his  song  of  the  scales*  and  one 
of  the  tunes  sung  by  his  ghosts.f     His  European  journals  are 
full  of  allusions  to  the  chants  and  chorals  and  masses  he  went 
to  hear,  but  in  these  foreign  diaries  (which  were  designed  to 
be  a  m'ere  record  of  facts)  he  has,  for  the  most  part,  sedu- 
lously suppressed  all  outbursts  of  feeling.     When  he  v/as  in 
the  mood  for  it,  he  would  talk  with   enthusiasm  of  music  he 
had  listened  to  with  rapture  in  London,  in  the  chapels  of  the 
English  Universities,  in  Strasbourg,  in  Berlin,  in  Rome.     He 
heal-d  a  boy  at  Cambridge  who  "  had  a  voice  like  an  an  angel." 
But  of  all  he  ever  heard  he  spoke  with  greatest  admiration 
of  the  effect  of  a  great  number  of  priests'  voices,  accompanied 
by  the  organ,  that  on  one  occasion  almost  overpowered  him, 
if  I  mistake  not,  at  Rome.     He  sometimes  affected  to  know 
nothing,  and  care  nothing  about  music.    This  was  his  humour. 
He  despised  the  poor  American  imitations  of  the  Old-World 
rituoliftm.     He  had  a  certain  esthetic  sympathy  with  the  gor- 
o-eous  cathedral  service  of  the  Old  World.     For  the  florid 

to 

*  A  pretty  tune  bringiug  in  the  eight  notes. 

f  These  ghosts  were  characters  in  some  of  his  stories. 


^T,  10.]      INFLUENCE  OP  THIS  TASTE  ON  HIS  SERMONS.  27 

and  effeminate  church  music  of  the  New  World  he  had  none. 
He  ioved  the  plain  old  tunes,  and  regarded  the  old-fashioned 
congregational  psalm  singing  as  the  true  way  to  worship 
God.  He  was  sometimes  irritated  by  the  fastidious  perti- 
nacity of  choirs,  and  never  could  understand  the  importance 
of  "  having  the  hymns."  Yet  he  never  failed  in  courtesy 
towards  the  musical  gentlemen  who  solicited  this  slight  but 
sometimes  annoying  compliance.  He  would  say  goodna- 
turedly  enough  that  the  choristers  who  were  most  i)articalar 
about  "  having  the  hymns  "  could  do  best  without  them,  and 
that  he  had  noticed  that  the  singing  was  always  better  where 
the  hymns  were  not  given.  He  probably  meant  in  this  deli- 
cate way  to  express  a  preference  for  the  time-honoured  tunes 
whicli  are  so  apt  to  be  lost  sight  of  in  the  prevailing  lust  for 
novelty  and  for  music  such  as  is  heard  on  week-days  in  the 
theatre  or  at  the  opera-house. 

Some  of  the  most  impassioned  pages  in  his  printed  ser- 
mons are  strongly  coloured  by  his  native  fondness  for  sweet 
voices  and  majestic  harmonies.  His  unprinted  sermons  con- 
tain, perhaps,  an  equal  quantity  of  this  sort  of  writing,  in 
which  (especially  near  the  close  of  the  discourse),  as  by  an 
accumulation  of  all  his  gifts  and  attainments  toward  a  com- 
mon centre,  he  makes  painting,  architecture,  music,  poetry, 
learning,  genius — all  he  knew,  all  he  imagined,  all  he  lelt,  all 
he  was,  do  tribute  to  the  cross  of  Christ,  or  else  shed  a  blaze 
of  light  on  the  joys  or  sorrows,  the  terrors  or  the  glor'es  of 
the  eternal  world.  He  exulted  in  the  deep,  mysterious,  yet 
glorious  organ-tones  of  the  Revelation,  revei'berating  as  from 
afar  with  the  roll  of  tumultuous  waters.  Pie  actually 
seemed  to  have  caught  the  sound  of  the  "  harpers  harping 
with  their  harps,"  and  the  swelling  cadence  of  that  song, 
which  peals  like  successive  strokes  of  thunder  through  the 
Apocalypse,  "  Alleluia,  for  the  Lord,  God,  omnipotent 
riignetb." 

His  imagination  v/as  from  the  first  rich  and  vivid,  and 
it  is  hardly  a  figure  of  speech  to  say  that  in  his  solitary  hours 
he  erected  many  an  airy  castle  in  the  clouds,  fought  many  a 


28  IMAGINATION    AND   FANCY.  [1S19. 

visionary  figlit,  nncl  attended  many  an  illustrious  but  unreal 
audience  on  cloth-ofgold.  There  can  be  no  doubt  Avliat 
ever,  from  the  weight  of  authentic  tradition  on  this  subject, 
tliat  as  a  boy  Addison  was  a  true  child  of  genius,  a  dreamer 
of  chivalrous  and  stately  dreams,  a  hearer  of  voices  and  a 
beholder  of  faces  and  actions  such  as  can  be  conjured  up  by 
no  sorcery  of  earthly  enchantment.  He  thus  created  for  him- 
self au  imaginary  world  in  whose  fantastic  but  exquisite  and 
varied  enjoyments  he  continually  revelled.  The  love  of  the 
preternatural  and  the  intellectual  exerted  a  joint  sovereignty 
over  his  childish  feelings.     He  could  say  Avith  Shelley* : 

"  While  yet  a  boy,  I  sought  for  ghostf,  and  sped 
Through  many  a  listening  chamber,  cave  and  ruin, 
And  starlit  wood,  with  fearful  steps  pursuing 
Hopes  of  high  talk  with  the  departed  dead." 
But  in  all  this  there  does  not  seem  to  have  been  a  particle 
of  what  is  called  absence  of  mind.f  These  reveries,  if  such 
they  could  be  called,  were  indulged  in  solitude — never  in  the 
company  of  others.  Moreover,  during  their  continuance,  the 
mind  was  ever  present  and  intensely  active.  Sometimes, 
especially  as  he  grew  older,  the  imaginary  scene  merely 
afforded  field  and  play  to  his  common  sense— his  ingenuity— 
his  laughing  wit  and  humour — the  heartiness  and  vivacity  of 
his  animal  spirits.  This  was  his  sport — his  recreation.  For 
he  too  had  his  hours  of  mental  relaxation,  though  he  spent 
them  very  differently  from  his  fellows  of  his  own  age.  It 
was  characteristic  of  him  that  he  found  pleasure  in  wdiat 
would  have  been  to  others  nothing  but  toil.  With  him  duty 
and  satisfaction  ran  in  couples.  As  a  lad  at  school,  he  seems 
to  have  been  nearly  alw^ays  in  good  spirits.  He  made  every 
thing  around  him  conducive  to  his  enjoyment,  and  w^hile  unre- 
mittingly engaged  in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge,  was  as  bright, 
joyous,  and  perfectly  happy  a  boy  as  the  sun  ever  shone  on. 

*  Hymn  to  Intellectual  Beauty. 

+  This  is  in  some  measure  an  inference  from  his  later  hfe.  He  was  the 
least  absent-minded  man  I  ever  knew,  and  has  scourged  this  infirmity  in  his 
liscourse  on  the  text,  ''  Watch." 


^T.  10.]  INTELLECTUAL    AMUSEMENTS.  29 

Solomon  tells  the  sluggard  to  go  to  the  ant,  for  a  lesson 
in  diligence,  and  the  improvident  man  to  go  to  the  bee  for  a 
lesson  in  wisdom.  This  wonderful  hoy  probably  stood  in 
little  need  of  instruction  from  these  sources,  but  there  wax 
unother  species  of  animals,  the  fowls,  to  whijh  he  loved  to 
repair  for  his  diversion.  A  large  number  of  chickens  on  the 
place  were  called  into  requisition  to  minister  to  his  enjoyment. 
He  gave  to  each  a  name,  and  organized  them  into  a  "  chicken- 
college."  *  He  arranged  them  in  classes,  and  printed  in  his 
fair  round  hand  a  catalogue  of  the  matriculates.  He  also 
devised,  and  issued  in  the  same  way,  a  curriculum  of  study 
which  they  were  supposed  to  be  pursuing.  He  conducted 
imaginary  examinations,  and  published  the  names  of  those 
who  were  j^roficient  in  each  department.  He  would  announce 
public  exercises — oratorical  exhibitions,  &c.,  prepare  bills  of 
the  same,  and  publish  accounts  of  the  performances.  He  would 
announce  annual  commencements,  put  forth  programmes, 
and  give  reports  of  what  occurred  on  these  festive  occa- 
sions. In  all  this  there  was  the  same  completeness  of  plan 
and  the  same  scrupulous  nicety  and  finish  of  detail,  which 
marked  every  thing  he  ever  did.  In  this  innocent  way  would 
he  spend  hours  of  leisure  which  most  boys  would  have  devoted 
to  pure  idleness  or  even  mischief.  In  company  with  the 
brother  immediately  older  than  himself,  he  would  on  holidays 
or  when  not  engaged  in  study,  go  to  a  room  where  they  would 
not  be  inteiTupted,  or  to  a  secluded  part  of  the  grounds,  and 
would  there  organize  with  him  a  sort  of  moot-court,  (the  two 
acting  alternately  as  judge  and  advocate,)  and  would  imagine 
causes,  civil  and  criminal,  argue  cases,  harangue  and  charge 
unseen  juries,  and  render  verdicts,  or  give  judicial  opinions. 
A  favourite  amusement  was  indicting  and  trying  a  black  boy 
named  Ned,  a  servant  in  the  family.  Sometimes  they  would 
erect  themselves  into  a  congress  and  declaim  on  topics  of 
public  interest,  and  in  this  way  entire  mornings  and  after- 
noons were  not  unfrequently  consumed,  the  sessions  sometimes 

*  He  afterwards  amused  some  of  his  little  friends  among  the  children  in 
the  same  way. 


30  THE    BOYISH    ORATOK.  C182a 

lasting  unintcrruptcclly  for  mraiy  successiA-e  hours.     The  usual 
arena  for  these  intellectual  contests  was  a  chosen  place  at  the 
hack  of  the  garden.     Here  they  would  resort  and  "  speechify  " 
till  the  sun  had  visibly  and  greatly  changed  its  place  in  the 
heavens.     These  legal  and  senatorial  eflbrts  were  no  ignoble 
training  for  a  life  of  oratory.     The  brother*  who  shared  with 
the  soi-disant  advocate  and  politician  in  these  entertainments, 
testifies  that  any  readiness  in  public  speaking,  any  knack  of 
prompt  reply,  any  appearance  of  selt-possession  in  embarrass- 
ing circumstances,  and  any  facility  in  adapting  words,  acts, 
and  circumstances  to  the  occasion,  and  pressing  them  into  his 
service,  which  have  stood  him  in   stead  during  a  long  and 
active  professional   and  public  life,  he  ascribes  to  these  early 
intellectual  and  forensic  efforts,  taken  up,  as  they  were,  at  the 
time  as  a  mere  matter  of  amusement.     Sometimes  the  two 
boys,  both  of  them  being  gifted  with  remarkable  powers  of 
memory  and  fluency,  would  personate  the  different  professions 
and  callings  in  life ;  they  would  be  lawyers,  doctors,  merchants, 
mechanics,  officers   civil   and  military,  etc.,  etc.,  and  would 
carry  on  dialogues,  sometimes  grave,  sometimes  gay,  for  hours. 
It  was  to  be  expected  that  one  so  richly  endowed  with 
poetic  faculties,  and  poetic  tastes   and  sympathies,  and   so 
richly  stored  with  the  proper  material  for  poetic  composition, 
should  turn  his  attention  to  the  subject  of  verse  and  rhythm, 
and  even  put  forth  early  essays  in  this  style.     Such  we  find 
to  be  the  case.     His  earliest  effort  in  metre  is  a  piece  composed 
in  1816,  when  he  was  about  seven  years  old.    It  is  an  imagina- 
tive flourish  on  "  the  Seasons,"  and  is  not  devoid  of  a  certain  ex- 
cellence.    The  melody  is  perfect,  and  some  of  the  epithets  are 
happy.     This  was  immediately  followed  by  one  on  the  Telloio 
Fever,  and  is  marked  by  the  same  well-defined  rhythmical 
structure  which  is  conspicuous  in  his  later  eftusions,  and  in 
some  degree  the  same  masterly  command  of  language  which 
could  at  all  times  bend  the  simplest  words  to  the  exigencies 
of  the  most  measured  cadence.     This  trait  is  singularly  ex- 
emplified  in  some  powerful  lines  entitled  "  Monosyllables." 
*  The  Hon.  W.  C.  Alexander. 


^T.  11.] 


FACETIOUS    TURN,  31 


Tet  lie  now  and  then  inrlulged  in  cliildren's  games,  perhaps 
for  the  amusement  of  others,  though  they  were  never  of  the 
ordinary  kind,  and  always  gave  evidence  of  humour  and  origi- 
nality. Mrs.  Alexander,  one  day  hearing  a  noise  made  by 
some  children  up  stairs,  as  if  applauding  or  laughing  obstrep- 
erously, went  up  to  see  what  it  was.  "  She  found  in  the  room 
Addison  and  a  parcel  of  children.  In  one  corner  of  the  room 
a  counterpane  suspended,  formed  a  curtain.  Mrs,  A.  peeping 
behind  the  curtain,  discovered  a  small  boy  dressed  up  in  red 
flannel,  monkey-fashion,  and  seated.  It  thus  proved  to  be  a 
monkey-show,  and  Addison  was  the  showman."  '^ 

But  in  general  it  was  true  that  he  found  his  chief  pleasure 
in  pursuing  mental  or  manual  diversions,  and  none  at  all  in  the 
favourite  sports  of  boys,  in  which  a  good  deal  of  exciting 
bodily  exercise  is  called  into  play.  He  dwelt  alone.  He 
looked  out  of  his  studious  window  with  a  kind  of  speculative 
interest  upon  the  green  where  the  lads  of  his  own  age  and 
"  set  "  were  hard  at  work  flying  the  kite  or  scampering  after 
the  ball ;  bat  he  was  not  of  them.  His  joys  were  of  another 
realm. 

Mr.  Alexander,  through  life,  took  a  strange  pleasure  in  no- 
ticing people  that  had  any  laughable  peculiarities,  whether  of 
looks  or  manner,  or  as  evinced  by  some  absurd  remark.  He 
would  bring  up  these  things  years  after,  and  would  turn  their 
comical  speeches  into  household  proverbs,  or  would  bring  the 
tears  into  his  eyes  as  he  rehearsed  their  little  adventures, 

Mr.  Charles  Campbell  apprises  me  of  the  fact  that  a  lady 
of  Staunton,  Virginia,  now  deceased,  once  gave  his  mother, 
Mrs,  Campbell,  an  account  of  a  very  odd-looking  and  pompous 
little  preacher,  before  unknown,  who  in  these  days  visited  Dr. 
Alexander  and  staid  all  night.  "  He  was  of  an  outre  appear- 
ance, looking  like  some  kind  of  queer  bird,  vara  avis  in  terra.' 
He  was  quite  conceited  withal,  and  had  a  way  of  asserting 
trite  truth  in  a  very  emphatic  tone,  e,  g.  straightening  himself 

*•  This  incident  has  been  preserved  by  the  venerable  Mrs.  Campbell,  of 
Petersburg,  Virginia. 


32  FIRST   EFFOIITS    AT   VERSE.  [1S19. 

up  he  would  exclaim  ore  rotimdo,  '  Dr.  Alexander,  I  am  firmly 
of  the  opinion  that  mankind  by  nature  are  totally  depraved.' 
This  eccentric  little  minister  had  the  manner  of  a  bantam 
cock.  Towards  bed-time,  becoming  uneasy  lest  the  stranger 
should  tarry  all  night,  one  of  the  boys  inquired  whether  if  he 
did,  he  would  sleep  in  his  bed?  to  y.'hich  Addison  replied, 
'  No,  he  will  roost  on  the  testei-.'  At  prayers  the  stranger 
officiated,  and  happened  to  read  the  CII.  Psalm:  'By  reason 
of  the  voice  of  my  groaning,  my  bones  cleave  to  my  skin.  I 
am  like  a  pelican  of  the  wilderness :  I  am  like  an  owl  of  the 
desert.  I  watch,  and  am  as  a  sparrow  alone  upon  the  house- 
top.' "When  he  read  these  ornithological  verses,  it  was  with 
difficulty  that  the  ladies  could  repress  their  risibilities." 

I  give  below  extracts  from  another  piece  which  he  wrote 
about  the  same  time.  It  is  certainly  good,  to  be  the  produc- 
tion of  a  very  little  boy : 

"THE  PAEPJCIDE. 

"  Ah  !  who  is  that  with  glittering  blade, 
Standing  beneath  the  elm-tree  shade. 
The  tear-drop  glistening  in  his  eye. 
His  bosom  heaving  with  a  sigh. 
Why  does  he  turn  and  fearful  start. 
And  lay  his  hand  upon  his  heart ; 
Why  does  he  start  with  conscious  guilt, 
And  grasp  his  sabre's  shining  hilt? 
He  turns  and  rushes  to  the  tide, 
And  cries — '  I  am  a  parricide ! ' 


But  who  comes  there  ?     'Tis  Osman  dire, 
His  bosom  burns  with  generous  ire, 


Juan  to  desperation  driven. 
One  poisoned  arrow  from  the  seven, 
His  quiver  held  one  poisoned  dart. 
Drew  forth  and  hurled  at  Osmsai's  heart. 
False  to  its  aim  the  arrow  fell. 


^T.IO.]  EARLY    POETICAL    VENTURES.  33 

But  human  tongue  can  never  tell 

The  rage  that  flashed  fiom  Juan's  eyes 

When  he  perceived  he'd  lost  his  prize. 

Another  dart  to  end  the  strife 

He  hurled  ; — it  took  brave  Osman's  life." 


The  t^yo  following  pieces  were  written  in  his  eleventh  year 
They  both  exhibit  a  marked  increase  in  the  poetic  power,  but 
are  chiefly  interesting  as  shedding  a  curious  light  on  the  char- 
acter and  extent  of  his  childish  studies.     The  first  is  entitled— 

"  SOLITUDE. 

"  Now  in  the  eastern  sky  the  cheering  light 
Dispels  the  dark  and  gloomy  shades  of  night ; 
And  while  the  lowing  of  the  kine  is  heard, 
And  the  sweet  warbling  of  the  songster  bird; 
Where  from  afar  the  stately  river  flows, 
In  whose  briglit  stream  the  sportive  goldfish  goes  ; 
Where  the  thick  trees  afford  a  safe  retreat, 
From  public  eye  and  summer's  scorching  heat ; 
There  let  me  sit  and  sweetly  meditate, 
Far  from  the  gleam  of  wealth  and  pomp  of  state. 
And  while  I  listen  to  that  murmuring  rill 
Whicli  pours  its  waters  down  the  neighbouring  hill, 
I  can  despise  the  pride  and  pomp  of  kings. 
And  all  the  glory  wealth  or  power  brings. 
Here  in  deep  solitude  remote  from  noise, 
From  the  world's  bustle,  idleness  and  toys, 
Here  I  can  look  upon  the  world's  vast  plain, 
And  all  her  domes  and  citadels  disdain." 

The  next,  which  was  was  written  in  the  same  year,  afibrda 
us  a  j)leasing  glimpse  of  the  boyish  student  and  a  charming 
picture  of  his  early  recreations.     It  is  entitled — 

"  THE  PLEASUKES  OF  STUDY. 

"  The  setting  sun's  resplendent  shining  ray 
Illumes  the  West  and  brings  the  end  of  day ; 
And  now  across  the  mirthful  village  green. 
Returning  school-boys  with  their  books  are  seen ; 
Who,  wearied  with  the  duties  of  the  school, 
Rejoice  to  enjoy  the  summer  ev^ing  cool. 
2* 


84  EARLY    ATTEMPTS    AT    rvHYMING.  tiaW 

The  bcjrgars  also  wander  tliro'  the  street, 
Entreathig  chanty  of  all  tb.<y  meet; 
Now  learned  men,  philosophers  profound, 
In  gloomy  silcnee  meditate  around  ; 


Now  the  poor  peasant  with  his  little  store, 

Returns  with  pleasure  to  his  cottnge  door, 

The  rich  upon  their  couches  slothful  roll, 

"With  ease  of  limb,  but  restlessness  of  soul ; 

They  still  are  restless  when  the  glorious  sun 

His  daily  course  through  the  broad  heavens  has  run  ; 

No  rankling  care  afflicts  the  poor  man's  breast, 

Who  with  a  conscience  light  retires  to  rest. 

Now  o'er  his  books  the  studious  scholar  pores. 

Nor  hears  tlie  creaking  of  the  opening  doors ; 

Nor  sees  the  visitors  until  they  place 

Their  unwelcome  forms  before  his  studious  face. 

By  him  the  wars  of  ancient  Greece  are  seen, 

While  others  sport  upon  the  village  green  ; 

And  while  he  dwells  on  Plato's  flowing  words, 

He  knows  the  pleasure  study  deep  affords  ; 

The  Spartan  chiefs  and  Athens'  mighty  son, 

Who  conquered  on  the  plains  of  Marathon, 

PharsaUa  slow  now  rises  to  his  view, 

And  all  the  millions  Julius  Cajsar  slew ; 

Nor  sleeps  great  Pompey  nor  Mark  Antony's  shade, 

Who  on  the  field  of  battle  dead  were  laid. 

He  sees  them  all  in  fancy  and  he  knows 

When  brave  Camillas  into  splendour  rose  ; 

He  feels  the  terrours  of  the  Trojan  crew, 

Whom  on  the  waves  relentless  Juno  threw  ; 

He  hears  the  clamour  rising  to  the  skies 

When  haughty  Taurus  from  the  battle  flies ; 

Loud  cries  of  victory  he  hears. 

And  clamour  bursts  upon  his  startled  ears ; 

He  sees  the  young  Julius  clad  in  arms. 

Resolved  t'  avenge  his  country's  woeful  harms  ; 

He  sees  the  place  where  noble  Paris  lies. 

And  hears  the  groans  with  which  that  hero  dies ; 

And  when  from  these  reluctantly  he  goes, 

To  enjoy  the  time  allotted  for  repose, 

The  shade  of  many  a  mighty  hero  seems, 

To  speak  and  hover  round  him  in  his  dreams." 


MT.10.J  POETICAL    TALENTS.  35 

Some  of  these  youthful  attempts  were  copied  into  a  little 
book  in  a  fair  copper-plate  hand,  by  one  of  his  instructors, 
and  carefully  preserved  by  his  mother.  This  book  I  have 
seen.  The  pieces  which  I  have  inserted  are  not  given  so 
much  for  their  intrinsic  vahie,  as  to  show  the  versatility  of 
his  ])arts  and  liis  early  taste  for  versification,  as  well  as  to 
exhibit  the  maturity  of  his  thoughts,  his  correct  view  of 
human  life,  and  his  ardent  but  already  ripe  and  discriminating 
love  for  books,  and  what  books  contain.  Literature  was  even 
at  this  early  date  beginning  to  afford  a  field  for  his  indefatiga- 
ble intellect  and  boundless  ambition.  It  is  not  to  be  denied 
that  his  scholarship  and  general  intelligence  were  at  this  time 
far  in  advance  of  his  poetical  talents.  Many  bright  boys, 
such  as  Chatterton,  Pope,  and  Kirk  White,  may  have  excelled 
these  efforts  in  rhyme  and  metre  at  the  same  tender  age.  But 
these  precocious  vers'fiers  were  much  inferior  to  the  boy  Addi- 
son Alexander  in  several  other  and  more  important  pai'ticulars. 
Junctures,  however,  were  to  arise;  themes  were  to  be  pre- 
sented ;  culture  of  a  special  kind  was  to  be  gained ;  that  were 
soon  to  lead  to  results  even  in  the  domain  of  poetry  that  could 
not  have  been  anticipated  Irom  these  first  crude  attempts. 
Qualities  as  yet  almost  unsuspected  in  this  boy  were  pres- 
ently to  spring  into  existence,  or  burst  into  exuberance,  that 
were  one  day  to  astonish  and  delight  the  admirers  of  prodigal 
genius. 

It  would  certainly  require  sharp  penetration  to  detect  the 
author  of  the  "  Doomed  Man,"  the  noble  lines  on  the  Rhine, 
and  on  the  Mediterranean,  the  sweet  verses  on  the  "Fatherless 
Girl,"  the  powerful  stanzas  entitled  "  Be  still,  and  know  that 
I  am  God,"  and  the  exquisite  fragment  on  the  theme  "  He  ia 
Arisen  from  the  Dead,  He  is  not  Here  " — in  "The  Parricide" 
or  even  in  the  "  Pleasures  of  Study." 

He  never  referred  himself  to  these  boyish  efforts  except 
with  a  sort  of  good-natured,  laughing  malice.  He  always  spoke 
contemptuously  of  immature  essays  of  this  kind,  and  I  have 
heard  him  say  that  in  his  opinion  one  secret  of  Cowper's  ex- 
traordinary success  as  a  poet  was  that  he  never  let  the  world 


36  EAKLY   TEACHERS. 


[1810. 


see  any  of  his  "juvenile  poems."  One  reason,  perhaps,  why 
these  boyish  effusions  in  verse  fail  to  show  Addison  Alexander 
in  his  strength,  is  that  after  his  very  first  ventures  in  this  line 
he  threw  himself  with  his  whole  soul  into  the  pursuit  of  clas- 
sical and  oriental  learning- ;  which  for  many  years  afterwards 
was  to  engage  his  highest  powers,  and  to  take  up  almost  his 
whole  time. 

And  yet  if,  when  we  compare  him  with  his  own  later  self, 
and  with  a  few  surprising  genuises,  his  talent  at  this  time  for 
making  verses  may  not  strike  one  as  very  singular  or  wonder- 
ful ;  if  we  compare  him  with  the  majority  of  clever  boys,  it 
will  appear  to  have  been  by  no  means  inconsiderable.  There 
is  certainly  promise  in  some  of  these  nervous  and  sonorous 
couplets  of  greater  things  to  come.  If,  as  Wordsworth  says, 
"  the  boy  is  father  of  the  man,"  we  may  hope  for  fine  poems 
from  this  sagacious  judgment  and  glowing  flxncy  when  they 
shall  have  become  matured  and  chastened.  Nor  shall  we  be 
disappointed  in  this  expectation.  Though  the  cloud  is  as  yet 
no  bigger  than  a  man's  hand,  a  storm  of  verse  is  brewing : 
"  poetica  surgit  tempestas." 

From  this  point  onward,  there  are  few  traces  of  that  im- 
perfection or  crudity  which  is  naturally  associated  with  the 
period  of  youth.  His  mental  development  was  now  so  rapid 
that  in  a  very  short  time  from  the  date  of  these  little  juvenile 
poems,  Addison,  though  in  years  still  almost  a  child,  was  in 
power  of  thought  and  range  of  information  a  full-grown  man; 
and  in  some  respects  a  man,  too,  of  extraordinary  ability. 

We  have  seen  tliat  he  began  the  study  of  Latin  at  a  very 
early  age,  and  had  even  commenced  the  study  of  Hebrew. 
He  had  also  entered  upon  a  course  in  Greek.  Exactly  when 
he  began  Greek  I  have  been  unable  to  find  out.  It  remains  to 
be  said,  however,  that  he  had  been  some  time  reading  Latin  and 
even  Hebrew  before  he  ever  began  to  go  to  school.  His  first 
teacher  out  of  the  family  was  named  James  Hamilton,  and  was 
known  generally  as  Jemmy  Hamilton. 

The  Rev.  George  Burro wes,  D.  D.,  noAv  professor  at  Easton, 
tells  me  he  has  often  heard  Mr.  Hamilton  "speak  with  pride 


^T.IO.]  JEMMY    HAMILTON.  3l 

of  his  connection  with  Dr.  Addison  Alexander,  as  his  teacher 
in  the  early  stage  of  the  Latin  ;  and  mention  that  with  such 
facility  did  he  even  then — a  small,  chubby,  rosy-cheeked  boy, 
pick  up  the  language,  thai  the  perfect  mastery  of  the  lessons 
of  his  class  in  Historia  Sacra,  seemed  to  him  a  mere  childish 
diversion." 

Hamilton  was  a  man  of  no  ordinary  ability  ;  a  ripe  scholar, 
and  a  teacher  of  great  merit.  He  was  a  native  of  Princeton, 
and  was  graduated  at  the  College  of  New  Jersey  in  1814. 
After  his  graduation,  he  became  an  assistant  teacher  in  the 
Princeton  Academy,  of  which  his  brother-in-law,  the  Pev. 
Jared  L.  Fyler,  was  the  principal.  On  the  removal  of  Mr. 
/Fyler  from  Princeton,  Mr,  Hamilton  established  a  school  there, 
which  he  conducted  with  distinguished  success  for  many  years. 
Among  his  pupils  were  the  three  oldest  sons  of  Dr.  Alexander, 
and  the  Rev.  Edward  N".  Kirk,  D.  D.,  of  Boston. 

Mr.  Tyler  having  opened  a  private  school  at  Trenton,  Mr. 
Hamilton  joined  him  there  as  an  assistant,  and  succeeded  to 
the  management  and  control  of  the  school,  on  the  removal  of 
Mr.  Fyler  to  Mississippi. 

On  the  appointment  of  the  Rev.  Philip  Lindsley,  D.  D.,  to 
the  presidency  of  the  University  of  Nashville,  he  took  Mr, 
Hamilton  with  him  as  a  Professor  of  Mathamatics.  This  posi- 
tion he  is  said  to  have  filled  with  signal  ability.  After  a  few 
years  he  resigned  his  chair,  returned  to  New  Jersey,  and  re- 
opened his  school  in  Trenton  ;  but  after  a  time  he  gave  it  up 
and  resumed  his  professorship  at  Nashville,  where  he  died  of 
cholera  during  the  epidemic  of  1849.  Mr.  Hamilton  was, 
according  to  the  standard  of  that  day,  a  scholar  of  rare  and 
varied  attainments,  and  while  thoroughly  grounded  in  the' 
languages,  was  eminently  distinguished  as  a  mathematician. 
He  was  by  nature  exceedingly  diffident  and  retiring,  and  this 
prevented  his  filling  that  space  in  the  public  eye  which  v/as 
occupied  by  men  of  humbler  talents  and  more  slender  acquire- 
ments. 

It  was  under  Hamilton  that  Addison  probably  received 
his  best  schooling  in  the  mathematics-     This  and  the  kindred 


38  SALMON    STRONG.  isis-lft 

sciences  was  ore  of  the  few  branches  of  study  which  be  did 
not  continue  to  prosecute  with  avidity  in  after  life.  There  is 
no  conclusive  evidence,  however,  that  his  powers  were  not 
equally  adopted  to  the  class,  or  rather  classes  of  studies  he 
actually  pursued,  and  to  the  regvilar  demonstrations  of  geome- 
try, or  even  the  refined  methods  of  the  modern  analysis.  He 
was  always  quick  at  figures,  and  was  in  the  habit,  at  least 
when  travelling,  of  keeping  accurate  accounts.  I  have  never 
detected  any  error  in  any  of  his  calculations.  He  divided  (as 
Ave  shall  presently  see)  the  first  honours  of  his  class  in  col- 
lege, and  mathematics,  though  not  carried  to  the  length.^ 
that  are  now  familiar  to  our  American  students,  yet  Ibrmed 
an  essential  part  of  the  course.  There  can  be  little  doubt  that 
his  snperb  analytical  discussions,  his  rare  faculty  of  generali- 
zation, his  exact  habits  as  an  observer,  and  his  prodigious 
memory,  might  have  placed  him  in  the  front  rank  of  physicists 
or  astronomers,  had  he  chosen  to  devote  himself  heart  and 
soul  to  these  pursuits.  It  was  his  tastes  rather  than  his  abilities 
that  pointed  in  another  direction.  Aside,  moreover,  from  his 
natural  turn  or  inclination  for  the  study  of  languages,  and  the 
burning  zeal  with  which  he  loved  to  ransack  the  treasures  of 
ancient  and  modern — of  oriental  and  occidental  literature,  the 
time  Avas  uoav  at  hand  Avhen  a  figure  typical  of  the  ignorance 
and  sin  that  are  in  the  world,  and  of  the  struggles  of  mankind 
after  light,  and  hope  and  consolation  that  are  only  to  be 
found  in  the  Bible,  was  to  stand  before  him  in  his  dreams, 
and  cry  "  Come  over  into  Macedonia  and  help  us." 

I  cannot  fix  the  date  precisely,  but  about  the  year  1817  or 
1818,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Lindsley,  then  Vice-President  and  Pro- 
fessor of  Languages  in  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  opened  in 
Princeton  a  select  classical  school  for  the  preparation  of  young 
men  for  college.  At  the  head  of  this  school  was  placed  Mr. 
Salmon  Strong,  of  New  York,  and  the  school  Avas  visited,  and 
the  classes  Avere  examined  once  a  week  by  Dr.  Lindsley.  Mr. 
Strong  had  been  a  student  of  the  Theological  Seminary,  and 
was  a  graduate  of  Hamilton  College.  He  had  the  reputation 
of  being  a  good  scholar  and  an  experienced   and  successful 


^.r.9-10.]  HORACE    S.    PRATT.  39 

teacher,  a  reputation  wliicli  he  fully  sustained  while  in  con- 
nection with  Dr.  Lindsley.  He  aiterwards  became  the  prin^ 
cipal  of  an  academy  at  Aurora,  New  York. 

This  school  was  attended  by  Addison  and  one  of  his 
brothers,  as  long  as  it  was  kept  up.  His  next  instructor  was 
Horace  S.  Pratt,  of  Connecticut.  Mr.  Pratt,  like  Mr.  Strong, 
was  a  student  of  the  Seminary,  and  was  a  graduate  of  Yale 
College.  He  taught  privately  a  lew  boys,  and  amoni  them 
the  subject  of  this  Memoir.  This  was  in  1818  and  1819.  Mr. 
Pratt  was  settled  as  a  pastor  at  St.  Maiy's,  Georgia,  and  after- 
wards, I  think,  became  a  Professor  in  the  University  of  Ala- 
bama at  Tuscaloosa.  The  tuition  under  Hamilton  was  in 
1816  and  1817.  Addison,  therefore,  must  have  stvdied  under 
Hamilton,  when  a  boy  of  seven  or  eight,  and  under  Strong 
and  Pratt,  when  a  boy  of  nine  or  ten  years  old.  It  was  partly 
under  the  stimulus  of  these  studies  that  he  wrote  the  verses 
which  have  already  been  given. 

His  mind  was  now  daily  expanding  to  the  sun  and  breeze 
of  ancient  learning ;  and  he  was  soon  to  make  his  first  ac- 
quaintance with  the  tongues  of  modern  Europe,  for  which  he 
continued  through  life  to  entertain  an  extraordinary  fondness. 
In  the  autumn  of  1819,  there  came  to  Princeton  as  a  theo- 
logical student,  a  gentleman  by  the  name  of  Robert  Baird. 
At  the  instance  of  one  of  the  professors,  he  spent  some  time 
daily  in  giving  instruction  to  the  young.  He  first  taught  in  a 
private  family  in  or  near  the  village,  and  then  in  his  room  in 
the  Seminary.  Some  time  during  the  summer  of  1821,  Mr. 
Baird  formed  an  acquaintance  and  pretty  close  intimacy  Avith 
the  eldest  son  of  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander,  who  read  French 
for  a  while  with  the  ardent  divinity  student.  How  it  was  at 
this  time,  I  do  not  know,  but  in  after  life  French  was  to  Mr. 
Baird  as  familiar  and  as  easy  as  his  mother  tongue.  At  the 
same  time  he  had  an  hour  in  the  afternoon  every  day  in  Greek 
with  the  brothers  William  and  Addison,  at  his  own  room  in 
the  seminary  building,  the  former  of  the  two  boys  being  at 
the  time  in  question  twelve,  and  the  latter  fourteen.  In  the 
autumn  of  1821,  Mr.  Baird  succeeded  Mr.  Breckinridge  as 


40  CLASSICAL    SCHOOL. 


ns2i, 


tutor  in  the  college,  and  saw  the  older  of  the  two  boys  enter 
as  a  sophomore.  The  younger  joined  a  class  of  private  schol- 
ars formed  by  Mr.  Baird,  but  taught  by  two  other  theological 
students. 

In  the  autumn  of  the  year  1822,  a  new  academy  was  estab- 
lished in  Princeton  of  which  the  now  celebrated  Robert  Baird 
became  the  principal.  Mr.  Baird  Avas  from  Pennsylvania,  and  a 
graduate  of  Jefferson  College.  He  had  been,  as  we  have  seen, 
a  student  of  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Princeton,  and  also  a 
tutor  in  the  College  of  New  Jersey.  Mr.  Baird  was  already 
somewhat  famous  for  the  accuracy  and  extent  of  his  scholar- 
sliip,  and  for  his  success  as  a  teacher,  and  in  this  new  under- 
taking, succeeded  in  imparting  an  extraordinary  degree  of 
ardour  to  his  pui^ils.  Among  his  first  scholars  was  Addison 
Alexander.  In  addition  to  his  regular  lessons,  which  were 
always  perfectly  prepared,  Addison  here  devoted  himself  with 
renewed  assiduity  to  general  literature.  He  establislied  and 
edited  a  newspaper,  which  Avas  beautifully  printed  *  with  a 
pen,  and  of  which,  I  am  assured,  the  contents  would  have 
done  no  dissredit  to  his  mature  manhood.  He  united  with 
several  others  in  founding  a  literary  society  in  the  Academy, 
and  devoted  himself  to  it  with  wonderful  relish  and  enthusiasm. 

In  conjunction  with  the  Hon.  William  Barclay  Napton,  the 
late  Chief-Justice  of  the  State  of  Missouri,  he  opened  a  moot- 
court  in  which  causes  were  argued  with  technical  propriety 
and  elaborate  skill.  Minutes  of  this  court  Avere  regularly  kept, 
in  which  the  arguments  and  decisions  were  duly  recorded. 

Among  the  other  pupils  of  Mr.  Baird  at  this  time,  Avere 
Mr.  William  King,  of  Savannah,  noAv  of  Marietta,  Georgia, 
an  intimate  friend  both  of  Mr.  Alexander  and  Judge  Napton, 
and  Mr.  David  Comfort,  formerly  of  New  Jersey,  and  now  of 
Charlotte  County  Virginia. 

*  Dr.  Alexander  had  much  of  Person's  love  for  calligraphy,  and  often 
amused  himself  with  what  might  have  seemed  to  some  a  frivolous  eye  to  the 
appearance  of  his  manuscript.  We  shall  have  abundant  testimonies  as  we  go 
on  to  his  success  in  tliis  particular.  Even  in  these  small  matters,  it  might  bo 
said  of  him  that  he  touched  nothing  that  he  did  not  adorn. 


^T.  12.]  ROBERT    BAIRD.  41 

The  circumstcances  under  vrhieh  Mr,  Baird  came  to  be  one 
of  Addison's  teachers  are  recounted  in  an  obituary  notice 
of  the  hitter,  in  the  Presbyterian,  in  which  Mr.  Baird  says  : 

"When  I  entered  the  Theological  Seminaiy  fit  Princeton,  in  the 
autumn  of  1819,  I  was  encouraged  bj  the  late  Dr.  Archibald  Alex- 
ander to  devote  two  or  three  hours  daily  to  giving  instruction ;  and 
this  I  did  throughout  the  entire  course;  first  in  a  private  family,  then 
for  a  year  and  a  half  in  my  room  in  the  Seminary  to  a  son  and  nephew 
of  the  late  Dr.  Green,  then  President  of  the  College,  and  lastly  as  a 
tutor  in  the  College.  In  the  summer  of  the  second  year  [1821]  I  be- 
came somewhat  intimately  acquainted  with  tlie  late  Pvev.  Dr.  James 
"W.  Alexander,  who,  having  graduated  the  autunm  previous,  was 
devoting  himself  to  historical  and  general  studies,  under  his  honoured 
father's  direction.  He  came  often  to  see  me,  for  the  purpose  of  read- 
ing French,  to  which  language  I  had  given  some  attention.  During 
that  summer,  at  the  request  of  their  hither,  I  undertook  to  give  some 
lessons  in  Greek  to  Addison  and  William  Alexander,  and  for  tliat  pur- 
pose they  came  every  afternoon  to  my  room  for  an  hour.  The 
former  was  then  twelve  years  old,  the  latter  fourteen. 

"In  the  autumn  of  1821  I  took  the  place  of  the  late  Dr.  John 
Breckinridge  as  a  tutor  in  Princeton  College;  William  entered  the 
Sophomore  class  that  autumn,  and  was  no  more  under  my  instruction  ; 
but  Addison  joined  a  class  of  boys  which  I  formed,  but  not  being  able 
to  teacli  them  on  account  of  the  tutorship,  I  committed  them  to  two 
fellow-students  in  the  Theological  Seminary.  In  the  autumn  of  1822, 
leaving  the  tutorship,  and  having  completed  the  course  of  studies 
in  the  Seminary,  I  took  charge  of  a  classical  school  in  Princeton, 
which  I  conducted  till  the  spring  of  1828,  wlien,  for  want  of  sufficient 
health,  I  gave  it  up  for  an  active  course  of  life,  which,  under  one  form 
or  other,  I  have  pursued  ever  since.  Addison  entered  the  school  at 
the  outset,  and  continued  in  it  till  the  age  of  fifteen,  when  he  entered 
(in  the  autumn  of  1824)  the  junior  class  in  the  college.  His  brother 
Archibald  entered  the  school  at  a  later  day,  and  remained  in  it  till  ho 
entered  College." 

Never  was  a  sensitive  and  basliful  man  more  misjudged 
than  was  Addison  Alexander.  From  the  first  he  was  shy 
reserved  and  diffident;  not  diffident  perhaps  of  his  abili- 
ties or  acquirements,  but  unwilling  and  almost  incapable  of 
showing  them  off.     It  is  interesting  to  know  that  his  early 


42  TALENT    FOR    WRITING.  0821. 

eiTorts  in  declamation,  like  those  of  Demosthenes  and  Vv'cb- 
ster,  v.'crc  I'ailuves.  Yet  he  aiterwards  excelled  most  of  his 
mates  in  the  gift  and  art  of  oratory.  On  these  points  his 
preceptor  continues : 

"  "Wlien  Addison  came  under  my  instruction  ho  was  a  sliort  and 
stout  boy,  possessing  fine  health  and  a  fine  flow  of  spirits,  but  exceed- 
ingly diffident.  His  first  attempts  at  speaking  before  tlie  school  were 
about  as  unpromising  as  can  well  be  imagini.'d.  He  was  so  diffident 
that  he  could  scarcely  get  on  at  all ;  and  yet  when  he  left  the  school 
to  enter  tlie  College,  at  tiie  age  of  little  more  tlian  fifteen,  he  had  grown 
very  much,  and  was  a  graceful  and  eftective  speaker.  And  when  he 
graduated,  two  years  later,  lie  was  a  very  fine  speaker— finer,  I  tliink, , 
than  lie  was  in  the  later  periods  of  his  I'fe.  I  do  not  believe  that  he 
ever  got  r'd  of  the  extreme  diffidence  which  characterized  his  youth. 
It  was,  undoubtedly,  the  principal  cause  of  his  strong  repugnance  to 
going  freely  int  >  society.  It  combined  with  his  delight  in  study  to 
make  him  more  of  a  recluse  than  his  friends  dusired  him  to  be."* 

Perhai)S  no  one  was  more  struck  with  his  cleverness  and 
versatility  than  the  head  of  the  Academy  himself.  The  "  com- 
positions "  of  his  round-faced  little  scholar  greatly  and  espe- 
cially attracted  hira.     On  this  point  he  says : 

"At  that  early  period  he  displayed  much  talent  for  writing.  At 
twelve  o'clock  every  day  it  was  my  custom  to  require  two  of  the 
boys  to  read  each  a  sketch  of  one  of  the  deities  of  the  Roman  and 
Greek  mythology,  or  of  some  of  the  heroes  or  authors  of  ancient  or 
modern  times,  or  of  some  country,  or  of  some  portion  of  history. 
The  ei>itonies  which  he  produced  were  always  excellent.  Even  then, 
T  may  aid,  he  had  a  great  fondness  for  writing  stories  fir  the  small 
boys,  in  wliich  he  displayed  great  tact  as  well  as  taste.  A  fondness 
for  this  sort  of  amusement  he  retained,  I  believe,  to  his  dying  day- 
passing  from  tlie  gravest  and  severest  studies  with  the  most  extraordi- 
nary ease  to  the  writing  of  pleasant  and  interesting  stories,  and  pieces 
of  poetry  for  youthful  minds.  He  began  also  at  that  time  to  be  an 
editor.  'lie  established  a  weekly  journal,  writing  every  word  in  snch 
a  way  as  wonderfully  to  resemble  printing.  I  have  forgotten  the  name 
of  his  periodical;  but  I  remember  that  an  opposition  paper  soon 
appeared,  and  as  might  be  expected,  it  was  not  very  long  before  I  had 

*  Dr.  Baird,  in  the  Presbyterian. 


Mt.  14.] 


GREAT    INDL'STRY.  43 


to  sunvrcss  both — the  first  and  second  ^warninr/''  which  I  gave  on!} 
provoking  both  editors  to  say  some  very  bold  things,  things  which 
encroached  too  much  on  my  inagijleriul  prerogatives." 


)i* 


In  n  letter  to  Mrs.  Graham,  dated  July  22,  1823,  Dr.  Alex- 
ander refers  to  Addison's  extraordinary  industry,  his  Homeric 
studies,  his  penchant  for  the  law,  his  aversion  to  teaching,  his 
joy  at  finding  some  Persian  manuscrii3t,  and  his  admiration 
for  Sir  William  Jones.  The  greatness  and  goodness  of  Jones 
always  seemed  to  exert  an  iniluence  on  him  whenever  he  had 
occasion  to  go  to  liim  for  pleasure  or  instruction.  '•  Addison  is 
at  home,  not  loitering,  but  engaged  fourteen  hours  of  the  day  in 
hard  study.  He  read  five  books  of  Homer  in  one  week,  and 
is  o-oino-  through  the  Odyssey  as  well  as  the  Iliad.  Unless  the 
o-race  of  God  should  prevent,  the  law  will  probably  be  his 
proies.sion.  He  is  fond  of  legal  disquisitions.  But  I  never 
heard  him  express  an  opinion  on  tlie  subject  of  a  profession. 
To  teaching  he  has  a  strong  aversion,  which  is  the  case  with 
all  my  children.  Addison  has  found  two  old  Persian  manu- 
scripts in  the  College  Library,  and  the  very  sight  of  them 
o-ives  him  pleasure.  I  can  see  very  plainly  that  his  admira- 
tion of  Sir  William  Jones  influences  him  in  all  his  literary 
pursuits." 

An  interesting  relic  of  this  period  is  given  below,  which 
bears  this  inscription : 

"  An  Arabic  transLition  of  the  title-page  of  '  Waverley,'  by  Jos. 
A.  Alexander. 

"Princeton,  August  20,  1822." 

The  facsimile  of  a  page  of  oi-iginal  Arabic,  composed  and 
written  by  a  boy  of  thirteen,  will  be  regarded  as  a  literary 
curiosity. 

There  is  another  specimen  of  this  kind  of  the  same  date, 
and  his  journals  of  subsequent  years  are  full  of  this  flexible 
but  difiieult  character.     There  are  also  letters  of  his  extant 

*Tlie  reader  will  be  amused  by  comparing  this  account  of  the  suppres* 
siou  of  the  weekly  paper  with  that  given  in  these  pages  by  Mr.  King. 


44  FACSIMILE    OF    ARABIC.  [1823. 

svritten  partly  in  this  tongue.  But  the  fragment  here  given 
is,  not  only  from  its  early  origin  and  its  occasion,  but  also 
from  its  subject,  probably  the  most  singular  memorial  of  his 
oriental  studies. 


^. 


«« ■ 

His  old  teacher,  Dr.  Baird,  has  put  his  hand  to  the  discrim- 


^T.14.]  AT    SCHOOL.  46 

inating  judgment   of  Ids  cavly  poAyera  as  a  linguist,  which  I 
give  below : 

"I  cannotsay  that  he  was  remarkably  accurate  iti  liis  knowledge 
of  the  Latin  and  Greek  languages  when  he  first  came  to  me,  although 
he  had  read  nearly  every  author  that  was  required  for  entrance  into 
the  Freshman  class.  But  such  was  his  progress  in  two  or  three  years 
that  he  became  a  remarkably  fine  scholar,  entered  the  College  with 
high  reputation,  and  took  the  first  lionours  of  the  Institution.*  I  have 
never  seen  a  better  classical  scholar  at  the  age  of  fifteen  than  he  was. 
Nor  was  his  knowledge  of  mathematics  much  inferior  to  that  of  the 
Latin  and  Greek  languages.  He  wrote  Latin,  both  in  prose  and  verse, 
with  great  ease  and  purity.  Many  of  his  imitations  of  the  Odes  of 
Horace  were  admirable.  Towards  the  end  of  his  course  in  the  Acade- 
my he  could  i-ead  with  ease  several  pages  of  Herodotus  orThucydides, 
or  two  hundred  lines  of  Homer  in  an  hour. 

"  During  almost  all  liis  course  with  me  he  taught  for  nearly  an  hour 
every  morning  and  afternoon  one  of  the  lower  classes,  and  he  did  it  well. 
He  was  a  great  favorite  with  the  boys.  He  was  sure  to  have  a  crowd 
around  him,  if  he  came  lialf  an  hour  or  more  before  the  school  opened. 
On  tliese  occasions  his  diffidence  always  left  liim.  He  was  the  master- 
spirit in  the  Literary  Society  of  the  Academy,  as  well  as  in  the  Moot- 
Court,  which  the  boys  held  once  a  week,  where  he  was  sure  to  be  em- 
inent, whether  he  acted  the  part  of  the  judge  or  that  of  the  advocate." 

As  to  his  disposition  to  stick  to  his  books,  and  his  geniality 
of  feeling,  ho  adds  the  following  handsome  testimony : 

"For  reasons  which  I  have  stated,  Dr.  Joseph  Addison  Alexander 
was  never  fond  of  going  into  society ;  but  he  was  far  from  being  of  a 
morose  disposition.  On  the  contrary,  his  feelings  Avere  genial,  and  his 
attachments  were  sincere  and  enduring.  His  delight  was  in  his  books, 
and  in  the  society  of  his  intimate  friends.  But  he  had  neither  time  nor 
inclination  to  go  into  company." 

*  Several  of  those  who  were  fellow-students  of  Addison  in  the  Academy 
have  become  men  of  more  than  ordinary  usefulness  and  distinction.  One  of 
them,  who  is  now  Judge  Napton,  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Missouri,  was  hia 
classmate  both  in  the  Academy  and  the  College,  and  shared  with  him  the  high- 
est honours  of  the  class  in  both.  It  was  impossible  to  determine  which  of 
them  was  the  better  scholar.  Judge  Napton  may  have  his  equal  in  the  knowl- 
edge of  law,  but  I  am  sure  that  he  has  no  supeiior,  either  in  legal  or  classical 
attainments,  in  all  the  West. 


46  TRENTON    llEMINISCENCES.  C1823. 

I  might  add  almost  maofiintcly  to  the  testimonies  already 
given.  °A  few  more  may  be  appended  here.  Dr.  George  M. 
Maclean,  the  brotlier  of  the  President,  and,  as  I  haye  reason  to 
remember,  a  skillful  and  accomplished  physician,  writes  as 
follows : 

"I  remember  Lim  as  a  boy  of  unusually  great  promise,  one  Ha-  in 
advance  of  those  of  bis  years  in  attainments.  He  associated  but  little 
with  other  boys." 

This  was  when  he  was  a  school-boy,  say  of  ten  or  twelve. 
I  also  feel  .at  liberty  to  mention  the  name  of  James  Ewing, 
Esq.,  of  Trenton,  who  carried  off  the  highest  honours  of  the 
class  of  1823,  and  who  does  not  hesitate  to  express  himself  m 
similar  terms.  He  has  told  me  that  though  he  saw  little  of 
Addison  in  those  days,  he  remembers  distinctly  that  his  extra- 
ordinary promise  as  a  scholar  was  matter  of  general  talk  iu 
Princeton.  He  says  he  was  exceedingly  fleshy,  with  a  lace 
that  hloomed  with  health  and  high  spirits.  A  venerable  lady 
livincr  in  the  same  town  (Trenton),  who  is  now  upwards  of 
eio-ht°',  and  long  a  ^alued  friend  of  the  family,  confirms 
both  'of  these  statements,  and  adds  that  she  recollects  one 
occasion  in  particular,  on  which  his  father  called  Addison 
up  to  his  knee  and  made  him  recite  Latin  words  to  her. 
This  was  when  he  was  a  very  little  boy.  The  same  lady 
also  recalls  to  mind  a  meal  that  she  once  took  in  his  house 
after  his  father's  death,  and  how  singularly  charming  and 
entertaining  he  was. 

Mr.  Comfort,  who  is  himself  a  teacher  of  many  years 
standing,  has  informed  me  th?,t  Addison's  recitations  at  this 
time  wel'e  faultless,  and  that  his  manner  of  making  them  was 
very  similar  to  his  manner  in  after  life  when  lecturing  or  preach- 
ing without  notes.  He  says  that  his  fluency  of  speech,  and 
nuOTing  accuracy  of  expression,  were  quite  as  remarkable  at 
this,  as°a':  any  later  period.  He  would  pour  out  his  words 
with  vehemence  and  rapidity,  in  a  sort  of  clear,  steady,  nnd 
voluble  torrent.  He  always  got  a  perlect  mark.  His  habits 
of    solitary    study    and    segregation    from    the   mass   of   liis 


^T.  14.] 


TRAITS    OF    CIIARACTEll,  47 


fellows,  were  already  formed.     His  gentleness,  liveliness,  and 
sparkling  wit  and  humour,  when  in  a  happy  frame  of  mind 
and  in  society  he  loved,  were  just  as  conspicuous  as  aiter- 
wards.     He  also  occasionally  exhibited  the  same  high-toned 
firmness  and  frankness  of  character  which,  in  some  ol  its  mani- 
festations, always  excited  Avonder  if  not  resentment  among 
those  who  did  not  know  him  thoroughly.     Just  here  I  will  say, 
that  in  my  opinion  he  was  one  of  the  most  intrepidly  honest, 
as  well  as,  when  so  disposed,  one  of  the  most  open-hearted  and 
generous-heart  ed  of  men.     The  brother  who  sat  by  his  side  at 
Mr.  Baird's  school,  testifies  that  Addison  was  then,  as  he  was  al- 
ways, noted  for  his  singular  truthfulness.     This  was  a  remark- 
able trait  in  his  disposition.     The  brother  to  whom  I  refer 
never  knew  him  flinch  from  telling  the  plain  truth  about  any 
thing.    This  peculiarity  charactenzed  him  throughout  life,  and 
was  one  cause  of  his  giving  offence  sometimes.     He  "  came 
right  out  with  a  thing,"  as  we  say,  where  many  would  have 
smoothed  or  softened  a  little,  at  the  expense  of  strict  veracity. 
He  seems  to  have  held  to  the  opinion  once  advanced  by  John 
Randolph  of  Roanoke   (but  now  not  much  in  vogue),  that 
candour  is  as  great  an  ornament  in  a  man,  as  modesty  is  in  a 
woman.     He  never  learned,  and  certainly  never  practised  the 
wiles  of  small  dissimulation  which,  though  undoubtedly  re- 
pugnant to  the  strict  Bible  standard,  are  not  flatly  condemned, 
but  are  rather  tolerated,  if  they  are  not  expressly  sanctioned 
by  the  canons  of  the  world.     He  was  indeed  a  stranger  to 
many  of  the  arts  of  society  which  are  unquestionably  innocent ; 
but  there  was  a  fount  of  native  politeness  in  his  heart,  and  no 
hjo-h-bred  courtier  ever  knew  better  how  to  cliarm.     His  eye 
had  a  merry  twinkle  that  is  indescribable,  and  that  resembled 
bright  sunshine  glancing  over  blue  seas.     His  cheek  was  fair 
and  rosy ;  his  head  was  too  broad  and  massive  for  the  impres- 
sion of  simple  elegance,  but  his  features  were  delicately  regu- 
lar, and  his  face  was  round  and  decidedly  comely.     His  hair 
was  dark  brown  —  chestnut  brown,   and   thin  ;    his  lip  was 
chiselled  like  a  piece  of  statuary,  and  expressed  decision  and 
resolve;   it  was  like  the  lip  of  Bonaparte.      His  head   was 


48  PERSONAL    APPEARANCE.  [1328. 

large  and  broad,  beyond  almost  any  thing  I  ever  saw  in  a  per- 
son of  his  height ;  and  yet  it  was  not  at  all  too  large  for  his 
body,  and  was  jicrfcctly  well  balanced.  His  brow  would 
have  served  a  sculptor  for  a  model  of  Jupiter.  I  doubt 
whether  Webster  or  Cuvier  had  a  much  larger  brain.  His 
stature  was  below  rather  than  above  the  medium,  yet  his  bulk 
would  always  impress  one  as  being  very  great.  His  tendency 
was  always  to  corpulency.  His  figure  and  head  have  re- 
minded many  of  Napoleon.  His  face  was  certainly  like  the 
Napoleon  at  Fontainebleau  of  Paul  de  la  Roche,  It  had  the 
same  air  of  concentrated  passion  in  repose,  though  it  had  noth- 
ing of  that  look  of  fiery  and  intrepid  gloom.  His  countenance 
was  like  a  clear  sky  that  might  one  day  rock  with  whirlwind. 
When  he  laughed,  there  was  a  fine  union  in  his  face  of  mascu- 
line genius  and  childlike  mirth.  This  picture  is  of  course 
taken  at  a  later  period,  but  it  corresponds  in  general  with  the 
accounts  of  his  boyhood. 

One  of  his  school-fellows  says  he  distinctly  remembers  how 
"  Addison  "  looked  as  he  sat  in  the  school-room  wrapt  up  in 
his  cloak,  and  mentions  his  fleshy  person,  ruddy  cheek,  and 
twinkling  eye.  The  brother  who  studied  with  him  says  that, 
as  when  he  had  his  father  for  a  master,  Addison  while  under 
these  new  preceptors  never  engaged  in  ordinary  boys'  sports. 
Even  his  plays  partook  of  an  intellectual  character ;  they 
were,  for  the  most  part,  legal,  forensic,  or  political  combats, 
such  as  holding  courts,  having  mock  trials,  editing  news- 
papers, etc. 

It  gives  me  pleasure  to  insert  here  several  large  extracts 
from  a  letter  I  have  lately  received  from  his  school-mate  and 
early  friend,  Mr.  Khig.  Mr.  King,  writing  from  Marietta, 
Georgia,  saj^s : 

"  You  have  greatly  contributed  to  my  gratification,  in  put- 
ting upon  me  the  task  of  communicating  to  you  my  recollec- 
tions of  the  youthful  days  of  my  highly  esteemed  friend,  the 
late  Rev.  J.  Addison  Alexander ;  thus  bringing  afresh  to  my 
memory  the  pleasures  of  my  boyish  days,  and  my  intimate 
associations  with  one  so  much  beloved ;   but  a  lapse  of  over 


Mt.U.]  MR.    KINGS    RECOLLECTIONS.  49 

forty  years  has  damped  the  ardor  of  youth,  and  put  memory 
at  fault.  None  however  of  my  early  friends  have  left  more 
durable  and  pleasant  impressions  upon  my  memory,  or  which 
I  have  cherished  with  moi-e  care. 

"My  acquaintance  with  Addison  was  formed  early  in  the 
year  1823,  when  I  attended  the  Princeton  Academy,  then 
in  the  charge  of  Mr.  Robert  Baird  ;  and  I  continued  in  per- 
sonal intimate  association  with  him  until  the  flxll  of  the 
year  1824,  when  these  relations  were  interrui^ted  by  my 
return  to  the  South.  I  never  saw  him  but  once  afterwards. 
We  regularly  corresponded  for  many  years.  His  last  letter 
to  me  was  written  about  two  years  before  his  death.  He 
was  near  two  yeai-s  my  junior,  but  was  then  well  grown, 
having  indeed  nearly  attained  his  full  height,  with  an  excess 
of  flesh;  weighing,  I  think,  over  a  hundred  and  fifty  pounds. 
Tliongh  very  fleshy,  he  was  always  quick  and  sprightly.  He 
had  at  this  time  a  round  red  face,  with  brilliant  and  mis- 
chievous eyes,  that  were  nearly  always  full  of  fun.  Among 
strangers  (whose  presence  he  avoided  as  much  as  possible) 
he  was  very  quiet  and  reserved,  but  so  observing  that  their 
peculiarities  supplied  him  with  a  stock  of  amusing  comments 
for  the  gratification  of  his  friends.  With  his  intimate  friends 
(very  few  in  number)  he  was  a  most  incessant  talker,  and 
so  abounding  in  life,  wit,  and  humour,  that  he  was  generally 
allowed  to  occupy  as  much  of  the  time  as  he  desired.  His 
sarcasm  was  often  of  the  most  caustic  nature ;  kind-hearted 
as  he  was,  his  best  friends  were  often  made  to  feel  the 
severity  of  his  wit.  His  life  and  buoyancy  when  in  the 
society  of  his  chosen  companions  was  extraordinary ;  but  the 
sudden  appearance  of  a  stranger  as  suddenly  transformed 
him  into  a  serious,  silent  boy,  exhibiting  all  the  modesty 
of  a  girl,  but  giving  full  employment  to  his  eyes  and  ears. 
He  realized,  in  a  certain  sense,  the  old  figment  of  the  duality 
of  the  soul.  He  seemed  to  possess  two  difierent  natures. 
To  one  person,  he  appeared  a  boy  of  unbounded  life  and  con- 
versational powers,  to  another  his  character  seemed  thought- 
ful and  silent.     He  never  betrayed  any  malicious  feelings  nor 


50 


MR.    king's    recollections.  tl823. 


immoral  tendencies.     As  a  boy,  his  disposition  lov  placmg 
persons   and   things   in  a  ridiculous   attitude   was   extreme, 
and  his  powers  in  this  direction  were  seldom  equalled.     His 
most  valued  associates  enjoyed  no  privilege  in  this  respect ; 
yet  this  strange  treatment  of  those  he  really  loved  sprung 
from  pure  vivacity  of  mind,  untinctured  with  any  bitterness 
of  fcelino-.     He  was  a  hard  student   then,  as   in   after  life, 
seldom  wasting   any  time."     Mr.  King   says   that  Addison 
»  was  fond  of  long  walks  in  the  country  with  one  companion, 
and   that  he  was  generally  the    one   to   enjoy  the   pleasant 
walks  with  him,  often  to  a  distance  of  two  or  three  miles 
from  the  town."     He  adds  that  "dui'ing  those  long  walks 
his  tongue  was  kept  as  active  as  his  body.     He  had  acqmred 
a  large  stock  of  knowledge  even  in  those  early  years  of  his 
life  ^'Hc  was  then  considered  a  fine  Arabic  scholar,  and  per- 
fectly at  home  in  the  Latin  and  Greek  languages.     His  general 
readino-  was  extensive,  and  he  seldom  forgot  any  thing  he 
read,  heard,  or  saw,  and  was  very  quick  in  bringing  into  use 
the  stock  he  had   thus   stored  in   his   remarkable  memory. 
His  compositions  for  school  were  written  in  the  finest  style, 
and  were  remarkably  interesting."     Many  of  these,  says  Mr. 
Kino-    "  I  had  taken  possession  of,  and  retained  to  read  and 
re-reli'd  in  my  after-years  for  the  gratification  of  myself  and 
my  friends.     So  valued  were  these  remains  of  his  boyish  eff^u- 
sions,  that  they,  with  his  many  letters  written  in  his  early  and 
later  years,  were  carefully  preserved  by  me;  and  they  would 
now  be  a  treasure  to  you.      But  they  are  all  gone;  not  a 
single  one  is  left  to  me.     His  piece  for  a  school  exercise,  on 
the  'Wandering  Baboon,'  an  extravaganza  founded  on   tlie 
supposed   escape   of   such   an   animal   from   a  menagerie   m 
Princeton,   exhibited    the    greatest    talent    as    a   descriptive 
writer,  and  the   greatest   powers   of  wit   and   satire.      The 
youno-   humourist   represented   the  creature  as   rovmg  over 
the  Rocky  hills  lying  north  of  the  town,  much  to  the  dis- 
may  of  the  honest  country  folk  who   inhabit  that  serrated 
Tido-e.     Another  piece  in  which  he  had  collected  together  to 
coiwey  his  ideas  all  the  difficult  and  unused  words  in  our 


<et.i4.]  humourous  writing.  51 

language,  was  a  model  of  his  skill,  although  each  word  was 
properly  used  aud  carefully  read.*  From  his  hearers  gene- 
rally, his  ideas,  as  expressed  in  this  remarkable  effort,  were  as 

*  These  feats  in  English  composition  were  always  favourite  diversions  with 
Dr.  Addison  Alexander.  The  Princeton  Magazine  is  full  of  his  Essays  of  this 
character,  but  some  of  the  most  astonishing  among  them  have  never  seen  the 
light.  This  periodical  also  contains  specimens  of  his  hmnourous  pieces  in  other 
styles.  The  ingenuity,  scholarship,  and  wit  that  were  put  to  the  stretch  in 
these  amusing  exercises  seemed  to  be  inexhaustible.  The  variety  of  styles  in 
wliich  this  comic  humour  was  indulged  was  without  linown  limit.  Scarcely  two 
of  these  pieces  are  composed  on  the  same  principle.  I  shall  have  occasion  to 
reftn-  to  this  subject  again  in  other  connections.  I  need  only  point  now  to  such 
articles  in  the  Princeton  Magazine  as  the  one  on  "  Economy  of  Thought,"  tlie 
one  on  "  Economy  of  Words,"  those  on  "  Freedom  of  Speech,"  and  those  enti- 
tled "  Correspondence  of  the  Princeton  Magazine,"  "  Counsellor  Phillips,"  "Gen- 
tlemiiuly,"  "Ham  and  Eggs:  A  Plea  for  Silent  Legislation,"  "  Mother  Country 
and  P^ithei'-Lruid  :  A  Dialogue,"  "Nil  Admirari,"  "  Westminster  nnd  Washing- 
ton," "  School  of  Legislation,"  "  Some  People,"  "  Something  New,"  "Utilitarian 
Poetry,"  "The  Tailors'  Strike:  An  Humble  Attempt  at  The  Newest  French 
Style  of  Romantic  Fiction,"  "  The  King's  English,"  by  "  Miss  Mary,"  and 
"  The  Riches  of  the  English  Language."  The-e  are  some  of  the  most  striking. 
The  last  contains  a  composition  that  almost  meets  the  conditions  of  Mr.  King's 
dfscription  of  the  one  which  excited  the  laughter  of  the  boys  at  Princeton.  It 
is  niaile  up  of  words  all  of  whicl»  are  (or  were)  to  be  found  in  Webster's  Dic- 
tionary; '-although,"  observes  the  writer,  "some,  I  regret  to  say,  are  marked 
as  obsolete." 

"  During  a  short  outlope,  which  I  took  one  rafiy  morning,  in  my  olitory 
fell,  to  discover  the  ubication  of  a  vespiary  which  annoyed  me,  I  saw  a  tall, 
waady,  losd  lungis,  in  a  leasy  roquebtur,  thridding  my  gate,  and  knabbing  a 
jannock  which  I  had  just  before  inchested  in  my  pantry.  From  his  xanthic 
colour  I  took  him  for  a  Zambo  polLr  who  had  sometimes  shaved  me.  As  it 
was  gang  week,  I  thought  he  might  be  maunding,  and  would  willingly  have 
givon  him  a  manehet;  but  I  was  not  such  a  hoddy-doddy  as  to  suiTer  every 
patibulary  querry  to  go  digitigrade  about  m_y  house  and  grounds.  I  mounted 
my  horse,  whicli  I  had  left  to  gise  on  a  seavy  eyot  in  the  neighboring  beck 
during  my  grussation,  and  pursued  him,  but  he  seized  a  clevy  and  tried  to 
blench  the  horse's  chaufin  and  to  base  him  back  into  the  fell.  Failing  in  this, 
he  began  to  aceoy  me,  and  begged  me  to  employ  him  as  an  abacist,  pretending 
he  had  serveJ  as  a  lancepesade  of  inf  mtry  in  Hayti.  But  I  sneljbcd  and  gouged 
him,  and  not  wishing  the  affair  to  be  known  to  the  neighbouring  clerisy,  wiio 
were  already  not  a  little  roih.'d  by  some  things  I  had  said  too  overlashingly,  I 
let  the  lown  go  shot-free,  aud  went  home  rather  lateward,  feeling  very  hebete 


g2  "THE    MEDLEY."  ^823. 

much  concealed  as  if  it  had  been  written  in  an  unknown 
tongue  ;  still  its  reading  afforded  an  immense  amount  ot 
mirth  to  his  hearers,  ignorant  as  they  were  Irom  the  begin- 
nine,  to  the  end  of  the  novel  recitation  as  to  the  meaning 
embodied   in   the  rapidly  uttered  and  enigmatical  syllables 

that  saluted  their  ears.  .  +wi    f 

« His  chief   if  not  his  only  intimate  companions  ot  tiiat 
time  were  Judge  Napton  and  myself,  boys  of  near  the  same 
acre,  and  having  much  congeniality  of  feeling  and  opinions. 
For  a  lono-  time  the  three  issued  from  the  Academy  aweeldy 
manuscript  paper  entitled  the    'Medley,' which  received  an 
extensive  circulation,  being  often  carried  over  mto  Ncnv  Yorl. 
and  Philadelphia.     This  paper  afforded  much  entertainment 
to  the  readers,  and   much  intellectual  profit  to  the  editors 
This   iournal   was   suppressed    by  Mr.   Baird,  the   Prmcipal 
of  the  Academy,  whose  order  conveying  the  injunction  was 
the  occasion  of  serious  murmurs  and  discontent  among  his 
pupils.     He  was  willing  that  the  good  should  be  lost  rather 
than  hazard   an   apprehended  evil.     Sometimes  the  wit  and 
satire  were  too  scathing;  the  students  of  the  academy    the 
community,  and  sometimes  the  opinions   and  domgs  ol  our 
hio-hly-esteemed  teacher,  though  the  names  of  the  parties  sat- 
iril-d  were  never  mentioned,  were  the  subject  of  that  papers 
comments.     Addison  was  the  chief  contributor  to  its  columns. 
In  the  debating  Society  of  the  Academy  he  took  little  inter- 
est     He  performed  his  part,  but  more  as  a  duty  than  a  pleas- 
He  manifested  very  little  desire  for  argument  or  diseus- 


ure. 


and  curst ;  but  after  eating  a  chewet  and  drinking  a  few  mozors  of  pcrldn,  I 
slunined  into  the  quag  and  slept  till  morning." 

The  "Faudan^^o  of  Osiris,"  "An  Oriental  Tale,"  &c.,  are  in  the  same  gen- 
oral  chara  ter,  th  ugh  each  of  these  absurd  effusions  is  marked  by  it.  own  na- 
W  a  d ^comparable  peculiarities.  A  f.iend  has  called  my  attention  to  the 
srr  kin^  resemblance  of  some  of  these  to  some  of  Swift's  humourous  p  eees 
The  point  is  well  taken.  The  likeness  in  some  respects  s  apparent ;  yet  m  other 
the  Spontaneous  effusions  of  which  I  have  been  speaking  are  without  a  paralle 
!n  the  whole  range  of  Enghsh  Literature.  One  is  a  little  reminded  at  times 
of  Rabelais  or  Lc  Sage. 


^T.14.]  ORIGINAL    COMPOSITION.  53 

sion,  but  generally  he  brought  into  exercise  his  masterly 
power  of  destroying  the  force  of  his  opponent's  argument  by 
wit  and  burlesque.  Young  Napton's  talent  was  of  a  different 
order.  Although  a  hard  student  and  good  scholar,  his  genera' 
reading  was  less,  and  his  memory  more  like  that  of  other 
men."  Mr.  King,  however,  was  u.nder  the  impression  that 
Judge  Napton's  thinking  powers  and  argumentative  skill 
were  superior  at  that  time  to  those  of  his  friend.  This,  if 
true,  would  be  no  derogation  from  his  talents. 

Mr.  King  concludes  his  interestiiig  letter  as  follows  :  "  In 
the  days  of  Addison's  boyhood,  his  subsequent  greatness  was 
shadowed  forth  ;  he  was  as  I'emarkable  as  a  boy  as  he  after- 
wards became  remarkable  as  a  man.  God  in  his  wisdom  has 
cut  him  down  in  the  prime  of  life,  and  in  the  midst  of  useful- 
ness; but  he  had  even  then  attained  in  knowledge,  the  posi- 
tion of  old  age  in  other  learned  men." 

Whenever  any  thing  was  to  be  done  in  the  way  of  rapid 
original  comjDosition,  and  the  dull  or  lazy  fellow  on  whom  the 
task  had  been  imposed  could  not  or  would  not  do  it ;  when- 
ever a  boy  wanted  to  astonish  his  teacher  and  companions 
with  an  uncommonly  humourous  or  florid  oration — something 
quite  out  of  the  usual  line — recourse  was  had  at  once  to  Addi- 
son. He  was  easy  and  accommodating  in  his  disposition,  and 
always  willing  to  help  a  classmate  out  of  the  slough.  One  of 
his  school-fellows  has  told  me  that  from  the  very  beginning, 
the  precocious  linguist  and  satirist  gave  him  the  sense  of  in- 
exhaustible capacity  for  every  species  of  writing.  He  said  the 
quick  and  exact  mathematician,  the  young  master  of  Latin  and 
Greek,  and  English,  the  blue-eyed  lover  of  the  Arabic  and 
Persian,  seemed  to  be  up  to  any  thing,  and  always  ready  for  a 
good  practical  joke.  He  was  a  round-bodied,  merry,  rather 
silent,  shrewd,  accurate,  kind-hearted,  startling,  comical  lad. 
His  complexion  was  white  and  red,  and  his  plump  figure 
threatened  trouble  on  the  score  of  too  much  flesh. 

"  Did  I  ever  mention  to  you,"  asks  a  friend, "  having  heard 
of  Addison's  writing  speeches  for  older  hoys,  while  he  was 
quite  a  junior  pupil  in  the  old  Princeton  Academy  on  the  hill, 


54 


STONY    BROOK.  ^1821. 


rear  Mr.  John  Potter's?  Tlic  older  boys  were  required,  on 
set  oceasions,  perhaps  at  the  close  of  the  sessions,  to  deliver 
original  speeches  before  public  audiences.  While  Addison 
was  a  mere  boy,  I  think  not  more  than  thirteen  years  old,  he 
«-ould  write  speeches  for  his  seniors  which  would  '  bring  down 
the  house.'  You  and  I  can  understand  how  he  would  appre- 
ciate such  a  joke;  and  how  much  better  than  most  boys,  or 
men  either,  he  could  keep  such  a  secret." 

He  always  entertained  an  aifection  for  the  umbrageous 
solitudes  of  Stony  Brook.  The  memory  ox  green  woods  and 
silver  streams  as  a  part,  and  a  most  delightful  one,  ot  the 
scenery  of  his  school-boy  recreations,  was  always  cherished  by 
him  O  that  I  knew  how  to  tell  how  he  wandered  in  the  sum- 
mer afternoons  imder  the  spreading  branches  of  the  elm  and 
the  chestnut ;  and  how,  perhaps,  like  his  brother  James,  he 
cut  letters  in  the  beech  or  aspen  ! 

One  dny  long  afterwards  he  wrote  in  his  journal,  "  walked 
to  Stony  Brook,"  and  then  appended  the  lines  given  below, 
and  which  were  "composed  while  walking,  Nov.  5,  1853." 

They  may  chance  to  strike  some  as  being  pretty,  and  are 
undoubtedly  of  biographical  interest.  They  throw  an  addi- 
tional ray  here  and  there  upon  his  boyish  fancies  and  ambition, 
and  the  mental  struggle  it  must  have  cost  him,  with  his  sense 
of  rare  powers  and  precocious  acquisitions,  to  give  up  his  early 
dreams  of  fame  in  the  world  of  letters,  and  perhaps  of  active 
exploit.  They  also  show  how  much  he  loved  the  place  and 
associations  of  his  childhood. 

"  Dear  Princeton !    What  a  volume  is  contained 
In  that  one  word !     How  many  memories,^ 
Both  sweet  and  sad,  come  pouring  out  of  it, 
As  from  an  ancient  spring,  long  choked  or  dry, 
But  now  reopened  with  a  sudden  burst 
And  gush  of  waters.     Oh  beloved  home 
Of  my  long  lost,  irrevocable  youth  ! 
Even  in  sleep,  when  I  revisit  thee, 
I  cease  to  be  my  present  self— I  grow 
Preposterously  young — I  am  a  boy, 
A  wild,  ambitious,  visionary  boy, 


^T.12.:  MR.    BAIRD.  65 

Dreaming  the  old  dreams  all  alive  •with  hopes 

Long  dead  and  buried,  till  I  start  awake 

And  know  them  to  be  phantoms.     How  much  more 

"When  in  reality  I  travel  back 

To  these  familiar  places,  does  my  life 

Go  backwards  too !  " 

After  finally  establishing  the  academy  and  bringing  it  to  a 
high  state  of  prosi^erity,  Mr.  Baird,  in  the  spring  of  1828, 
gave  it  up  and  sought  a  renewal  of  health  in  the  more  active 
pursuits  in  which  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life.  Mr. 
Baird.  was  in  many  and  perhaps  all  respects  the  best  of  Addi- 
son's teachers  before  he  entered  college.*  This  estimable  gen- 
tleman afterwards  married  a  Miss  Dubuchin,  the  daughter  of 
a  French  emigree^  and  French  and  perhaps  one  or  more  of  the 
modern  languages  were  spoken  freely  in  his  family.  Two  of 
his  sons,  when  many  years  had  rolled  by,  became  pupils  of 
Dr.  Addison  Alexander,  then  professor  in  the  Theological 
Seminary,  and  it  was  evident  tltat  the  kindly  and  admiring 
feeling  with  which  he  regarded  them,  was  not  due  alone  to 
their  acknowledged  excellence  as  men  and  students,  but  in 
part  also  to  old  recollections.  Dr.  Baird  was  a  frequent 
guest  of  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander,  and  the  master  and  pupil 
of  former  days  spent  many  a  long  hour  together  conversing 
upon  topics  of  common  interest. 

For  several  weeks  in  the  month  of  February,  1824,  the 
elder  brother  was  engaged  in  the  study  of  German,  with  Mr. 
Zadig,  a  native  of  Silesia,  who  had  relinquished  the  Jewish 
religion,  and  been  baptized.  This  was  the  beginning  of  an 
acquaintance  Avith  the  language,  which  w^as  afterwards  a  great 
delight  to  the  American  student,  and  enabled  him  to  read, 
■write,  sing,  and  speak  it  admirably.  At  this  time  he  paid  lit- 
tle attention  to  French,  though  acquainted  with  it.  The 
Christian  Advocate  about  this  date  published  a  communica- 
tion upon  the  Praise  of  God,  from  the  pen  of  the  same  young 
scholar  writing  under  the  signature  of  Cyprian.  He  also  con- 
tributed for  the  January  number  of  the  American  Monthly 

*  At  a  later  date  he  prepared  another  of  Dr.  Alexander's  sons  for  Nassau  Hall. 


56  EDWARD   IRVING.  [1S24. 

Magazine,  a  poetical  address  to  the  New  Year,  under  the 
same  nom  de  jyhone.  He  was  much  interested  in  current  lite- 
rature, and  suffered  nothing  of  value  to  escape  his  eye  or  com 
ment.  The  Avinter  was  the  most  extraordinary  for  mildness 
of  temperature  that  had  ever  been  experienced  in  Princeton. 
Every  thing  was  sheeted  in  ice.  Tiiis  did  not  prevent  his 
fancy  from  roaming  in  the  fields  of  English  poetry  and  over 
the  objects  of  the  Amei'ican  landscape.  "  Our  ibrests  and 
mountains,"  he  writes  to  Dr.  Hall,  "  and  waters,  surely  furnish 
scenes  second  to  none  that  Europeau  poets  and  romancers  have 
hackneyed,  and  our  mighty  works  of  nature  might,  I  should 
suppose,  inspire  a  feeling  as  ethereal  as  ever  prompted  the 
Theban  Pindar."  * 

Edward  Irving,  whom  Addison  was  presently  to  see  and 
hear  in  his  own  chapel,  was  now  just  rising  into  fame  in  Scot- 
land. At  the  close  of  a  warm  but  careful  panegyric  of  his 
ability  as  a  writer,  the  eldest  of  the  Alexander  brothers  re- 
marked in  his  adversaria,  "  One  cannot  help  regretting  that 
a  man  who  possesses  so  great  a  share  of  originality  and 
poetic  inspiration,  and  who  might  be  so  powerful  in  a  natural 
path  of  composition,  should  wander  off  into  this  uncouth,  un- 
trodden region,  and  put  on  the  manacles  of  an  abolished  style. 
Eloquence,  and  power,  and  imaginative  soaring  are  compatible 
with  the  simplest,  chastest  style,  and  the  most  strict  obeisance 
to  the  canons  of  right  criticism,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  single 
instance  of  Robert  Hall." 

The  vernal  season  was  not  much  advanced  before  the  writer 
of  this  critique,  disgusted  with  the  results  of  a  mere  discursive 
reading  of  the  classics,  had  resolved  to  enter  upon  the  regular 
perusal  of  the  principal  Greek  and  Latin  vrriters  of  antiquity, 
pursuing  the  method  laid  down  by  Le  Clerc,  of  taking  them  in 
chronological  order.  In  the  course  of  time  he  thus  accom- 
plished all  of  the  principal  Latin  writers  of  the  classic  eras  and 
many  of  the  Church  fathers.  He  also  read  many  of  the  Greek 
writers.  He  at  first  did  not  scrutinize  the  text  Avith  the  eye 
of  a  critical  grammarian,  but  read  as  he  would  English,  for 

*  Fam.  Letters  I.,  p.  36. 


^T.15.]  JAMES.  57 

recreation,  and  improvement  in  taste.  Pie  Avas  already  an 
exact  linguist.  His  task  for  March  3d  was  in  Homer  and 
Plautus. 

A  few  days  after  I  find  this  entry  :  "  Spent  last  evening  at 
Dr.  Lindsley's,  where  as  usual  I  was  very  kindly  and  agree- 
ably entertained.  The  Professor,  as  he  is  wont  to  do,  descanted 
vil>on  the  superiority  of  the  ancients  to  the  moderns,  and  urged 
many  weighty  arguments  to  prove  that  literature  was  more 
generally  diftused  among  the  Greeks  than  among  any  modern 
people.  Gained  much  useful  information."  Every  glimpse 
of  this  great  and  good  man  ought  to  be  prized  by  the  men 
of  this  day,  who  owe  so  much  to  his  labors. 

Mr.  James  Alexander  (whose  brother  Addison  was  now  a 
lad  of  not  quite  fifteen,  and  on  the  verge  of  college)  wrote 
frequently  at  this  period  for  Walsh's  Gazette  and  the  American 
Monthly  Magazine,  and  he  was  in  no  lack  of  letters  contain- 
ing flattering  allusions  to  these  articles.  He  was  much  given 
to  visiting  the  theological  students  at  their  rooms,  and  found 
himself  constrained  to  adopt  a  resolution  of  greater  tempe- 
rance if  not  of  total  abstinence  in  this  respect.  The  social 
tendencies  of  Addison  were  not  so  ovei'bearing.  It  required 
no  formal  regulation  or  conscious  purpose,  to  cause  him  to 
keep  his  room.  In  after  days  the  elder  brother  was  constantly 
making  and  breaking  resolutions  to  "  go  abroad."  He  found 
that  in  his  case  solitude  tended  to  pi'oduce  hypochondria. 
I  find  him  engaged  during  these  days  on  Plautus,  Terence, 
Homer,  certain  works  in  French,  Turretin,  Pictet,  Hodgson's 
Travels,  Marcus  Antoninus,  Leighton,  etc.  He  wrote  at  the 
time,  that  he  never  expected  to  find  studies  more  congenial  to 
his  taste  and  inclinations  than  those  in  which  the  Seminary 
students  were  then  engaged,  especially  that  of  Didactic  The- 
ology. 

On  the  night  of  the  11th  of  April,  he  had  the  pleasure  of 
hearing  Mr.  George  Bush,  afterwards  so  famous  first  as  a 
Scripture  Commentator  and  then  as  a  writer  upon  Sweden- 
borg.  Mr.  Bush  had  not  very  long  befoi'e  left  the  Semi- 
nary, where  up  to  that  time  he  had  been   pursuing  his  theo- 


58  APPOINTED    TUTOR.  C1824. 

logical  studies.  The  sermon  was  an  admirable  one,  "  rich  in 
original  and  important  matter,  adorned  with  striking  illustra- 
tions, and  remarkable  for  the  uncommon  force  of  language." 
Mr.  Bush  sometimes  reminded  his  friend  of  Chalmers  in  the 
novelty  of  his  thoughts,  and  the  power fu]  mode  he  had  of 
expressing  them.  The  next  morning  he  woke  up  to  find  him- 
self appointed  tutor  in  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  by  the 
Board  of  Trustees,  who  were  then  sitting.  This  excited  his 
wonder,  and  aroused  some  apprehension  ;  but  he  accepted  the 
prolfered  chair  (or  footstool),  and  on  the  twenty-first  of  May 
sat  down  where  he  had  never  expected  to  be  situated  in  that 
capacity,  a  tutor  of  the  college,  and  oscupant  ex  officio  of  No. 
25  Nassau  Hall.  His  first  care  was  mathematics  ;  afterwards 
he  was  placed  over  tlie  Latin  and  Greek  classes. 

James  was  young,  and  exceedingly  sensitive,  and  at  this 

time  a  little  shamefaced.     He  was  one  of  the  most  mercurial 

of  men.     He  was  often  deeply  despondent,  but  just  as  often 

carried  away  with  high  spirits.     He  was  prepared  for  many 

mortifications  and  trials.     He  dreaded  among  other  things 

having  to  confront  the  whole  body  of  students  upon  the  stage, 

and  to  pass  through  their  ranks,  and  head  them  in  entering  the 

Refectory.     "My  youth,"  he  writes,  "  is  likely  to  call  forth  the 

disrespect  and  presumption  of  some,  and  the  exercise  of  that 

authority  which  I  am  called  upon  to  assume  must  gain  me  the 

ill-will  and  ill  offices  of  those  who  are  its  objects.     Yet  this  is 

the  tax  which  every  man  must  pay,  who  is  so  happy  as  to 

aim  at  the  welfare  of  his  fellow-creatures."     He  found  his 

position  an  easier  one  than  he   supposed.     A  fellow-student 

of  his  brother  Addison,  and  pupil   of  the  young-looking,  but 

extremely   dignified   mathematical   tutor,   tells   me   that   he 

vividly  remembers  Mr.  James  Alexanders  spare  person  and 

deep  black  eye,  and  how  he  would  draw  himself  up  and  place 

a  visible  constraint  upon  his  mobile  features  when  any  ihmg 

of  a  laughable  nature  occurred.     His  hair  and  his  complexion 

were  boUi  uncommonly  dark.     His  head  was  high,  and  some- 

what  narrow,  and  his  face  long  and  oval.     His  temples  were 

finely  moulded,  and  were  unusually  bare.     The  expression  of 


iET.15.]  CHARACTERISTICS.  59 

his  countenance  was  frank,  noble,  generous,  intellectual,  and 
in  a  singular  degree  captivating  and  engaging.  It  was  for- 
ever changing  with  his  changing  feelings.  He  always  stood 
upon  his  native  dignity,  and  seldom  or  never  had  cause  to 
administer  a  reproof  for  misconduct.  The  classical  felicity  of 
his  taste  and  of  his  diction  were  subjects  of  marvel.  Ilis 
piety  was  as  evident  as  it  was  unobtrusive.  He  was  eminently 
popular,  without  once  letting  dov/n  the  bars  of  discipline. 
By  many,  he  was  beloved  with  an  extraordinary  affection; 
by  some  with  an  almost  passionate  devotion.  These  remarks 
apply  particularly  to  the  time  during  which  he  occupied  the 
chair  of  a  professor,  but  are  not  false  in  their  reference  to  the 
period  of  his  tutorship.  On  May  22d  he  writes,  "Made  my 
first  attempt  to-day  at  hearing  a  recitation.  The  Sophomores 
recited  to  me  in  Algebra.  Was  astonished  at  nothing  so 
much  to-day,  as  the  self-possession  which  I  was  enabled  to 
exercise  Ano  rov  Oeov.  My  room  is  an  agreeable  one ;  my 
accommodations  delightful ;  the  fare  in  the  Kefectory  excel- 
lent ;  the  students,  hitherto,  complying,  and  all  things  ordered 
in  a  way  to  suit  my  wishes." 

He  resolves  about  this  time  to  give  one-tenth  of  his  salary 
($300)  for  charitable  institutions.  He  was  always  open-handed 
in  his  expenditures  of  every  sort  for  the  poor,  and  for  sufferers 
of  every  description.  It  was  never  hard  to  persuade  him  that 
the  money  solicited  was  needed,  and  would  be  well  bestowed. 

The  text-book  in  college  was  Bounycastle's  Algebra.  His 
taste  for  this  study  had  been  marked,  and  obtained  public 
notice  when  he  was  a  student.  His  enthusiasm  on  the  subject 
is  very  much  in  character. 

"That  the  pursuit  is  deliglitful  I  have  the  experience  of  this  day  to 
prove :  amid  all  the  difSculties  of  this  morning's  toil,  the  delight 
occasioned  by  the  suJden  flashing  of  the  truth  or  relation  anxiously 
sought  is  transporiiiig.  The  ecstacies  of  Pythagoras  and  the  abstrac- 
tion of  Archimedes  excite  my  wonder  no  longer." 

During  one  of  his  vacations  he  visited  Philadelphia,  in 
hopes  of  invigorating  his  health ;  and  there  partook  of  the 
delightful  hospitality  of  Mrs.  Hall,  the  mother  of  the  friend 


60  VISITS    PHILADELPHIA.  [1824. 

whom  he  had  known  from  boyhood  and  with  whom  he  con- 
tinued to  correspond  for  forty  years.  While  in  the  city  he 
yielded  himself  up  too  much,  he  thought,  to  the  attractions 
of  gay  company  and  of  seductive  letters.  He  frequented  the 
shops  of  the  booksellers  ;  saw  all  the  new  prints ;  gazed  with 
delight  upon  the  clean  and  lively  streets  and  the  decorated 
windows ;  listened  to  much  good  music  from  sweet  instru- 
ments and  yet  sweeter  voices ;  tasted  all  the  joy  of  friendship, 
and  felt  the  glow  of  what  is  judged  to  be  innocent  hilarity. 
He  returned  to  his  quiet  room  in  college  to  experience  a  pain- 
ful reaction  in  his  sensibilities.  His  conscience  smote  him  on 
the  score  of  Avorldly  conformity.  He  became  greatly  revived 
in  his  religious  ardour,  and  much  exercised  for  the  spiritual 
welfare  of  the  students.  On  one  occasion  at  a  prayer-meet- 
ing his  feelings  overcame  him,  and  he  "burst  into  a  pro- 
fusion of  tears." 

A  severe  attack  of  sickness,  which  befell  the  older  brother 
in  this  year,  occasioned  a  letter  of  mock  condolence  from 
Addison  in  Latin  hexameters,  four  verses  of  which  are  here 
given,  which  breathe  an  affectionate  spirit  and  shed  a  twinkle 
of  humour. 

"  Crcde  mihi,  juvenis  docilis,  me  maxime  tajdet 
Audire  scgrotum  esse  virnm,  tarn  longe  celebrem. 
Pulveribus  (quid  tu  Anglice  vocas  ?)  te  cumuiarint, 
Et  medicus,  veneranda  materque,  AnEliza,  niger  Ned." 

The  piece  will  be  found  complete  in  the  Familiar  Letters. 
These  comic  effusions  were  often  made  the  channel  of  true 
and  even  tender  regard,  as  any  one  can  see  was  the  case  in  the 
present  instance.  The  two  boys  were  attached  to  one  an- 
other with  a  devotion  that  is  rare  even  among  brothers,  and 
that  continued  through  life.  There  is  a  sense  in  which  it 
might  be  said  that  Addison  had  no  friend  but  James.  When 
James  died,  Addison  was  restless  and  inconsolable,  and  soon 
after  followed  him  to  heaven. 


CHAPTER  11. 

The  College  of  New  Jersey  was  at  this  time  under  the 
Presidency  of  Dr.  Carnahan,  during  whose  administration  it 
enjoyed  a  high  measure  of  prosperity.  Dr.  Ashbel  Green  had 
but  lately  retired  from  the  post.  As  a  President  he  had  been 
both  feared  and  honoured.  In  the  instructions  of  his  depart- 
ment, Di-.  Green  had  succeeded  in  reviving  the  traditions  of  a 
Witherspoon  and  a  Smith.  None  could  question  his  attain- 
ments in  theology  and  the  kindred  sciences,  and  all  without 
exception  acknowledged  and  venerated  his  exalted  character. 
He  was  moreover  the  master  of  a  grave  and  sonorous  elo- 
quence. Dr.  Green  was  the  last  of  the  old  school  of  Presi- 
dents, of  whom  Burr,  Davies,  Finley,  Witherspoon  and  Smith 
had  been,  with  Dickinson,  the  first  of  the  series,  the  models 
in  a  former  generation.  The  lamented  Carnahan  was  the  con- 
necting link  between  the  old  school  and  the  new.  The  recent 
retirement  of  President  Maclean  marks  another  era  like  that 
of  the  retirement  of  Finley.  The  Vice-President  and  Professor 
of  Languages  was  the  Rev.  Philip  Lindsley,  D.D.,  whose  col- 
lected works  have  recently  been  published  ;  *  a  man  of  rare 
scholarship  and  of  the  ripest  classical  culture.  It  may  be 
safely  averred,  that  this  country  has  not  often  seen  the  equal 
of  Dr.  Lindsley  as  a  student  and  teacher  of  the  Greek  and  Latin 
tongues,  and  as  a  man  imbued  with  the  living  spirit  of  an- 
tiquity. He  was  a  suggestive  scholar  rather  than  a  mere  drill- 
master,  and  was  one  of  those  instructors  whose  main  forte 

*  "  The  Works  of  Philip  Lindsley,  D.  D.,  formerly  Vice-President  and  Presi- 
dent Elect  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  Princeton  ;  and  late  President  of  the 
University  of  Nashville,  Tennessee.  Edited  by  LeRoy  J.  Halsey,  D.  D.,  Pro- 
fessor in  the  Theological  Seminary  of  the  Northwest.  3  volumes.  Philadeh 
phia:  J.  P.  Lippincott  &  Co.,  1866." 


02  DE.    LINDSLEY.  [1824. 

seemed  to  He  in  bringing  ont  what  is  in  the  best  men,  A 
greatly  honoured  clergyman  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Vir- 
ginia is  my  authority  for  saying  that,  while  he  was  at  Prince- 
Ton,  Dr.  Lindsley  was  of  invaluable  aid  to  those  students  who 
knew  how  to  use  him.  He  distrusted  his  own  administrative 
talents,  which  were  not  beUcved  by  the  young  men  to  be  very 
considerable.  In  this  impression  the  ybung  men  were  proba^ 
bly  mistaken.  Dr.  Lindsley  was  s  nsitively  modest,  and  at 
that  time  had  not  been  tried.  He  also  laboured  under  the  de- 
lusion that  he  could  not  preach.  In  both  capaciries,  that  of  a 
teacher  and  that  of  a  minister  of  the  word,  he  afterwards 
showed  himself  to  be  a  master. 

His  life,  as  one  of  his  most  accomplished  pupils  and  most 
ardent  and  grateful  admirers   has  said,  was  preeminently  that 
of  an  instructor  and  educator  of  youth.     He  set  about  the 
work  of  selt-culture  before  he  was  thirteen,  and  left  the  College 
of  New  Jersey  as  a  graduate  before  he  was  nineteen.     He 
began  the  work  of  teacher  as  an  humble  usher  in  an  academy, 
and  then  filled  successively  the  posts  of  tutor,  professor,  vice- 
president,  and  president  of  a  college.     All  his  writings  and 
most  of  his  discourses  have  a  bearing  on  the  work  of  educa- 
tion.    Tliis  was  his  meat  and  drink.     The  University  of  Nash- 
ville is  his  noble  monument ;  but  nobler  than  all  is  the  long 
rare  of  his  pupils  who  have  risen   to  eminence  through  his 
instrumentality.     The  range  of  his  reading  was  so  great,  that 
there  was  scarcely  a  topic  of  interest  on  which  he  was  not 
extensively  and  even  profoundly  informed.     He  was  an  accom- 
plished theoretical  statesman,  versed  in  the  sciences  of  govern- 
ment, finance   and   polirical  economy,  and   in    all  questions 
touching  public  morals,  the  administration  of  justice,  and  civil 
or  religious  liberty.     His  knowledge  of  the  classics  was  almost 
unequalled  in  his  day.     His  acquaintance  with  the  Belles  Let- 
tres  of  various  languages  seemed  unlimited,  and  his  love  of 
literature  was  a  passion.     His  administrative  and  executive 
ability  is  thought  by  those  who  knew  him  in  the  West,  to  have 
been  of  the  highest  order.     He  distrusted  himself  in  the  pulpit, 
and  preferred 'the  position  of  a  hearer;  yet  his  biographer.  Dr. 


^T.15.]  HIS    PUriLS.  63 

Halsey,  does  not  clovibt  that  "  the  grand  element  of  his  power 
and  of  his  success  was  his  magnificent  preaching." 

He  has  left  important  monuments  in  his  published  writings, 
but,  as  one  of  his  pupils,*  who  seems  animated  by  a  spirit  of 
filial  enthusiasm,  well  says,  while  these  "show  the  brilliancy 
of  his  genius,  the  peculiarities  of  his  mind,  the  ardour  of  his 
nature^  and  the  depth  and  earnestness  of  his  spirit,  his  nobler 
works, — '  living  epistles,  known  and  read  of  all  men,'  are  his 
two-thousand  pupils,  who,  in  all  spheres  of  active  usefulness, 
ha"\  e  been  perpetuating  his  influence;  and  having  received 
from  his  generous  hand  the  lighted  torch  of  knowledge,  they 
have  handed  it  to  the  generation  now  succeeding,  and  thus 
the  blazing  link,  growing  brighter  as  years  pass,  shall  continue 
to  descend  as  an  heirloom  of  priceless  value."  *  *  *  Among 
these  pupils  were  the  Alexander  brothers,  who  never  ceased 
to  speak  of  their  old  preceptor  in  terms  of  coi'dial  regard  and 
sincere  veneration.  Such  men  as  Dr.  Philip  Lindsley  arc 
blessings  to  the  church  and  to  the  world.  They  can  never  be 
forgotten  by  those  who  prize  the  fruits  of  piety  and  sound 
learning.  Their  jewels  they  have  left  as  a  legacy  behind  them, 
in  the  persons  of  those  who  have  received  their  impress,  and 
are  animated  by  their  unearthly  sentiments.  By  these  their 
living  memorials  they  will  be  remembered  and  honoured  by 
children's  children,  when  the  titled  desolators  of  history  shall 
be  mentioned  only  to  be  execrated.  It  is  pleasant  to  know 
that  Princeton  was  graced  at  this  particular  epoch  with  several 
literary  clubs  or  debating  societies,  the  meetings  of  which 
proved  highly  interesting  to  the  youthful  contestants.  Chief 
among  these,  in  the  estimation  of  the  young  jDCople  generally, 
were  the  Round  Table  and  the  Chironomian.  The  question 
before  the  Round  Table  one  night  was,  "  Ought  religion  to  be 
supported  by  law  ?  "  Mr.  James  Alexander  advocated  the 
affirmative,  and  was  gratified  to  find  that  he  had  more  freedom 
than  formerly  in  speaking  extempore.  The  question  before 
the  Theological  Society  of  the  Seminary,  the  week  previous, 

*  Chancellor  Waddel,  in  the  Southern  Presbyterian  Review. 


64  POWER   OF   MEMORY.  [1824. 

was  upon  the  propriety  of  instrumental  music  in  churches. 
Mr.  James  Alexander  defended  the  negative. 

The  elder  brother  of  the  two  Alexanders  was  still  in  the 
seminary,  and  refers  in  his  diary  about  this  time  to  "  my  friend 
Bethune,"  who  seems  to  have  been  a  fellow-student.  They 
were  fast  friends  through  life.  This  was  the  celebrated  orator, 
debater,  poet,  rhetorician,  lecturer,  preacher,  the  Kev.  George 
W.  Bethune,  D.  D.,  afterwards  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

The  name  of  this  genial  clergyman  brings  up  an  anecdote, 
which  I  may  as  Avell  tell  here.  The  minute  history  of  these 
past  times  soon  fades  out,  and  the  old  inscriptions  on  the 
palimpsest  are  not  often  restored.  Sometimes,  it  is  true,  the 
labours  of  some  Pepys,  or  Evelyn,  are  brought  to  light,  and 
tlie  magical  hieroglyphics  start  out  once  more  before  us  in 
all  their  former  significance.  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  was 
always  himself  a  firm  believer  in  the  doctrine,  and  was  accus- 
tomed to  impress  it  upon  the  minds  of  his  classes  at  Prince- 
ton, which  has  since  been  illustrated  in  so  solemn  a  manner  by 
De  Quincey  and  Coleridge,  that  we  never  forget  any  thing  :  in 
other  words,  that  there  is  an  important  sense  in  which  there 
is  no  such  thing  as  forgetting.  The  word  forget,  as  has  so 
often  been  said  before,  is  obviously  ambiguous,  being  the 
opposite  of  remember  as  well  as  of  recollect.  The  doctrine  in 
question  is  that  though  we  fail  to  recollect  many  things,  and 
though  there  is  the  greatest  diversity  among  difterent  minds 
as  regards  the  power  of  recollection,  we  never  forget  in  the 
sense  of  failing  to  remember  or  hold  in  memory.  The  hidden 
tablets  still  retain  the  traces  that  have  been  originally  imprinted 
on  them  ;  and  in  the  moments  that  precede  death  (or  what 
would  have  proved  to  be  death  but  for  the  interposition  of 
Providence)  these  traces  have  been  known  to  flash  out  upon 
the  startled  conscience  with  instantaneous  rapidity,  and  with 
the  most  perfect  and  terrible  distinctness,  so  as  apparently  to 
afford  to  the  soul  a  sudden  and  comprehensive  view  of  all  that 
it  had  ever  known.  Dr.  Alexander  had  been  lecturing  on  this 
subject  one  day  to  his  theological  pupils,  and  the  young  men 
had  repaired  to  the  Seminary  Refectory  to  get  dinner,  when 


^T,l5.]  PRINCETON    OF    1824.  65 

the  conversation  at  table  fell  upon  tlie  topic  tliat  had  been 
presented  to  them  in  the  class-room  that  morning.  One  of 
the  students  was  noted  for  a  disposition  to  call  in  question 
the  conclusions  of  his  preceptor,  and  on  the  occasion  to  which 
I  now  refer  boldly  proclaimed  his  dissent  from  the  position 
that  had  been  cautiously  taken  by  his  venerable  instructor. 
"  I  Jcnoio,^''  said  he,  "  there  are  some  things  I  have  totally  for- 
gotten, and  shall  oiever  be  able  to  recall !"  Dr.  Bethune,  who 
was  a  student  at  Princeton  at  the  time,  and  who  was  also 
boarding  at  the  Refectory,  a  man  through  life  distinguished 
for  his  sparkling  wit  and  repartee,  immediately  threw  the 
table  into  roars  of  laughter  by  crying  out  in  his  comical 
way,  "  Name  one  of  them.  Sir  !  "  I  give  this  anecdote  on 
the  authority  of  the  Rev.  James  W.  Alexander,  from  whose 
lips  I  heard  it. 

The  Princeton  of  1824  contained  a  number  of  well-known 
families  and  many  interesting  people,  besides  one  or  two  justly 
distinguished  public  men.  Dr.  Carnahan,  as  I  have  stated, 
was  President  of  the  College  when  Addison  Alexander  entered 
it  as  a  student.  The  Rev.  Luther  Ilalsey  was  Professor  of 
Chemistry  and  Natural  Philosophy  ;  Dr.  Maclean  of  Mathe- 
matics, and  my  informant  *  thinks  of  Latin  (temporarily  sup- 
plying the  vacancy  occasioned  by  the  removal  of  Lindsley  to 
Nashville) ;  and  Robert  B.  Patton  of  Greek  and  Belles  Lettres. 
The  latter  is  considered  to  have  been  a  fine  Greek  scholar,  and 
a  gentleman  of  cultivated  taste  and  manners,  though  in 
wretched  health.  The  tutors  were,  Messrs.  Lowry,  Talmadge 
and  Aikman  ;  but  with  these  neither  Mr.  Alexander  nor  any 
of  his  classmates  had  any  thing  to  do ;  he  and  Mr.  Napton 
having  entered  Juniors.  The  standard  of  scholarship  in  the 
ancient  languages  (at  least  before  Mr.  Patton's  advent)  was 
greatly  below  that  which  my  informant  found  subsequently  at 
the  University  of  Virginia  :  and  none  of  the  modern  lano-uao-es 
were  taught.  "  The  old  routine,"  he  says,  "  or  curriculum 
then  prevailing  in  the  Northern  Colleges  was  not  designed  for 

*  Judge  Napton. 


C6  COLLEGE    CURRICULUM.  [1824 

the  attainment  of  the  abstruse  or  profound  depths  or  heights 
of  science,  or  for  its  application  to  practical  use,  nor  even  for  a 
scholastic  and  critical  knowledge  of  Latin  and  Greek.*  Gram- 
mars and  dictionaries,  those  helps  to  the  youthful  traveller  up 
the  steep,"  were  very  imperfect,  he  thinks,  as  compared  with 
the  Zurapts,  Madvigs,  Buttmanns,  Matthiaes,  etc.,  since  intro- 
duced; "and  the  classics  were  still  read  in  the  old  Delphine 
editions  with  side-notes  and  ordo  in  Latin,  and  foot-notes  to 
point  out  the  most  attractive  passages."  He  is  not  clear,  how- 
ever, that  any  greater  proficiency  is  attained  under  the  new 
system  of  adjuncts  tlian  under  the  old,  rugged  and  rough  as  it 
was.  The  inquisitive  and  ambitious  student  Avill,  he  thinks, 
attain  his  end  under  either — perhaps  more  thoroughly  under 
the  first,  "  as  people  learn  more  of  a  country  over  which  they 
travel  on  foot,  than  those  who  pass  through  it  in  railroad 
cars." 

The  following  picture  of  the  old  Commencements  cannot  be 
spared  :  "  Commencement  was  a  great  day  in  Princeton  in  old 
times — it  may  be  yet — but  my  conjecture  is,  that  along  with 

*  Tlie  Centennial  Address  has  this  alhision  to  the  same  subject :  "  The  cur- 
ricuUim  has  been  perpetually  enlarged,  with  the  increase  of  knowledge  in  the 
woild.  .  .  .  The  earliest  period  of  our  history  was  before  the  very  rise  of 
certain  great  sciences  in  their  present  form."  .  .  .  And  a  little  before  this 
occurs  the  following  :  "  Sound  methods  of  instruction,  rather  old  tlian  new, 
have  continued  through  every  stage."  The  earlier  Piesidents  had  all  been 
learned  men,  in  the  most  exact  as  well  as  the  most  enlarged  sense.  Their  schol- 
arship, though  it  could  not  boast  the  exquisite  finish  of  Oxford  or  Cambridge, 
was  of  the  type  then  prevailing  in  the  great  universities  of  England.  None  of 
the  first  batch  of  Presidents  occupied  the  seat  long.  But  Dr.  Witherspoon  in 
his  twenty-six  years  of  administration  stamped  a  new  character  on  the  instruc- 
tions of  tlie  college.  To  him  must  be  ascribed  the  introduction  of  the  Edin- 
burgh course.  Much  of  this  influence  had  worn  out  at  the  period  during  which 
Mr.  Alexander  was  a  student,  and  had  again  and  yet  again  to  be  renewed  and 
extended.  The  genuine  learning  of  Dr.  Lindsley  was  of  the  old  school,  and  his 
removal  from  Princeton  was  a  mjsfortunc  that  for  the  time  seemed  irreparable. 
Nor  were  there  wanting  other  men  of  commanding  talents  in  the  faculty  at  this 
period.  But  it  c:innot  be  asserted  with  too  much  cmpliasis  that  the  future  in- 
terpreter owed  little  to  his  professional  teachers.  He  was  an  original  genius 
■•"!d  "  a  self-made  man." 


iEx.  15.]  OLD    COMMENCEMENT.  67 

otlier  old-fashioned  institutions  and  customs,  it  lias  gone  to 
the  '  tomb  of  the  Capulets.'  On  this  day,  during  my  time,  all 
the  surroxinding  country  was  (as  Mr.  C.  J.  Ingersoll  \vould 
have  said)  ejaculated  into  the  village,  and  such  rows  of  wag- 
ons, booths,  stalls,  tents ;  such  huge  piles  of  melons  (out  of 
season)  ;  such  barrels  of  cider  (a  choice  beverage  in  New  Jer- 
sey) ;  and  such  a  concourse  of  people  of  every  variety  of  shade 
and  conformation,  physically,  morally  and  intellectually,  could 
ba  seen  nowhere  else."  He  remembers  especially  the  bril- 
liancy of  the  fire-works  and  the  illuminated  College  edifice  at 
n'glit,  which  were  the  admiration  of  the  youthful  spectators. 
"Then  there  was  the  regular  anniversary  ball  at  Joline's  tav- 
ern, who  was  successor  to  and  perhaps  onee  the  rival  of  the 
tamous  English  i)ublican,  George  Folct,  whose  sign  of  the  Red 
Lion  was  still  swinging  between  two  posts  in  my  days,  though 
probably  of  ante-Revolutionary  origin.  This  ball  attracted  ail 
the  elite  of  the  village,  and  some  additions  from  the  fashiona- 
ble circles  of  the  two  great  cities  lying  on  either  side  of  it; 
and  the  music  was  by  the  famous  Philadelphia  band  of 
Johnson." 

In  regard  to  Princeton  society,  male  and  female,  outside  of 
the  two  great  schools  of  theology  and  literature,  the  same 
writer  says,  "  The  Stocktons  were  the  leading  family  of  the 
place.     At  their  head,  in  '24,  was  Richard  Stockton,*  a  great 

*  Whose  father,  Richard  Stoc'cfoii  (the  grandfather  of  the  Commodore),  was 
a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court,  a  member  of  the  Continental  Congress,  "  an  ardent 
defender  of  liberty,"  and  a  signer  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  In  this 
cause  he  suffered  the  loss  of  his  estate  and  library,  and  personal  imiorisonment 
in  New  York.  He  died  at  Morven,  at  the  age  of  fifty.  This  was  in  1781.  He 
had  been  a  trustee  and  warm  friend  of  the  college  as  well  as  of  its  great  foun- 
ders. Of  Richard  Stockton  (the  father  of  the  Commodore)  "  it  is  enough  to  say 
that,  among  the  members  of  a  bar  which  holds  its  place  with  any  in  America, 
he  maintained  by  common  consent  the  unrivalled  precedence."  "  He  was  long 
til  3  honour  of  Princeton,  and  a  guardian  of  the  college.  His  voice  of  eloquent 
;irguruent  and  lofty  invective  was  heard  in  Congress  ;  and  he  sent  five  sons  to 
the  college,  of  whom  one  is  now  in  a  distant  ocean  on  the  service  of  his  coun- 
try.'"— Centennial  Address,  1847.  Richard  Stockton,  the  father  of  the  late 
Commodore  Robert  F.  Stockton  of  the  Old  Navy,  died  in  1779,  the  same  year 


68  PRINCETON   SOCIETY  [1824. 

lawyer,  as  I  have  heard  and  do  not  doubt ;  having  read  his 
argument  in  a  c-elehratcd  and  very  important  case  that  went 
up  from  New  Jersey  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United 
States,  involving  the  title  of  one  Love  to  a  large  landed  estate 
abandoned  by  him  when  the  secession  of  the  Colonies  from 
Great  Britain  occurred.  Mr.  S.'s  practice  was  chiefly  in 
Trenton  and  Philadelphia.  He  was  a  large  man,  of  rather 
un wieldly  cimcnsions,  bordering  on  extreme  obesity,  incapa 
ble  of  much  locomotion  on  foot,  and  therefore  I  presume, 
was  seldom  seen  in  the  village  adjoining  which  was  his  resi- 
dence." He  does  not  remember  to  have  seen  Mr.  Stockton 
more  than  once  or  twice,  and  one  of  these  occasions  was  indeli- 
bly impressed  on  his  recollection  by  an  mterview  which  he 
witnessed  between  Mr,  Stockton  and  Charles  Fenton  Mercer 
of  Virginia,  vrho  had  been  appointed  to  deliver  a  discourse  be- 
fore the  two  literary  Societies  of  the  College.  There  was  a 
mixture  of  the  grand  and  grotesque  about  the  scene.  "They 
met  in  the  Hall,  where  the  Trustees,  Professors,  students  and 
other  spectators  had  previously  assembled,  and  it  was  rather 
ludicrous  to  observe  the  extreme  difficulty  wliich  Mr.  Stockton 
had  in  responding  with  corresponding  civilities  to  the  multi- 
plied bows  with  which  Mercer  greeted  him — the  latter  being 
a  small  and  flexible  person,  of  rather  French  manners,  and 
botli  gentlemen  of  the  old  school,  which  exacted  more  cere- 
mony than  niodern  times  tolerate." 

The  writer,  after  speaking  of  Mr.  Stockton's  gallant  son, 
the  Commodore,  goes  on  to  mention  the  Craigs  and  Potters, 
Thomsons  and  Fields,  families  which  still  have  their  representa- 
tives in  Princeton,  "  and  the  Bayards,  a  family  of  historic 
fame  both  in  Delaware  and  New  Jersey."  "Mrs.  Maclean, 
the  mother  of  the  late  President,*  and  sister  of  Commodore 

with  President  Witlicrspoon,  wlio  had  shortly  before  given  up  his  house  on  the 
College  grounds  to  his  son-in-Law  Dr.  S.  Stanliopc  Siuilh,  and  removed  to  the 
place  still  known  as  Tusculiim. 

*  Of  John  Maclean,  the  father  of  the  President,  the  Centennial  Address  says, 
"  A  name  beloved  in  the  recollections  of  every  student,  during  the  17  years  of 
his  residence  ;  a  scholar,  a  benignant  friend,  a  wise  preceptor ;  one  of  the  earli- 


mt.15.}  and  celebrities.  69 

Bainbridge,  a  naval  officer  of  great  distinction  in  the  war  of 
1812,  Avas  also  there  receiving  friends  and  strangers  with  in- 
discriminate hospitality,  and  Avith  her  lived  her  danghter, 
Mary,  the  gentlest  of  lier  sex,  a  model  of  every  female  excel- 
lence, and  esteemed  by  rich  and  poor,  high  and  low." 

My  informant*  then  goes  on  to  say  that  "near  by  lived 
the  two  daughters  of  Dr.  Samuel  Stanhope  Smith,  ci-deva7it 
President  of  the  College,  Mrs.  Salomans  and  Mrs.  Pintard, 
the  former  with  two  attractive  daughters,  one  of  whom  mar- 
ried my  friend  and  school-fellow,  Alfred  A.  Woodhull.  Con- 
spicuous among  the  fashionable  ladies  of  the  place  Avere  the 
Passages  (of  French  extraction,  as  I  infer  from  the  name) ; 
the  Thomases,  one  of  A\diom  married  Mr.  A[ston  of  South 
Carolina,  and  the  other  Gen.  Lytle  of  Cincinnati,  at  one  time 
a  prominent  Congressman  from  that  district;  the  Whites; 
the  Renshaws,  daughters  of  Commodore  Kenshaw ;  the  Mor- 
fords,  daughters  of  an  old  Revolutionary  soldier  who  Avas 
postmaster,  one  of  whom  married  a  McCormick  of  Winches- 
ter, Va. ;  and  I  may  add,  a  daughter  of  President  Carnahan 
Avho  married  Mr.  McDonald." 

Among  the  professional  characters  of  the  day,  besides  some 
that  have  been  named,  he  remembers  "  the  three  laAvyers, 
Green,  Bayard,  and  Hamilton  ;  a  younger  laAvyer  of  ability, 
but  indolent,  named  Walter  Shelton  ;  the  Van  Cleves,  the 
father  an  eminent  physician, — one  of  the  sons,  Horatio,  now  in 
the  U.  S.  army  ;  the  Woodhulls,  the  father  being  minister  of 
the  parish,  and  the  oldest  son,  John,  becoming  distinguished 

est  to  explode  the  Priestleyan  bubble  of  phlogiston,  and  to  introduce  the  new 
chemical  revelations  of  Lavoisier."  Dr.  Ashbel  Green,  the  former  President, 
■was  also  living,  though  he  had  perhaps  already  removed  to  Philadelphia.  Dr. 
Carnahan  succeeded  him  before  the  time  of  Addison's  entrance  as  a  student. 
"  The  time  has  not  come  to  write  of  living  greatness  and  goodness.  Otherwise 
we  might  dwell  on  the  ten  years'  toil  of  President  Green,  whom  we  hoped  to 
meet,  but  whom  the  weight  of  six  and  eighty  years  presses  so  heavily  that  he 
cannot  revisit  the  spot  where,  years  ago,  he  pronounced  the  valedictory  in  the 
presence  of  Washington,  and  received  his  personal  applause." — Dr.  J.  W.  AleX' 
andcr.  Centennial  Address,  1847. 

*  I  have  made  free  use  of  Judge  Napton's  own  words. 


70  MR.    JANVIER.  11824. 

in  liis  profession  of  medicine;  tlie  Wilsons,  .Jolines,  etc.  Voild 

tout/''* 

*  One  of  the  most  remarkable  men  in  Fiineeton  at  the  time  was  undoubtedlj 
a  coacli-pahiter  named  Francis  D.  Janvier,  who  is  fully  described  in  ihe  fifteenth 
chapter  of  the  American  Mechanic  (see  pp.  tO,  8.0),  under  the  style  of  August. 
This  admirable  person  deserves  mention  by  the  side  of  such  men  as  Pendiill, 
Eloomfield,  and  Ferguson.  The  author  introduces  his  description  with  the  fol- 
lowing lines  from  Wordsworth. 

*    *    *    "  Strongest  minds 

Are  often  those  of  whom  the  noisy  world 

Hears  least ;  else  surely  this  man  had  not  left 

His  graces  unrevealed  and  unproclaimcd. 

But  as  the  mind  was  filled  with  inward  light, 

So  not  without  distmction  had  he  lived, 

Beloved  and  honoured— far  as  he  was  known. 

And  something  that  may  serve  to  set  in  view 

The  feeling  pleasures  of  his  loneliness, 

His  observations,  and  the  thoughts  his  mmd 

Had  dealt  with— I  will  here  record." 

After  a  little  further  prefacing,  tlie  account  runs  on  thus  :  "  It  is  now  more 
than  twenty-three  years  since  I  became  acquaintL'd  witli  a  coach-|iainter  in  a  village 
of  New  Jersey.  At  that  time  he  occupied  a  very  small  shop  adjacent,  to  a  large 
building  which  was  used  by  the  coach-maker.  Even  in  early  youth  I  was  led 
to  observe  something  in  the  manner  and  countenance  of  this  man,  indidiive  of 
superior  reflection.  I  shall  conceal  his  name  under  that  of  August,  which  will 
point  him  out  to  many  who  knew  1dm.  As  I  advanced  in  life,  I  gained  access 
to  his  painting-room  and  his  dwelling  ;  and  as  he  was  particularly  kind  to  young 
persons,  I  passed  in  his  company  some  of  the  pleasantest  hours  which  it  is  my 
fortune  to  rem.mber.  August  was  then  in  tlie  prime  of  life,  and  his  cliaraeter 
and  habits  were  fully  unfolded.  In  looking  back  upon  the  acquaintances  of 
many  years,  I  can  declare  with  sincerity,  that  1  have  never  known  a  more  ac- 
complished man.  In  his  tiade  he  was  exemplary  and  approved.  His  taste  led 
him  to  make  excursions  beyond  the  spliere  of  hii  diily  work  ;  and  I  call  to 
mind  a  number  of  portraits  and  fancy-pieces  which  ornamented  his  own  hou.<e 
and  the  apartments  of  l.ia  friends.  I  am  not  prepared  to  say,  however,  tliai  he 
■was  eminent  as  an  artist.  But  there  we  e  various  other  walks  of  life  in  which 
he  was  a  master.  He  was  fond  of  reading  to  a  degree  «hich  wholly  interfered 
with  the  care  of  his  business  and  his  health.  Indeed  he  wa.=?  a  devourcr  of 
books.  Attached  to  his  easel  one  was  sure  to  find  an  open  volume  ;  and  some- 
times he  caused  a  favourite  boy  to  read  aloud  while  he  was  erinding  his  colours. 
I  well  remember  t!at,  on  a  certain  day  when  he  bad  to  walk  five  miles  to  do  a 
piece  of  work,  he  travelled  the  whole  distance  book  in  hand  ;  it,  was  a  quarto 
volume  of  llobhouse's  Travels  There  was  nothing  in  the  whole  ciicle  of 
English  literature,  so   far  as   it   is  traversed   by  most   professed   scholars,  with 


^T.15.]  MR.    JANVIER.  11 

Among  tlie  oddities  of  the  place  were  the  "brothers  Jemmy 

AYhich  August  was  not  familiar.  He  had  made  himself  master  of  the  French 
language,  spoke  it  with  some  facility,  and  had  perused  its  chief  treasures. 
Among  other  evidences  of  his  application,  he  put  into  my  hand  a  laborious 
translation  from  the  French,  of  a  work  by  Leatude  detailing  the  events  of  his 
long  and  cruel  imprisonment ;  a  narrative  not  unlike  that  of  Baron  Trenck." 
*  *  *  "  I  have  vividly  before  my  mind  the  scene  when  August  was  busy 
with  his  palette,  in  a  rude  loft,  and  a  litttle  boy  seated  on  a  work-bench  was 
pouring  into  his  delighted  ear  the  early  fictions  of  the  author  of  Waverley. 
Sir  Walter  himself  would  have  been  repaid  by  the  spectacle. 

"Such  tastes  and  habits  gave  a  richness  to  his  mind,  and  a  refinement  to  his 
manners.  August  was  fully  suited  to  mingle  with  any  group  of  scientific  or 
literary  men.  His  love  of  talk  was  unbounded,  and  his  hilarity  most  genial.  I 
remember  no  acquaintance  whose  discourse  was  so  stimulating  or  instructive. 
Many  an  hour  of  summer  days  I  whiled  away  in  his  shop,  listening  to  the  sen- 
timent, humour,  and  wit,  which  would  have  graced  any  company  I  ever  met. 
AU  this  was  without  a  trace  of  self  conceit  or  arrogance.  His  conversation  was 
the  easy  overflowing  of  a  full  mind.  It  was  always  animated,  and  always  arch : 
there  was  a  twinkle  of  unutterable  mirth  in  his  expressive  eye,  which  won  re- 
gard and  awakened  expect ation. 

"  August  was  a  musician.  This  delightful  art  had  been  his  solace  from  child- 
hood. He  played  on  several  instruments,  but  the  clarionet  was  that  of  which 
he  had  the  greatest  mastery.  Often  have  I  heard  its  clear  melodious  tones  for 
successive  hours  on  a  summer  evening.  He  seemed  to  use  it  as  the  outlet  for 
those  musings  which  found  no  vent  among  his  ordinary  associations;  for  most 
of  his  performances  were  voluntaries  and  fitful  capriccios.  Yet  he  was  a  sight- 
singer,  and  read  even  intricate  music  with  ease.  It  was  one  of  his  whims  to 
have  a  number  of  flageolets,  lessening  by  degrees  until  the  smallest  was  a  mere 
bird-pipe,  with  the  ventages  almost  too  near  together  for  adult  fingers.  Such 
is  the  power  of  association,  that  to  this  day  I  sometimes  amuse  myself  with  that 
feeblest  of  all  instruments,  a  French  flageolet,  in  affectionate  recollection  of 
poor  August. 

"  I  have  heard  that  he  sometimes  wrote  verses,  but  have  never  been  so  fortu- 
nate as  to  alight  on  any  specimen.  August  was  a  man  of  poetic  tendeni'ies, 
living  habitually  above  the  influences  of  a  sordid  world,  and  seeking  his  i)leas- 
ures  in  a  region  beyond  the  visible  horizon  of  daily  scenes.  In  this  connexion, 
I  ought  with  great  seriousness  to  mention,  that  during  the  years  of  my  ac- 
quaintance with  him,  he  was  an  open  professor  of  Christian  faith,  which  he  ex- 
emplified by  a  hfe  of  purity,  patience,  and  benevolence.  His  family  was  a  re- 
ligious household.  When  he  came  to  enter  the  valley  of  poignant  trial  with 
which  his  life  teiminated,  he  is  said  to  hiive  evinced  great  joyfulness  of  confi- 
dence in  the  propitiation  and  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 


72  THE    MCCARllIERS.  [1824 

find  Joe  McCarrier,*  the  college  servants.  The  subjoined  ac- 
count of  Jemmy  is  from  the  pen  of  Dr.  James  W.  Alexander, 
and  was  written  while  he  was  himself  a  tutor,  and  living  in 
Nassau  Hall.  Addison  had  not  then  entered  the  institution, 
but  soon  came  into  close  and  amusing  relations  with  the  gen- 
erous but  testy  Irishman  and  his  brother  Joe.f     "  It  may  not 

*  Or  McCarryher. 

f  One  of  the  earliest  of  Addison's  extant  compositions  of  the  facetious  order 
IS  one  he  wrote  probably  when  a  Junior,  that  is  at  sixteen,  and  is  a  broad 
parody  on  the  well-known  verses  of  Campbell.  Its  connection  with  the  matter 
now  in  hand  is,  that  it  brings  in  an  allusion  to  the  brothers  Jemmy  and  Joe 
McCarrier.  I  give  as  much  of  it  as  now  exists,  or  perhaps  was  ever  written. 
It  is  only  necessary  to  say  in  explanation  for  the  benefit  of  persons  who  did  not 
study  at  Princeton,  that  it  contains  references  to  the  final  examination  of  the 
Senior  class  for  degrees,  to  Cavallo's  Natural  Philosophy,  then  a  text-book  at 
college,  and  to  the  horn  by  which  the  students  were  summoned  to  their  meals 
in  the  old  refectory  adjoining  the  college  ;  and  that  "  stumping  "  and  "  rowling" 
are  the  slang  terms  respectively  for  the  failure  to  recite  when  called  on,  and 
brilliant  success  in  recitation  or  speaking;  while  the  first-honour  man  of  course 
obtains  "  first  grade,"  and  the  good  for  nothing  idler  is  sent  off  on  "probation." 
The  laughing  good-nature  of  the  writer  is  apparent. 

Air:  "  The  Exile  of  Erin:' 

"  There  came  to  the  door  a  poor  student  of  college, 
The  coat  on  his  shoulders  was  ragged  and  thin ; 
He  sighed  and  he  wept  from  the  exquisite  knowledge 
That  the  final  so  soon  was  about  to  begin  : 
But  a  figure  attracted  the  glance  of  his  eye, 
As  it  rushed  with  a  horn  from  an  edifice  nigh, 
Where  oft  in  the  moments  of  hours  gone  by, 
He  had  sung  the  bold  anthem  of  Dinner  Hurrah. 

"  '  Oh  ead  is  my  fate,'  said  the  heart-broken  fellow, 
•The  Juniors,  Sophs.,  Freshmen  may  walk,  run,  or  sleep, 

But  I,'  he  exclaimed,  with  a  soul-touching  bellow, 
'  To  my  Euclid,  my  room,  and  Cavallo  must  keep. 

Where  is  my  Euclid,  bought  new  the  last  session  ? 

Jemmy  and  Joe,  for  the  dear  creature  call  ! 

Where  is  Cavallo,  my  dearest  possession? 

Ah  no !  for  Longinus  is  dearer  than  all. 

"  '  But  hunger  [at  last]  these  sad  fears  moderating, 
One  darling  wish  from  my  bosom  would  draw: 
Jemmy,  Oh  Jemmy,  do  blow  without  waiting ; 
Comfort  of  nature,  dear  dinner  Hurrah  ! 
Stumping  or  rowling,  first  grade  or  probation. 
Thy  memory  shall  hold  in  my  heart  the  first  station, 


iET.15.]  JEMMY    MCCARRIER.  IS 

"be  uninteresting  at  some  future  day  to  recall  to  mind  my  sei> 
vant  Jemmy  McCarrier.  He  has  been  for  many  years  head 
servant  in  the  College,  and  has  fulfilled  his  duties  with  a  zeal 
and  fidelity  which  are  seldom  witnessed.  His  greatest  delight 
is  to  serve  ;  no  office  is  too  menial  or  too  laborious  for  him  ; 
he  insists  on  doing  favours,  and  with  the  true  Irish  spirit  is 
oiFended  if  you  decline  to  receive  them.  It  is  amusing  to  see 
him  pacing  about  the  College  on  a  dog-trot,  which  his  contin- 
ual errands,  for  many  yeai'S  performed  always  in  haste,  have 
made  a  habit  characteristic  of  him.  He  seems  always  to  be  in 
the  greatest  possible  hurry,  and  yet  is  punctual  to  the  moment, 
and  most  minute  in  his  business.  His  affection  for  friends  and 
his  gratitude  to  benefactors  are  fervent,  and  expressed  with  all 
the  native  eloquence  of  an  Irishman.  Rage  too  burns  in  him 
with  sudden  impetuosity,  that  while  it  lasts  is  furious,  but 
soon  dies  away.  If  I  wished  a  friend  who  would  flinch  from 
no  danger  and  draw  back  from  no  sacrifices  or  privations  for 
my  sake,  I  would  lay  my  hand  on  Jemmy."  * 

Mr.  Alexander,  the  subject  of  this  biography,  was  matricu- 
lated as  a  student  of  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  and  entered 

And  never,  I  vow,  till  the  examination, 

Will  I  cease  the  bold  anthem  of  Dinner  Hurrah ! ' " 

The  four  last  lines  of  the  first  stanza  seem  to  be  erased,  but  are  obviously 
requisite  to  finish  both  the  sense  and  the  melody.  What  adds  to  the  fun  is  that 
the  fare  at  the  refectory  in  those  days  was  plain  and  bad  enough  for  an  an- 
chorite. 

*  The  father  of  the  McCarryhers  came  over  with  three  sons  from  "  the  ould 
counlhry,"  and  is  remembered  by  a  Princetonian  of  the  former  days  as  a  shriv- 
elled up  old  little  Irishman,  who  lived  at  different  times  in  two  miserable  houses 
in  the  environs  of  the  college.  When  the  parent  died,  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander 
preached  his  funeral  sermon,  and  thus  made  a  deep  and  lasting  impression  on 
the  intelligence  and  feelings  of  the  son,  who  "was  taught  in  this  way  to  look  up 
to  him  with  unmeasured  regard  and  reverence.  Before  the  Seminary  building 
was  put  up  and  the  oratory  used,  and  of  course  long  before  the  erection  of  the 
Seminary  chapel,  the  families  of  the  theological  professors  used  to  worship  in 
the  old  college  chapel,  and  my  informant  vividly  remembers  how  every  Sunday 
morning,  in  cold  weather,  McCarryher  Jils  used  to  place  a  covered  pan  of  hot 
coals  at  Mrs.  Alexander's  feet  as  she  sat  in  chapel. 
4 


74  MR.    ALEXANDER    IN    COLLEGE.  [1824. 

one  of  its  advanced  classes,  at  an  age  when  the  majority  of 
boys  are  still  at  school,     lie  was  only  fifteen.     He  might  easily 
have  entered  the  Sophomore  at  fourteen,  or  the  Freshman  at 
thirteen,  or  even  twelve,  had  he  been  so  disposed,  or  had  his 
parents  thought  it  Avise.     He  was  judiciously  kept  back,  not 
eagerly  pushed  forward.     No  one  ever  had   more   prudent 
counsellors.     He  connected  himself  with  the  Junior  class  in 
the  autumn  of  the  year  1824,  and  at  once  took  his  stand  among 
the  first  scholars  of  his  class.     This  position  he  maintained 
during  the  whole  college  course.     Nothing  is  known  positively 
as  to  his  examination  on  entrance,  but  it  maybe  safely  in- 
ferred that  it  was  entirely  satisfactory.     His  scholarship  was 
never  known,  either  before  or  afterwards,  to  fail  to  come  up 
to  the  most  stringent  tests  which  could  be  applied  to  it.     The 
boys  at  the  academy  thought  he  knew  as  mueh  Greek  as  Mr. 
Baird,  and   that  it  was  impossible  for  him  to  be  entangled 
amidst  the  intricacies  of  mathematics ;  and  some  of  his  asso- 
ciates of  the    college  fancied  that  he  was   superior  on  the 
score  of  his  attainments  to  most  of  his  instructors  of  the  col- 
lege faculty.     This  was  not  only  the  enthusiastic  estimate  of 
youth,  but  the  deliberate  and  mature  judgment  of  riper  years. 
But  whatever  may  be  the  impartial  decision  upon  this  point, 
it  is  certain  that  he  had  no  superior  among  his  fellow-students 
in  the  branches  embraced  in  the  usual  curriculum  ;  and  in  the 
various  branches  of  learning  outside  of  that  curriculum,  it  was 
cheerfully  conceded  that  he  distanced  the  others  so  far,  as  to 
put  all  ideas  of  competition  out  of  the  question.     But  no  one 
regretted  this  state  of  things.     He  bore  his  honours  meekly, 
and  was  universally  regarded  as  the  prodigy  of  Nassau  Hall. 
The  men  were  proud  of  him.  -  They  regarded  him  as  one  of 
the  bright  ornaments  of  the  institution!     His  standing  as  a 
scholar  was  equal  and  iiniform,  being  the  same  at  the  end  of 
his  final  term  as  it  was  at  the  beginning  of  his  course.     There 
was  nothing  in  his  progress   through  college  to  arrest  at- 
tention, except  his  assiduity,  his  punctuality,  his  accurate  and 
eminent  scholarship,  and  his  scrupulous  fidelity  in  the  per 
formance  of  eveiy  dntj. 


^T.16.]  HIS   SPEECHES.  V5 

In  the  autumn  of  1825  he  was  one  of  the  four  selected  bj 
the  American  Whig  Society  to  represent  that  society  on  the 
night  before  Commencement,  in  its  annual  oratorical  contest 
v/ith  its  CIioso|.)hic  rival.  His  subject  on  this  occasion  was 
"  Monachism,'''  and  it  Avas  treated  in  such  a  manner  as  to  draw 
many  discerning  eyes  upon  the  young  orator.*  The  speech 
attracted  markeji  notice  on  account  of  its  style,  and  the  evi- 
dence that  it  gave  of  mental  power  and  mature  culture. 

During  the  ensuing  winter  he  appeared  again  before  a 
public  audience,  at  the  performance  of  one  of  the  divisions  of 
the  Senior  class ;  the  class  being  distributed  by  lot  into  four 
"divisions,"  as  they  were  called,  which  appeared  successively, 
at  intervals  of  a  few  weeks,  during  the  Avinter.  His  subject 
this  time  was  "  the  Fire  Worshippers,'''  a  theme  which  gave 
full  scope  for  the  exercise  of  his  rich  and  exuberant  imagina- 
tion, and  the  gorgeous  drapery  in  which  he  clothe  1  his  ideas 
on  this  occasion,  was  a  topic  of  general  remark,  and  was  much 
admired. 

At  the  summer  exhibition  of  the  Senior  class  he  again  ap- 
peared before  the  public,  and  again  made  the  pillars  of  the  old 
chapel  shake  with  applause.  His  attention,  as  we  know,  had 
long  before  this  been  directed  to  tlie  languages,  literature,  and 
history  of  the  East,  and  he  now  looked  once  more  in  that 
quarter  for  a  theme  for  his  discourse.  The  thing  he  seemed 
to  have  in  view  was  a  defence  or  eulogy  of  the  Moham- 
medan race.  He  spoke  (says  the  brother  from  whom  I  have 
derived  these  particulars)  in  glowing  terms  of  "that  race 
which  in  former  days  had  passed  the  Pillars  of  Hercules  in 
the  face  of  the  Spanish  chivalry,  had  built  the  mosque  of 
Cordova,!  t^e  palace  at  Seville,  and  beautified  and  adorned 
Castile  and  Aragon  with  those  delicious  gardens  and  foun- 
tains which   made  Spain  the   paradise  of  the  world."     He 

*  Another  of  his  college  efforts  was  on  "  Russia,"  and  some  of  its  brilliant 
sentences  are  still  in  preservation. 

f  ''  the  regal  seat 

Of  Abdaldzis,  ancient  Cordoba." 
"  till  they  saw 


76 


AT    COLLEGE.  t^^^a 


pictured  with  grapliic  power  the  arrival  of  the  day  "  when 
the  magnanimous  Arab  shall  with  his  own  hand  plant  the 
Cross  tTpon  his  own  mountains;  when  the  Christian  anthem 
shall  be  echoed  and  reechoed  from  the  opposite  shores  of  the 
Adriatic,  and  the  Christian's  hymn  of  praise  once  more  re- 
sound within  the  dome  of  St.  Sophia." 

The  following  extracts  of  a  letter  from  Thomas  Flournoy, 
Esq.,  of  Bentfield,  Brunswick  County,  Virginia,  give  an  excel- 
lent picture  of  the  young  scholar  at  this  time. 

He  says  Addison  "  was  a  very  remarkable  boy,  as  he  was 
universally  conceded  to  be  a  most  remarkable  man.     The  im- 
pression with  most  of  his  compeers  doubtless  was,  that  he  was 
naturally  unsociable  and  taciturn.     Such  I  consider  a  misap- 
prehension.   We  were  classmates ;  he  was  my  junior  by,  I  sup- 
pose, four  or  five  years.     I  always  found  him  very  accessible. 
He  enjoyed  a  good  joke  and  laugh,  within  reasonable  bounds. 
He  was* a  purely  modest  youth  ;  but  his  vast  resources,  even 
at  the  tender  age  I  knew  him,  precluded  every  thing  like 
diffidence,   as    I    understand    the    purport    of   that    word." 
He  used  frequently  to  meet  with  him  on  his  longest  walks 
from  his  father's  house  to  the  recitation  rooms  in  College. 
"He  Avas  always  pleasant  and  comnnmicative,  and  always  kind 
and  polite.     I  have  seen  him  very  much  bored  by  his  breth- 
ren of  the  Whig  Society,  in  their  zeal  for  the  first  distinction, 
by  urging  him  to  give  more  undivided  attention  to  college 
studied  '^I  will  not  say  he  never  thought  about  college  hon- 
'  ours  ;  but  I  am  certain  he  never  expressed  or  manifested  any 
concern  on  the  subject."     If  he  put  forth  any  effort  in  that 
direction,  Mr.  Flournoy  verily  believes  it  was  wholly  to  gratify 
the  ambition  of  the  Whigs.     "  I  believe  he  could  have  gradu- 
ated with  distinction  the  day  he  was  matriculated.     It  waa 

The  temples  and  the  towers  of  Cordoba 
Shining  majestic  in  the  light  of  eve," 

Southcy,  liodcricl;  Book  V. 

"  And  strangers  were  received  by  thee 
Of  Cordova  the  chivalry." 

Byron. 


^T.  16.1  HABITS    AND    APPEARANCE.  11 

quite  farcical  for  him  to  be  reciting  to  professors  whom  he 
could  have  taught.  I  suppose  it  was  altogether  a  formal  re- 
quisition that  influenced  him  in  regarding  a  college  curricu- 
lum as  imperative."  The  writer  was  much  taken  with  his 
friend's  drollery  and  good-humour,  as  evinced  in  his  college 
exercises.  "He  always  manifested  genuine  wit,  humour,  and 
good  feelings,  in  his  pointed  criticisms  on  compositions  and 
declamations  and  debates.  He  never  evinced  selfishness, 
vain-glorying,  or  the  least  pride  of  superiority  over  his  fel- 
lows, though  acknowledged  head,  neck,  and  shoulders  over 
all,  by  all.  I  don't  believe  he  had  an  enemy  on  the  earth. 
His  high  attainments  for  one  so  young  and  unpresuming, 
commanded  the  admiration  of  all  without  exciting  the  envy 
or  jealousy  of  any." 

His  general  appearance,  Mr.  Flournoy  says,  was  sedate 
and  sober-minded ;  but  when  in  conversation,  animated  and 
sprightly.  "  I  considered  him  blessed  with  a  cheerful  and 
happy  temperament."  His  looks  w^ere  prepossessing.  "He 
was  very  handsome,  rather  under  the  medium  height,  but 
stoutly  formed,  and  with  proper  exercise  would  have  been 
very  muscular.  He  had  a  fair,  ruddy,  almost  transparent 
complexion.  His  dress  was  of  the  most  tasteful  description, 
exciting  no  attention  whatever.  I  looked  upon  him  as  one  of 
the  cleanest  and  purest  persons  I  have  ever  known.  His 
general  walk  and  deportment  was  that  of  a  consistent  Chris- 
tian, though  I  am  unable  to  say  whether  he  was  a  professor." 
The  first  trip  he  ever  made  from  home,  Mr.  Flournoy  thinks, 
was  with  his  father  to  New  York  City.  "  I  heard  Dr.  Alex- 
ander say,  laughingly,  he  never  saw  Addison  but  at  meal- 
times and  at  night ;  and  supposed  'he  was  on  the  pad  '  all  the 
time,  looking  after  the  lions  of  the  city ;  but  he  ascertained 
the  extent  of  his  peregrinations  was  from  the  hotel  to  a  large 
book-establishment,  where  he  regaled  himself  during  the  days 
they  were  in  the  city."  He  never  knew  one  so  young  take  so 
little  bodily  exercise  and  keep  so  perfectly  healthy;  for  he 
never  heai'd  of  his  being  sick. 

The   youthful  intercourse   between  the   two  friends   can 


78  QUICKNESS    OF    PAllTS.  a825. 

scarcely  be  said  to  have  been  renewed.  Mr.  Flouraoy  re- 
turned to  Virginia  and  lost  sight  of  Addison.  "  I  never  had 
the  pleasure  of  meeting  with  him  but  once  after  our  boyhood 
days.  I  heard  him  preach  in  Dr.  Boardmau's  church  in  '48, 
and  then  had  only  a  brief  interview  in  the  church."  It 
must  have  been  on  this  occasion  (as  he  tells  me  himself) 
that  Mr.  Fiournoy  could  not  resist  the  temptation  of  going 
up  ijito  the  pulpit  and  shaking  him  by  the  hand.*  He  adds, 
in  closing,  "  You  will  doubtless  be  surprised  that  I  am  able 
to  furnish  so  few  striking  incidents  in  relation  to  Dr.  Alex- 
ander ;  but  his  was  a  quiet,  gentle,  and  unobtrusive  course  to 
eminence." 

The  account  given  in  this  letter  of  Mr.  Fiournoy  is  a  true 
sequel  to  the  statements  of  Mr.  King.     It  is   evidently  the 
same  person  that  these  two  gentlemen   describe;    showing 
himself  more  completely  and  unreservedly,  however,  to  the 
one  Avith  whom  he  was  more  familiarly  associated  in  the  care- 
less freedom  of  a  village  school,  and  with  whom  he  was  moi-e 
nearly  connected  in  point  of  age,  than  with  the  other,  who 
was  also  several  years  his  senior,  and  who  was  his  fellow  only 
in   his   collegiate   studies.      We   may  also,  perhaps,  discover 
some  signs  of  growth  in   character,  manners,  etc.,  since  the 
playful  satirist  excited  the  mirth  and  aroused  the  admiration 
of   Mr.  Baird's  academy  by  his  scintillations  of  fancy,  and 
wild  bursts  of  fun  at  the  expense  of  every  body  and  every 
thing.     He  Avas  now,  according  to  all  accounts,  a  short,  stout, 
striking-looking,  rosy-faced,  marvellous-minded  youth  of  seven- 
teen, Avith  a  remarkable  head,  that  was  stored  with  unknown 
treasures  of  strange  learning,  and  possessing  a  quickness  and 
versatility  of  parts  that  could  not  easily  be  matched.     If  he 
was  reserved  towards  strangers,  he  on   some    points  opened 
his  heart  to  his  nearest  friends  with  the  confidence  and  sim- 
plicity of  a  little  child.     To  them,  and  to  his  juniors  in  years, 
he  Avas  almost  uniformly  gracious  and  afiable,  if  not  dcraon- 

*  He  remembered  his  friend  "Tom  Floumoy's"  shake  of  the  hand,  and 
referred  to  it  when  in  Europe  in  1833,  in  connection  nith  wliat  he  says  of  th« 
proverbial  coldness  of  English  manners. 


Mr.U.-i  MANY-SIDED    CHARACTER.  79 

stratively  affectionate  :  nay,  there  ^rere  times  when  he  abovmd' 
ed  in  exuberant  and  effervescent  hilarity  and  pleasant  mis* 
chief. 

A  gentleman  now  residing  in  Charlotte,  Virginia,  who 
visited  Princeton  in  1828,  with  a  letter  to  Dr.  Alexander, 
tells  me  that  Addison,  who  was  some  years  older  than  himself, 
at  once  became  his  chaperon,  and  with  the  greatest  kindness 
showed  him  the  various  objects  of  interest  connected  with  the 
seminary,  and  among  them  the  fine  prospect  which  is  com- 
manded by  the  cupola.  This  gentleman  represents  him  as 
being  at  that  time  "  the  toildest  boy  he  ever  saw,"  explaining 
himself  to  mean  the  most  talkative,  sprightly,  humorous, 
witty,  gaily  enthusiastic,  and  intrepidly  frolicsome  and  mis- 
chievous. He  says  that  his  comical  guide  fired  his  shots  at 
every  body  and  every  thing,  but  that  the  flame  was  of  the 
most  lambent  character  and  hurt  nothing.  My  informant  adds, 
that  Addison  convulsed  the  little  satellites  by  whom  he  was 
attended,  and  that  he  himself  nearly  died  laughing.  And  yet 
this  was  the  same  person  of  whom  Mr.  Flournoy  truly  says, 
that  "his  general  appearance  was  sedate  and  sober-minded;" 
though  in  conversation  he  considered  him  "  animated  and 
sprightly."  The  truth  is,  the  boy,  like  the  man,  had  almost  as 
many  sides  to  his  character  and  genius  as  there  were  persons 
to  look  at  them.  lie  was  different  to  different  people,  and 
different  on  different  days.  He  was  like  a  kaleldescope  in 
this,  that  you  could  never  touch  him  without  producing  in 
your  mind  a  new  impression  of  his  boundless  variety. 

The  destruction  of  the  papers  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  King 
vrill  always  be  a  subject  of  regret  to  the  admirers  of  Dr.  Alex- 
ander, and  to  those  who  are  inquisitive  about  the  events  of 
his  early  life.  In  the  absence  of  these  interesting  manuscripts, 
I  give  a  few  extracts  from  a  letter  of  Judge  Napton  to  Wil- 
liam C.  Alexander,  Esq.,  of  New  York,  bearing  upon  the  same 
period : 

"  You  are  right  in  supposing  that  no  one  could  appreciate  the  gening 
and  worth  of  your  brother,  Addison,  more  than  myself,  or  had  better 


80  JUDGE   NAPTON.  n82& 

opportunities  of  understanding  liis  peculiarities  -when  WQ  were  both 
young.  It  would  be  difficult  for  me  to  express  the  great  respect  and 
veneration  I  Lad  for  your  father — clarum  et  veneraMle  nomen — and  the 
great  obligations  I  owed  him  for  kindness  to  me  in  boyhood,  and  for 
wholesome  advice  (I  have  his  letter  yet)  which  was  not  thrown  away, 
as  advice  usually  is. 

"As  to  Addison,  I  looked  upon  him  as  one  of  extraordinary  mind, 
and  gifted  witli  a  superiority  of  the  imaginative  faculty  which  Avas 
never  developed,  but  which  might  have  placed  him  among  the  Irvings, 
Coopers,  and  Pauldings  of  his  and  our  day.  Whether  he  acted  wisely 
in  devoting  himself  to  other  branches  of  literature,  more  congenial  to 
his  profession,  I  cannot  say  ;  but  I  confess  that  I  regretted  he  did  not 
enter  into  a  more  popular  department  of  literature,  where  he  was  cer- 
tain of  success."     *     *     * 

I  am  also  indebted  to  Judge  Napton  for  the  following  par- 
ticulars. It  will  be  remembered  tliat  these  reminiscences  and 
criticisms  are  from  the  pen  of  the  man  who  was  one  of  his  best 
friends,  and  without  qualification  almost  his  only  rival  of  those 
days  as  a  student. 

"  Our  acquaintance  began  at  a  very  early  period  of  our  lives,  and 
ceased  before  either  of  us  could  be  said  to  have  reached  manhood. 
I  can  only  speak  in  general  terms  of  impressions  and  convictions  then 
formed  of  the  peculiar  intellectual  and  moral  traits  exhibited  by  my 
friend.  My  acquaintance  with  Addison  Alexander  commenced,  I  be- 
lieve, on  my  leaving  the  school  at  Lawrenceville,  then  under  charge 
of  the  Rev.  I.  V.  Brown,  and  joining  the  academy  at  Princeton — a  sort 
of  preparatory  school  then  just  established  by  the  Rev.  Robert  Baird, 
a  gentleman  subsequently  well-known  for  his  labors  in  Europe  and  his 
valuable  sketches  of  them.  Addison  and  I  must  have  been  at  this 
time  about  fourteen  years  old,  and  our  intimacy,  which  then  sprang 
up,  probably  from  some  congeniality  of  tastes  and  studies,  continued 
till  the  close  of  our  college  career,  which  was  when  we  were  each 
eighteen."  * 

The  most  prominent  and  striking  characteristic  of  Ad- 
dison Alexander  at  this  period — at  all  events,  the  one  which 
impressed  itself  with  the  greatest  force  on-  his  young  com- 

*  Addison,  as  we  have  seen,  was  a  year  »v  two  younger. 


^T.  IC]  EARLY    TASTE    FOR    LITERATURE.  81 

panion,  was  "the  extent  and  power  of  his  creative  and 
imaginative  faculties,  which,  combined  as  they  were  with 
good  judgment  and  discriminating  taste,  a  remarkably  re- 
tentive memory,  and  a  facility  of  expression  in  language 
chaste,  smooth,  and  elegant,  fitted  him,  as  I  thought,  for 
ultimate  distinction  as  a  great  writer  in  the  field  of  popular 
literature."  His  peculiar  talent  in  this  line  exhibited  itself  at 
a  very  early  period  of  their  acquaintance,  upon  their  publish- 
ing, or  rather  circulating  in  conjunction,  "  a  sort  of  literary 
hebdomadal  for  the  amusement  of  the  school  and  for  the 
young  people  of  the  town,  to  which  he  was  the  principal 
contributor.  For  this  sheet  he  wrote  tales  after  the  manner 
of  the  'Rambler'  and  'Spectator'  (in  those  days  we  read 
Johnson  and  Addison)  ;  poetical  eflusions  after  the  style  of 
Swift,  though  by  no  means  partaking  of  his  uncleanness ; 
sketches  of  scenes  and  characters  of  a  humorous  sort ;  with  an 
occasional  dash  of  satire,  in  the  shape  of  advertisements  or 
announcements  of  passing  events,  and  all  kinds  of  puerile 
badinage.  He  had  a  peculiar  fancy  and  talent  for  imitations 
of  the  florid  style  of  Eastern  tales,  and  took  great  delight  in 
perplexing  the  savans  of  the  village  with  imaginary  transla- 
tions from  the  Persian,  Arabic,  Hindostanee,  or  Sanscrit,  etc., 
to  all  of  which  languages  he  was,  of  course,  at  this  time  a 
perfect  stranger.  His  skill  in  the  invention  of  names  for  his 
characters,  appropriate  to  the  country  and  time,  was  remark- 
able, and  reminded  me  of  a  similar  capacity  so  memorably 
displayed  by  the  great  Scotch  novelist." 

He  was,  the  writer  remembers,  fond  of  paradox  :  "  Nothing 
delighted  him  more,  when  his  school  task  was  to  read  an  essay, 
than  to  present  views  and  advocate  opinions  at  variance  with 
those  generally  received,  and  probably  at  variance  with  his 
own.  I  remember  an  essay  of  his,  read  at  the  academy,  set- 
ting forth  the  great  superiority  of  a  monarchical  over  a  repub- 
lican form  of  government — a  position  then  regarded  as  totally 
heterodox."  Neither  then  nor  afterwards,  during  his  ac- 
quaintance with  him,  was  he  fond  of  metaphysical  studies ; 
"  though  before  the  close  of  his  college  career  he  doubtless 
4* 


82 


MORAL    HABirS.  dSMi 


was  familiar  with  the  ^iews  of  Locke  and  the  Scotch  meta- 
physicians."    He  often  wrote  at  this  time  for  the  newspapers. 

"Durin-  cur  clleixe  hfe  ho  occasionally  contributed  articles  to  the 
political  newspapers,  discus^ns  with  great  apparent  zeal  tl,e  merits  of 
the  then  Presdential  aspirants-a  subject  however  in  which  he  took 
no  real  interest,  but  in  which  he  entered  the  lists  en  masque  purely  for 

amusement. 

"  Besides  the  regular  routine  of  collegiate  studies,  he  explored  every 
by-path  of  literature,  however  unf.  equent.d,  and  there  were  probably 
verv  fe.v  books,  on  any  brnnch  of  science,  or  in  any  department  ut 
learnin-,  which  he  had  not  h-oked  into  and  formed  some  estimate  of  ^ 

"  II?s  facility  in  acquiring  langnnges,  both  ancient  and  modern,  is 
well  known." 

His  conduct  was  irreproachable. 

"In  reference  to  his  morale  or  moral  habits  at  this  period,  it  is  im- 
possible to  speak  in  terms  which  could  be  regarded  as  exaggerated  com- 
mendation. He  was,  or  seemed  to  be,  purity  itself;  he  appeared  to 
hold  in  complete  subjection  all  those  passions  and  appetites  winch  so 
often  lead  youih  astray.*  His  intellectual  faculfes  had  the  entire  pre- 
dominance, and  their  cultivation  and  improvement  was  his  sole  care. 
He  neither  used  tobncco  in  any  form,  or  stimulating  drinks  of  any 
kind;  ho  never  uttered  an  oath  nor  engaged  in  any  kind  of  games, 
noxious  or  harmless. 

"  On  the  subject  of  religion  I  never  heard  him  speak;  nor  oid  he, 
during  my  acquaintance  with  him,  attach  himself  to  any  religious  de- 
nomination. 

<'  In  one  respect  his  habits  were  singular,  and  perhaps  not  so  com- 
mendable. I  mean  his  almost  total  isolation— his  aversion  not  only  to 
crowds,  but  to  all  s.-cial  intercourse,  except  of  course  with  his  father's 
family  and  a  few,  very  few  friends.  And  this  seemed  the  more  re- 
markable, as  nature  had  given  him  a  robust  consti.utinn  of  body,  a 
rather  large  and  imposing  person  for  his  years,  inclining  even  in  youth 
to  cn-pulency,  a  most  cheerful,  nay,  qnite  hilarious  temperament,  and 
withal  a  c.nsiderable  propensity  and  talent  for  satire.  These  natural 
gifts,  with  acquisitions  in  learning  so  much  in  advance  of  his  fe^ows, 

*  Mr.  Vandyke  Jolme  of  Trenton,  formerly  of  Princeton,  another  classmate 
at  Mr.  Baird's  school,  bears  the  same  testimony. 


^T.16.]  HIGHLY    GIFTED.  83 

united  with  uncommon  conversntional  powers  and  a  keen  appreciation 
of  tlie  ludicrous,  would  seem  to  have  fitted  him  for  general  society. 
But  his  aversion  to  it  was  insuperable,  and,  I  have  understood,  wa« 
never  in  after  lifo  greatly  changed. 

"  I  do  not  tliink  it  necessary  to  refer  particularly  to  his  scholarship. 
That  he  possessed  higher  natural  gifts  and  far  greater  attainments  than 
any  of  his  age,  hoth  at  school  and  college,  was  conceded  by  all  who 
knew  him  ;  and  in  all  branches  of  learning  embraced  in  the  college 
course,  and  in  genei-al  literature  outside  of  it,  among  hundreds  of  stu- 
dents of  varied  talent  and  industry,  he  was  confessedly  primus  inter 
pares.  In  a  word,  nature  and  education  had  fitted  him  for  almost  any 
sphere  of  life  he  might  select.  Had  he  chosen  that  occupied  by  Scott 
and  Irving  at  the  beginning  of  the  centui-y,  and  more  recently  by 
Thackeray  and  Dickens,  I  am  persuaded  he  would  have  delighted  the 
world  by  his  imaginative  creations  and  his  charming,  easy  and  attract- 
ive style.  But  he  selected  a  more  narrow,  laborious,  and  perhaps  use- 
ful path,  of  his  success  in  which  I  am  not  competent  to  speak." 

There  is  much  in  this  letter  to  set  the  mind  to  thinking, 
and  to  shed  light  on  the  inner  history  of  our  wonderful  boy- 
student.  It  will  be  noticed  that  it  is  written  in  a  very  grave 
and  cautious  style,  that  every  vvord  is  well-weighed,  and  that 
every  influence  that  could  prejudice  the  feelings  of  the  critic 
seems  to  have  been  sedulously  repressed.  It  was  written,  too, 
by  one  of  the  very  few  persons  who  really  know  any  thing 
about  the  boyhood  and  youth  of  Addison  Alexander  from 
actual  experience,  and  by  one  who  was  not  only  then  abreast 
of  the  young  genius  in  his  collegiate  studies,  and  therefore 
capable  of  appreciating  his  unusual  attainments,  but  who  by 
the  natural  bent  of  his  tastes,  and  by  the  cast  given  his  reflec- 
tions by  his  professional  education  and  habits,  and  experience 
on  the  bench,  was  singularly  well  fitted  to  pronounce  an  intel- 
ligent and  accurate  opinion  in  the  premises.  The  judgment 
here  expressed  may  thei'efore  be  regarded  as  almost  judicial. 
And  what  is  that  judgment  ?  That  he  was  l)y  far  the  most 
highly  and  variously  gifted  of  his  coevals  of  the  school  and 
college,  and  that  his  learning  extended  indefinitely  beyond  the 
usual  boundaries.  It  is  certainly  a  remarkable  statement  of 
Judge  Napton's,  that  "  there  were  probably  very  few  books, 


84  CIIAIIACTER    OF    IIIS    MIND.  [1825. 

on  any  branch  of  science,  or  in  any  department  of  learning, 
which  he  had  not  looked  into  and  formed  some  estimate  of," 
Addison's  most  extraordinary  gift,  he  thinks,  was  "  the  extent 
and  i^ower  of  his  creative  and  imaginative  faculties,"  and  he 
almost  regrets  that  his  friend  "  had  not  turned  his  attention 
more  seriously  to  the  department  of  elegant  letters,  and  espe- 
cially of  romantic  fiction."  It  does  not  appear  that  he  thought 
him  particularly  distinguished  at  this  time  for  powers  of  in- 
tellectual analysis.  It  is  somewhat  odd  that  a  friend  and  pupil 
of  Dr.  Alexander,  who  however  knew  him  at  a  much  later 
period,  after  presenting  (in  a  letter  which  will  be  given  in  the 
sequel)  a  masterly  view  of  his  preceptor's  fondness  for,  and 
success  in,  the  analytical  processes  as  contrasted  with  the  syn- 
thetic, leans  to  the  opinion  that  he  did  not  possess  in  any  un- 
common degree  the  faculty  of  construction  ;  in  other  words, 
that  his  mind  was  essentially  and  exclusively  an  analytical 
one.  These  opposite  statements  must  be  combined  and  recon- 
ciled, before  we  can  obtain  a  true  conception  of  Dr.  Alexan- 
der's real  intellectual  greatness.  One  of  the  most  striking 
peculiarities  of  the  case,  to  those  who  knew  him  long  and  in- 
timately, was  the  regular  and  equal  development  of  all  his 
powers.  He  had  the  same  turn  for  science  and  for  art.  Each 
one  of  the  faculties  of  his  mind  seemed  to  be  u^hat  it  ought  to 
he,  without  reference  to  any  of  the  others.  We  shall  have 
abundant  occasion  to  show  that  he  was  as  remarkable  for 
analysis  when  a  boy  as  when  a  man,  and  as  remarkable  for 
synthesis  when  a  man  as  when  a  boy.  The  exegetical  and 
critical  exercises  of  his  school  days  are  as  much  marked  by 
sagacious  discrimination  and  acute,  analyzing  logic,  as  his 
later  commentaries  ;  and  the  sermons  and  poems  which  were 
composed  when  he  was  at  his  meridian  show  full  as  much  of 
"creative  imagination"  and  marvellous  constructive  skill,  as 
the  grave  or  more  fantastic  effusions  of  his  prodigal  humour, 
which  put  all  "  the  savans  of  Princeton  "  at  fault  during  the 
time  that  "  the  sun  shone  fair"  on  Dr.  Baird's  academy.  But 
the  surprising  thing  is,  that  his  school-fellows  did  not  more 
generally  or  more  fully  suspect  at  the  time,  not  only  the  ex- 


^T.  16.]  EQUALITY    OF    HIS    FACULTIES.  85 

ceeding  brilliancy,  but  the  extreme  vei'satility  of  his  mental 
powers,  and  the  immense  range  of  his  scholarship.  The  truth 
was,  Addison  kept  his  own  secrets.  On  certain  subjects,  ot 
when  for  a  purpose  it  pleased  him  to  be  so,  he  was  as  silent  as 
the  grave.  He  took  few  into  his  confidence  at  all,  and  fewer 
still  into  the  inner  sanctuary  of  his  feelings.  To  a  very  select 
circle  he  revealed  something  of  his  hidden  life,  but  he  always 
kept  back  a  part.  The  half  was  not  told  them.  No  one  of 
his  young  companions  seems  to  have  comprehended  him 
thoroughly,  or  to  have  known  precisely  how  he  employed  his 
leisure  hours.  At  the  very  time  he  was  supposed  by  one  of 
the  most  congenial  spirits  he  had  in  the  academy  to  be  writing 
imitatio7is  of  oriental  tales  and  poems,  he  was  filling  column 
after  column  of  Walsh's  Quarterly  with  elaborate  criticisms 
upon  the  Persian  and  Arabic  texts.  Another  *  of  his  school- 
fellows, who  had  also  the  opportunity  of  observing  his  career 
in  after  life,  seems  to  have  been  impressed  just  as  I  am  with 
the  uniform  equality  of  his  faculties,  and  the  rounded  com- 
pleteness of  his  mental  culture.  He  says  his  conviction  was 
that  Addison  could  do  any  intellectual  thing  he  pleased.  I 
may  add  on  my  own  responsibility  that  he  was  emphatically, 
and  beyond  all  men  I  have  ever  known,  so  far  as  regards  the 
character  of  his  mind,  totics  feres  atque  rotundus.  His  genius 
was,  as  regards  its  symmetrical  form  and  finish,  as  smooth  and 
circular  as  a  polished  ivory  sphere.  He  could  turn  his  mind 
to  any  thing,  from  a  comic  almanac  or  a  child's  dialogue,  to 
bursts  of  eloquence  in  the  pulpit,  or  a  gush  of  impassioned 
and  imaginative  song,  or  to  a  j)rodigious  refutation,  or  rather 
extermination,  of  the  neological  interpreters  of  Germany,  f 

The  writer  from  whom  I  have  been  chiefly  qiioting  looks 
back  with  lively  pleasure  on  the  newspaper  venture  in  which 
he  and  Addison  were  interested,  and  towards  which,  he  says, 
Addison  was  the  principal  contributor.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  whatever  that  the  latter  loved  to  change  his  hand,  write 

*  David  Comfort,  Esq. 

f  I  feel  that  I  am  justified  in  the  use  of  this  language,  by  the  example  of 
others  in  this  volume. 


80  COLLEGE    CLUB.  a825. 

in  different  styles,  occupy  unwonted  positions,  and  make  in 
roads  upon  untrodden  ground,  and  thus  mystify  the  citizens 
of  Princeton  and  even  his  most  intimate  acquaintances.  This 
svas  perhaps  the  diversion  in  vvhich,  of  all  others,  he  most 
delighted.  The  friend  from  whose  letter  I  have  been  making 
such  large  extracts,  adds,  in  a  postscript, 

"Thes3  labours,  or  rather  amusements  of  his  continued  long  after 
the  cessation  of  our  puerile  'weekly'  at  the  Academy,  and  were  sub- 
sequently, during  the  entire  period  of  oui-  acquaintance,  published  from 
time  to  time  in  a  newspaper  in  Trentun,  called  the  Emporium.  Some 
of  them  may  yet  be  extant."* 

I  now  cite  as  a  witness  of  this  time  Mr.  Charles  Campbell, 
the  author  of  the  History  of  Virginia,  who,  though  not  a  class- 
mate, was  a  contemporary  and  friend.  He  says,  among  other 
things,  that 

"Addison  Alexander  entered  the  College  of  New  Jersey  during  the 
time  wlien  I  was  there,  about  1824  or  '5.  I  occasionally  met  with  him 
in  the  College,  and  remember  his  communicating  to  me  a  scheme  which 
he  proposed,  of  forming  a  debating  society  among  the  students.  "Why 
he  should  propose  this,  when  there  were  two  well-established  literary 
societies  connected  with  the  College,  I  do  not  remember,  I  attended  a 
preliminary  meeting,  and  I  believe  the  scheme  was  carried  into  eifect, 
and  tliat  Addiscm  was  ihe  secretary  of  the  society  and  kept  a  record  of 
tlie  proceedings." 

All  such  clubs  and  meetings,  Avhen  Avell  managed,  gave 
him  pleasure.  He  cared  little  for  oral  debate  himself,  but 
liked  to  listen  and  take  notes.  As  a  young  man  at  least,  he 
thirsted  for  this  sort  of  social  companionship,  and  his  reputed 
mauvaise  lionte  did  not  embarrass  him  or  others  on  the  occa- 
sions of  these  literary  hobnobbings.  He  was  as  free,  gay,  and 
chce  ful  as  he  was  learned. 

Dr.  John  Maclean,  so  long  the  honoured  president  of  tho 
college,  and  one  of  its  instructors  when  Addison  was  the  or- 
nament of  the  classes,  writes  that  he  has  a  distinct  recollection 

*  They  are  not,  or  at  least  arc  not  recognizable. 


^T.  IT.]  G.    W.    BOLLING.  87 

of  him  from  his  early  childhoocl.  "  While  5-et  a  chilcl,"  as  he 
remembers,  he  gave  promise  of  becoming  an  eminently  learned 
man.  At  school  and  college  he  was  distinguished  for  his  de- 
votion to  study  and  his  attainments  in  learning  ;  not  that  he 
was  equally  fond  of  all  the  different  bi-anches  to  which  his 
attention  was  directed  by  his  several  teachers,  or  that  he  was 
equally  j^roficient  in  tLem.  From  the  first  he  manifested  a 
peculiar  fondness  for  the  study  of  languages,  and  an  uncommon 
aptness  in  acquii'ing  a  thorough  knowledge  of  them.  He  also 
devoted  himself  to  the  use  of  his  pen,  on  a  great  variety  of 
subjects,  both  mirthlul  and  serious ;  and  his  style  was  as 
varied  as  the  matters  concerning  which  he  wrote.  The  train- 
ing which  he  may  be  said  to  have  given  himself  in  these 
departments  of  learning,  was  adapted,  in  connection  with  his 
great  intellectual  vigour,  to  make  him  the  eminent  scholar  and 
writer  which  he  became. 

A  gentleman  of  Petersburg,  Va.,*  has  favoured  me  with 
the  following  valuable  and  interesting  statements : 

"The  Eev.  Joseph  Addison  Alexander  was  a  classmate  of  mine  at 
Princeton  for  certainly  two  years,  perhaps  also  one  session  of  anotlier 
year;  then  lie  was  very  young,  not  more  than  nineteen  to  twenty-one 
years  old  ;  but  even  at  that  age,  as  when  a  man,  he  wr.s  'distinguished 
for  dignity,  circumspec'.ion,  and  sterling  integrity — polite,  but  very 
bashful,  social  with  familiar  friends,  but  averse  to  mingling  in  soc'ety 
generally.  In  this  disposition  lie  was  peculiar."  Mr.  Alexander  did 
not  commonly  visit  the  rooms  of  the  students,  but  Mr.  Boiling's  was 
an  exception.  "He  was  a  frequent  visitor  at  my  room,  and  would 
make  liimself  always  agreeable  and  instructive,  provided  you  let  him 
alone  and  did  not  show  liim  attention  by  introducing  him  t  >  others,  and 
avoided  all  formalities  towards  him.  He  graduated  with  distinguisiu'd 
honour.  He  was  even  at  that  early  day  a  ripe  scholar,  and  in  after  life 
in  a  most  remarkable  manner  vex'ified  the  correctness  of  the  impress 
he  then  gave  of  his  great  talents  and  scholarship.  I  often  desired  to 
hear  him  preach,  but  such  gocd  fortune  was  not  allowed  me,  nor  liad  I, 
since  we  parted  at  the  Commencement  when  ^ve  graduated,  the  oppor- 
tunity to  see  and  associate  with  one  for  whom  I  entertained  such  high 
regard  as  a  friend  and  admiration  as  a  great  and  good  man.     For  the 

*  G.  W.  BolUng,  Esq. 


88  VALEDICTORY.  [iS2a 

want  of  associating  with  him  in  after  years,  I  am  only  able  to  furnish 
you  this  meagre  statement  of  his  distinguished  virtues.  But  meagre  as 
it  is,  I  regard  it  a  privilege  to  have  an  opportunity  to  bear  ray  testi- 
mony to  his  worth." 

His  last  public  appearance  as  a  student  was  on  Commence- 
ment day,  1826,  when  lie  proceeded  Bachelor  of  Arts, 

At  that  day  the  first  honour  was  usually  divided  among 
several.  Mr.  Alexander  shared  it  with  the  Hon.  Peter  McCall, 
who  has  lon^  been  a  distinguished  lawyer  of  Philadelphia,  and 
the  Hon.  William  B.  Napton,  the  late  Chief-Justice  of  Missouri. 
The  valedictory  was  then  given  to  the  best  speaker  taking  the 
first  honour,  but  in  this  case  the  faculty  found  themselves  un- 
able to  decide  between  Alexander  and  McCall,  and  it  had  to 
he  determined  by  lot.  Mr.  McCall  pronounced  the  Latin 
salutatory,  Mr.  Napton  the  English ;  the  valedictory  oration 
falling  to  the  lot  of  Mr.  Alexander.  His  subject,  in  this  his 
last  college  eftbrt,  was,  "  The  Pains  and  Pleasures  of  a  College 
Life." 

The  oration  was  finished  in  style,  and  the  addresses  to  the 
trustees,  the  president,  the  faculty,  and  his  classmates  were 
touching  and  impressive. 

Many  distinguished  men  attending  the  Commencement 
were  greatly  attracted  by  this  performance,  and  the  late  Hon. 
Richard  Stockton  (who  was  one  of  the  trustees)  at  the  close 
predicted  with  emphasis  the  future  eminence  of  the  youthful 
graduate,  and  not  content  with  this,  stepped  out  and  congratu- 
lated his  father  Dr.  Alexander  on  the  stage.  A  near  relative 
of  the  young  man  who  received  such  marks  of  consideration, 
remembers  being  put  up  on  the  seat  at  church,  when  but  a 
little  child,  to  get  a  sight  of  him  when  he  was  speaking ;  but 
thinks  this  must  have  been  his  Junior  speech,  as  the  impres- 
sion remains  strong  on  the  mind  of  my  informant  that  it  was 
at  night. 

Mr.  Alexander  took  his  diploma  at  Princeton  on  the  last 
Wednesday  of  September,  182G  ;  which  would  put  him  in  his 
eighteenth  year.  His  seventeenth  birthday  occurred  in  April, 
when  he  was  a  Senior  looking  forward  to  graduation  the  ensu- 


Mr.n.-i  CLERK    OF    COMMON    COUNCIL.  89 

ing  autumn.  It  would  be  pleasant  to  know  precisely  what 
were  his  feelings  in  that  prospect,  but  this  is  more  than  can 
be  determined.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  they  seem  to  have 
bee'n  comfortable  and  buoyant,  though  as  yet  he  had  no  set- 
tled plans  for  life. 

One  of  his  brothers  who  had  been  graduated  two  years 
before,  then  a  student  of  law,  was  at  this  time  the  clerk 
of  the  borough  of  Princeton.  In  the  month  of  October,  1826, 
being  the  month  succeeding  Commencement,  that  brother 
left  for  Virginia,  and  the  Common  Council  of  the  borough 
appointed  the  renowned  young  scholar  in  his  place.  This 
position  he  held  for  some  time,  and  dischai'ged  its  duties,  so 
far  as  I  am  awai-e,  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  body  appointing 
him. 

About  the  same  time,  also,  his  eldest  brother*  removed 
permanently  to  Virginia,  to  take  charge  of  the  village 
church  at  Charlotte  Court  House,  of  which  he  became  the 
first  settled  pastor.  The  father  of  the  young  pastor  just  re- 
ferred to,  had  preached  to  another  generation  at  the  same 
spot  many  years  before,  and  the  memory  of  Drs.  Archibald 
and  James  Alexander  is  still  as  ointment  poured  forth  over 
that  whole  region. 

The  following  lively  epistle  to  his  brother  James  will  be 
found  to  be  copious,  playful,  aifectionate,  and  learned,  and  to 
mirror  the  writer's  habits  of  life  at  this  time.  It  is  chiefly  in- 
teresting, however,  as  being  the  first  of  his  letters  that  is  now 
extant.  It  implies  a  certain  degree  of  knowledge  of  Latin, 
Greek,  Italian,  Arabic,  and  Persian,  but  might  not  indicate 
that  the  writer  was  a  prodigy. 

The  queer  names  of  his  fowls  arose  from  his  strange  way 
of  determining  upon  them.  He  would  open  a  book  at  ran- 
dom, and  the  first  word  that  struck  his  eye  was  to  be  the 
nomen,  and  the  first  on  the  next  opening  of  the  book,  the 
cognomen. 

*  A  full  account  of  these  matters  will  be  found  in  the  Memoir  of  Dr.  A 
Alexander,  and  in  the  Forty- Years'  Familiar  Letters. 


90  FIRST   LETTER.  [182(1 

Peincetojt,  Ne-w  Jersey,  U.  S.  of  F.  Am.,  } 
Friday,  21st  of  April,  1826.  f 

CHAEISSIME  VOADELI, 

I  had  intemled  to  indite  you  an  epistle  in  classical  and  Ciceronian 
Latin,  but  the  thought  that  you  have  probably  dropt  the  acquaintance 
of  Greek  and  Eomin  sages,  since  your  departure  fiom  tliis  celebrated 
seat  of  the  Muses,  has  induced  mo  to  "etfere  vernaculc  " — as  we  u-ed 
to  say  in  the  garret  when  you  were  a  schoolmaster.  As  letter-writing 
is  a  species  of  composition  in  which  I  have  had  little  practice,  I  find 
it  necessary  in  digesting  my  epistles  to  adopt  the  same  rule;5  by  wliich 
I  am  guided  in  writing  an  es^ay  for  the  ears  of  our  illustrious  President, 
whose  logical  ex:ictness  of  thought  and  nicety  of  expression  rend.^r  it 
wessy  in  stringing  our^airZsto  be  very  methodical.  I  shall  therefore 
con-ider  my  subject  under  three  heads,  1.  the  news;  2.  replies  to 
your  inquiries;  3.  original  messages  and  remarks,  which  I  am  directed 
to  communicate  l)y  my  constituents  (for  in  writing  this  letter,  I  stand 
in  a  federal  capacity,  being  the  represent::tive  of  the  household). 
First,  then,  the  news, — which  is  very  scanty — nor  should  you  lament 
this  if  you  are  endued  with  reasDn,  for  "/SouXets-,  ftTTf  ^lot,  Trfpuav, 
Trvv6avea6ai  \ey(Tia  ti  Kaivov,""  it  c mnot  be  supposed  that  any  man 
who  has  taken  the  oaths  of  allegiance  in  Henrico  County,  Virginia, 
and  received  the  power  of  marrying  and  giving  in  marriage  through- 
out the  Old  Dominion,  can  care  for  intelligence  from  the  Jerseys.  Be 
that  as  it  may,  I  shall  proceed  to  communicate  the  facts  with  which  I 
have  been  supplied.  Imprimis— we  are  all  well  (you  know  with  what 
limitations  to  understand  this  statement).  Item,  Mr.  "Woodhull  is  not 
very  well,  but  on  the  contrary,  is  very  ill,  and  it  is  expected  that  he 
will  "go  into  a  consumption."  Item,  Dr.  Miller  has  been  confined  to 
his  bed  for  some  time.  Item,  a  Cherokee  Indian,  by  the  name  of  Chew, 
was  buried  here  today — the  obsequies  being  conducted  by  Dr.  A. 
Item,  Grjcn  was  here  last  night  and  went  oif  at  five  o'clock  th's  morn- 
ing. Item,  Mrs.  Field  has  bought  Mr.  Baird's  house  and  will  enter  it 
next  Si)ring.  Item,  Dr.  Carnahan  is  going  to  Washington.  Item, 
Mr.  Patton  is  going  to  deliver  expository  lectures  on  the  "'KTrra 
eTi  erj.Sds  "  of  iEschylus.  Item,- Mr.  David  Ming?,  of  emancipating 
celebrity,  has  pitched  his  tent  among  us,  and  intends  to  pursue  his 
studies  under  the  care  of  Luther  Ilalsey,  Jr.  Item,  Hatching  Harpoon 
has  hatched  six  chickens— to  wit— Ruby  Cobweb,  Jidm  Peaseblossorn, 
Cheerfulness  Plenty,  Egg  Sacrifice,  Corpulent  Ostrich,  and  Grapevine 
Moth.  Two  of  these  are  dead,  the  rest  are  in  very  good  health.  The 
Chicken  College  is  in  a  flourishing  condition.     Pompey  Jack  has  re- 


^T.  IT.]  LETTERS    RECEIVED.  9^1 

signed  t!ie  presidency,  and  is  engaged  in  writing  a  work  with  tlie  fol- 
lowing title— " I-tnriii  d^l  coUegio  dei  Pullastri,  nella  Universita  di 
Gratrocane  pollastr'anitra,  del  amio  1820,  al  anno  presente.  Per  Pom- 
peio  Giacco,  Dottore  di  Penue  e  di  mustacchi  e  ultimo  Pres'dente  del 
coUegio."*  Item,  Capt.  Tlensliaw  is  appointed  Conimaader  of  the 
Navy  Yard  in  Philadelphia,  vice  Biddle. 

11.  In  your  letter  by  J.  F.  Caruthers,  ynu  earnestly  desire  to  be  in- 
formed what  letters  have  been  received  from  you — I  therefore  subjoin 
as  perfect  a  list  as  I  could  obtain : 

No.  1.  To  Mrs.  Janetta  Alexander,  d;ited  Baltimore,  Nov.  .3,  1825. 

2.  "  Miss  Ann  II.  Waddell,  "  Petersburg,  Dec.  18,  " 

3.  "  Mrs.  Janetta  Alexander,  "  Petersburg,  Jan.  5,  1826. 

4.  "     do.      do.  do.  "  do.        Jan.  26,     " 
R.    "  Mr.  Joseph  A.  Alexander,         "  do.         Feb.  1-3,    " 

6.  "  Kev.  Dr.  A.  Alexander,  "  do.         March  3,  " 

7.  "  Miss  Ann  H.  Waddell,  "  Richmond,  March  8,    " 

8.  "  Mrs.  Janetta  Alexander,  "  Petersburg,  March  16,  " 

9.  "  Rev.  Dr.  A.  Alexander,  "  Richmond,  April  1, 


Add  to  these  a  letter  to  Wm.  from  Washington — another  by  Mr.  Nisbet,  a 
third  by  Jno.  F.  Caruthers,  and  a  fourth  received  to-day,  and  I  believe  you 
have  the  whole  of  your  epistles  before  you.  I  can  hardly  imagine  your  motive 
for  requesting  sucli  information  as  this. 

III.  Mrs.  Alexander  aslis  you  whether  the  accounts  of  Virginia, 
once  given  you  by  herself  and  Miss  W.,  appear  to  you  now  as  the  off- 
spring of  wild  enthusiasm. 

(Then  follows  a  line  in  Arabic  character.) 

Salamu  alaikum  min  ali  wa  ahli. 
i.  e.,  You  arc  saluted  by  kith  and  kin. 

Scriito  per  il  tuo  fratello, 

J.  Addison  Alexandeb. 

Daring  the  summer  of  1826  Addison,  it  seems,  took  a  trip 
to  the  sea-shore  at  Long  Branch,  and  had  his  first  view  of  the 

*  "  History  of  the  Chicken  College,  in  the  Cat-Dog-Chicken-Duck  Univer- 
sity, in  the  year  1820,  the  present  year.  By  Pompey  Jack,  Professor  of 
Feathers  and  Whiskers,  and  late  President  of  the  College." 


92  VISITS   LONG   BRANCH.  [1S26 

ocean.  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  drove  the  Jersey  wagon  in 
which  Avere  Mrs.  Campbell,  Mrs.  Alexander,  Addison,  Mr. 
(now  Doctor)  Alfred  Leyburn  of  Lexington,  and  perhaps  Miss 
Ann  Eliza  Caruthers  (afterwards  Mrs.  Leyburn),  and  Mr. 
Charles  Campbell  of  Petersburg,  and  one  or  two  others.  The 
last  named  is  the  raconteur. 

"  My  niother  and  myself  once  accompanied  Dr.  Alexander  with  Lis 
wife  and  daughter  and  some  of  liis  sons,  including  Addison,  to  Long 
Branch,  the  watering-place  on  the  Jersey  coast.  Dr.  Alfred  Leyburn 
was  also  in  company  and  I  believe  Ann  Eliza  Caruthers,  -uhom  he 
afterwards  married.  The  greater  part  of  these  rode  in  a  Jersey  wagon. 
Dr.  Alexander  driving.  Addison  sat  in  the  seat  before  my  mother. 
For  some  time  he  was  engaged  in  writing,  and  at  length  his  mother  in- 
quired of  him  what  he  was  writing,  when  he  handed  her  the  manu- 
script, which  she  read  aloud.  It  proved  to  he  a  report  of  what  each 
one  had  said  during  the  ride.  His  mother  once  remarked  to  mine,  that 
she  never  had  seen  Addison  angry  and  that  she  had  one  day  asked  him 
how  he  managed  to  keep  his  temper  so  quiet?  lie  replied,  that  he 
should  have  gotten  angry  just  like  others,  but  that  ho  had  never  met 
with  any  provocation  which  he  thought  it  worth  his  while  to  get 
angry  about.  This  is  something  Hke  the  reply  of  the  Earl  of  Peter- 
borough, who,  when  asked  how  it  was  that,  in  all  the  dangers  of  a  re- 
cent campaign,  ho  had  never  exhibited  any  fear,  answered,  'I  should 
have  been  as  much  frightened  as  any  body,  but  I  never  saw  any  good 
reason  to  apprehend  danger.'  Addison's  sedate  face  denoted  the  equa- 
nimity for  which  he  was  distinguished.  To  borrow  an  expression,  he 
moved  about  '  with  all  the  concentrated  energy  of  a  young  monk.' 

"  My  brother  Alexander,  who  is  younger  than  myself,  was  some 
years  after  I  left  Princeton  with  my  mother  at  Dr.  Alexander's.  Ad- 
dison wrote  his  biography  for  him  in  some  little  volumes  the  pages  of 
which  were  about  the  size  of  those  of  a  thumb-bible.     One  of  Dr. 

's  sons,  it  appeared,  had  poked  a  stick  through  the  fence  and 

hurt  Aleck  in  the  eye.  The  first  chapter  of  the  biography  dilated  upon 
'  the  operation  performed  on  his  eye.'  These  little  volumes  were  pre- 
served for  many  years  but  are  now  lost." 

That  ride  may  not  have  made  any  great  impression  on  a 
mind  that  was  perhaps  meditating  on  the  college  honours  or 
the  fragrance  of  roses  sung  by  Haliz  and  Sadi ;  but  the  sight 


^T.  17.]  LETTER    OP    MRS.    GRAHAM.  93 

of  the  sea  as  it  rolls  in  upon  the  crushed  sands,  and  elevated 
green  fields  and  bare  levels,  of  the  Jersey  coast  was  one  of  the 
things  that,  as  Keats  says,  are  a  joy  forever,  and  was  on  this 
occasion  a  memorable  joy  to  him.  If  he  did  not  himself  write 
the  powerful  description  of  the  mighty  element  which  soon 
after  appeared  in  the  columns  of  the  Patriot  while  he  was 
its  editor,  he  undoubtedly  inserted  it  with  approbation  of  its 
sentiments  and  with  the  warmest  recollections  of  the  great 
original. 

A  letter  from  his  father  to  Mrs.  Graham  gives  a  picture  in 
masterly  outlines  of  the  young  graduate  and  valedictorian,  and 
touches  upon  his  rare  attainments  in  general  literature,  his 
reception  of  the  President's  medal  for  best  composition,  his 
promise  as  an  eloquent  speaker,  his  taste  for  law  and  politics, 
his  regularity  and  quietness  of  deportment,  his  reserve,  and  his 
blameless  manners. 

"Addison  has  just  passed  through  his  final  examination  in  college. 
He  stands  at  the  very  head  of  his  class  in  scholarship.  Two  others 
however  were  put  with  him  in  tlie  first  honour,  as  it  is  called,  one  of 
whom  is  fully  equal  to  him  in  the  studies  of  the  college,  hut  in  general 
knowledge  is  a  child  to  him.  For  without  any  partiality  to  him  he-« 
cause  he  is  my  son  (to  which  I  believe  I  am  very  little  prone)  he  is 
very  far  superior  to  any  one  of  his  age  I  ever  saw  iu  literary  attain- 
ments. The  Senior  class,  to  which  he  belongs,  were  called  upon  a  few 
days  ago  to  decide  by  ballot  to  whom  the  President's  premium  should 
be  given  for  excehing  in  composition,  and  Addison  obtained  the  first 
place  by  a  large  majority.  His  ability  to  speak  in  public  is  also  un- 
commonly good  ;  and  he  has  been  appointed  to  deliver  the  valedictory 
on  the  day  of  Commencement.  But  to  what  use  he  will  apply  his 
learning  and  eloquence  I  know  not.  Probably  he  will  be  a  lawyer  and 
politician.  His  views  and  feelings  on  the  subject  of  rehgion  are  known 
only  to  himself.  He  is  so  reserved  that  nobody  attempts  to  draw  him 
out ;  but  his  whole  deportment  is  as  correct  as  it  easily  could  be,  No- 
body ever  expects  to  see  anything  in  him  but  regularity  and  equa- 
nimity." 

The  expectation  as  regards  his  following  the  profession  of 
the  law  ^vas  not  fulfilled  ;  but  we  shall  soon  hear  bim  crying 


94  MR.    MoCALL.  [1826. 

out  to  God  for  mercy  through  Christ  Jesus,  and  in  thanks  for 
tlie  infinite  favours  ah-eady  bestowed  on  him.  It  is  by  no 
means  unlikely  that  his  thoughts  were  often  turned  to  this 
great  subject  at  this  grave  juncture  in  Lis  life. 

It  is  a  little  remarkable  that  so  many  distinguished  men 
who  were  his  classmates  still  survive,  and  these  still  retain  a 
pleasing  and  vivid  memory  of  their  college  Iriend  and  rival. 
I  shall  now  present  the  reminiscences  of  Mr.  McCall  of  Phila- 
delphia (who  drew  lots  with  him  for  the  valedictory),  which 
cannot  fail  to  be  read  with  gratification. 

Mr.  McCall  writes  : 

"  Addison  Alexander  was  rather  reserved  and  retiring  in  Lis  dispo- 
sition, and  residing  at  home,  he  did  not  mingle  with  the  students  as 
much  as  he  otLerwise  would  h:ive  done.  It  was  only  towards  the  c'o>e 
of  our  college  career  that  I  saw  Liin  quite  fiequently,  and  Lad  iLe 
pleasure  of  a  somewhat  intimate  fellowsiiip  witL  Lim.  I  was  then 
struck  witL  the  vein  of  r'.cL  humour  and  pleasantry  tLat  played  under 
his  quiet  exterior. 

"  His  Lrilliant  talents  and  fine  attainments  were  appreciated  by  all  of 
us.  He  was  witLout  doubt  the  first  scholar  in  the  class.  Nap'on  c  ime 
nearest  to  Lim,  but  I  tiiink  Alexander,  take  Lim  all  in  all,  had  tLe  pre- 
-eminence. An  excellent  mathematician,  a  first-rats  lingui.-t,  an  accom- 
plished writer — Le  faibd  in  nothing  and  was  tiie  object  of  general  admi- 
raton. 

"  I  !i;id  the  unm  rited  Lonour  of  drawing  lots  with  him  for  tlie  Vale- 
dictory and  the  Lntin  Salutatory.  He  dre.v  tLe  former,  and  I  well  re- 
member tliat  lii-;  perl'onnance  wasdistingnislied  for  ite  excellence. 

"I  Lave  iilways  feltpr.  u  i  of  being  Lis  classmate,  ai;d  a'.thougL  T  saw 
him  very  rar.-ly  af.er  leaving  collegf^,  I  never  ceased  to  entertain  for 
him  an  admiration  which  increa-ed  year  by  year  with  Lis  expanding 
fame. 

"  TLe  traits  of  Lis  character  and  tLe  leading  incidents  in  Lis  career, 
alas  !  too  sLort,  well  deserve  to  be  preserved  in  a  biograpLlcal  memoir. 
I  am  deligLted  to  learn  tLat  you  Lave  undertaken  it,  and  I  only  regret 
that  I  am  not  ahle  to  furnisli  you  any  material  wortLy  of  being  intro- 
duced into  your  work." 

I  have  it  on  the  best  authority  that  Mr.  McCall  was  him- 
self in  the  judgment  of  the  faculty  second  in  point  of  colle- 


iEx.  IT.]  HIS    SCHOLARSHIP.  "  95 

giate  attainment  to  no  one  in  the  class,  and  his  subsequent 
eniinence,  and  the  nature  of  his  daily  occupations,  render  his 
testimony  as  to  his  classmate's  character,  and  scholarship,  and 
genius,  not  a  whit  less  important  than  that  even  of  Judge 
Napton.  The  modesty  of  Mr.  McCall  would  throw  a  cloud 
over  the  fact  that  in  the  college  studies  he  was  himself  con- 
sidered, by  the  faculty  at  least,  and  without  hesitation  the 
equal  of  Mr.  Alexander. 


CHAPTER  III. 

It  was  while  in  college  that  he  seems  to  have  formed  the 
habit  of  keeping  a  commonplace-hook,  and  employed  for  this 
purpose  a  huge  folio  volume  of  stiii  paper  bound  in  heavy, 
rough  leather  of  the  colour  of  gingerbread.  This  volume  I 
have  carefully  inspected.  It  was  afterwards  used  by  one  of 
his  brotliers  as  a  scrap-book,  and  much  that  the  original  owner 
wrote  in  it  is  thus  blotted  out.  What  remains  consists  of 
catalogues  of  the  various  classes  and  honour-men  for  a  number 
of  successive  years,  fragments  of  speeches,  curious  autographs, 
snatches  of  poetry,  and  bursts  of  ineffable  nonsense.  Several 
of  his  brothers  wrote  in  it  at  a  later  date,  and  one  day  in 
1830  as  he  sat  in  the  window  his  brother  James  inscribed  in 
it  some  very  pretty  original  verses.  Among  all  the  treasures 
of  this  old  register  none  are  more  valuable  than  the  first 
draught  of  Addison's  now  lamous  valedictory,  and  another 
very  remarkable  effusion  of  his  entitled  the  Peruvians.  This 
piece  is  one  of  the  most  florid  and  rhythmical  of  all  his  pro- 
ductions. The  tune  of  the  sentences  is  peculiar — something 
like  that  of  Ossian.  It  is  nothing  but  a  fragment,  or  rather  a 
succession  of  fragments,  some  of  which  are  broken  off  in  the 
middle  of  a  sentence.  It  is  highly  and  richly  imaginative, 
and  some  few  of  its  descriptions  are  very  chaste,  reminding 
one  of  those  of  Prescott.  The  whole  is  exceedingly  impas- 
sioned, and  admirably  suited  to  the  purposes  of  college  decla- 
mation. I  am  informed  on  the  best  authority  that  the  finished 
oration  was  actually  pronounced  by  one  of  his  comrades,  on 
the  college  stage.  The  piece  originated  in  this  way.  His 
brother  William  one  day  brought  him  a  poem  on  "  the  Incas,'' 
which  he  seemed  to  admire  and  made  the  basis  of  a  speech  he 
had  been  asked  to  write  for  one  of  his  distressed  mates.* 

*  The  admiration  Dr.  Addison  Alexander  had  for  the  poet  Cowper  was  coa- 
Btantly  showing  itself,  and  in  ways  that  would  little  be  suspected.    The  allusion 


^T.  IT.]  DECLINES    THE    TUTORSHIP.  97 

In  September,  1826,  Mr.  Alexander,  as  we  have  just  seen, 
was  graduated  at  Princeton,  with  the  valedictory  honours  of 
his  class,  having  divided  the  spolia  opima  of  scholarshiiD  at 
the  rather  early  age  of  seventeen. 

About  the  same  time  in  the  following  year,  viz.,  on  the 
27th  of  September,  1827,  he  was  appointed  a  tutor  in  the  Col- 
lege of  New  Jersey,  but  declined ;  probably  because  he  was  al- 
ready making  great  strides  in  his  Oriental  studies,  and  wanted 
ample  time  for  still  greater.  He  was  also  enjoying  the  luxury 
of  vast  but  discursive  reading.  Certain  it  is,  that  the  interval 
between  his  graduation  and  his  acceptance  of  the  post  of 
teacher  in  Mr.  Patton's  Seminary,  in  1829,  was  spent  in  almost 
incredible  linguistical  toils,  and  especially  in  prosecuting  his 
early  researches  in  the  Asiatic  languages.  He  was  also  begin- 
ning to  pay  more  attention  than  formerly  to  the  languages  of 
the  West.  He  joyously  seized  this  opportunity  of  comparative 
leisure,  to  perfect  his  knowledge  of  those  tongues  with  which 
he  was  already  acquainted,  and  to  extend  his  inquiries  along 
every  shining  radius  of  the  great   circle  which  embraced   so 

in  his  Isaiah  to  Cowper's  free  paraphrase  of  the  137th  Psalm,  ("By  the  rivers 
of  Babylon  there  we  sat  down"),  and  to  his  application  of  some  of  its  noblest 
imagery  to  the  case  of  the  Incas,  is  evidently  to  the  superb  passage  in 
''Charity:" 

"  Oh  could  their  ancient  Incas  rise  again, 
now  would  they  take  up  Israel's  taunting  strain  ? 
Art  thou  too  fallen,  Iberia  ?    Do  we  see 
The  robber  and  the  murderer  weak  as  we  \ 
■  Thou  that  hast  wasted  earth,  and  dared  despise 

Alike  the  wrath  and  mercy  of  the  skies, 
Thy  pomp  is  in  the  grave,  thy  glory  laid 
Low  in  the  pits  thine  avarice  has  made. 
We  come  with  joy  from  our  eternal  rest, 
To  sec  the  oppressor  in  his  turn  oppressed. 
Art  thou  the  god,  the  thunder  of  whose  hand 
Rolled  over  all  our  desolated  land, 
Shook  principalities  and  kingdoms  down, 
And  made  the  nations  tremble  at  his  frown  ! 
The  sword  shall  light  upon  thy  boasted  powers. 
And  waste  them,  as  thy  sword  has  wasted  otirs. 
'Tis  thus  Omnipotence  his  law  fulfils. 
And  Vengeance  executes  what  Justice  wills." 

Grigff  ^  Elliot,  Philadelphia,  1841,  p.  £5. 


98  CHARLES    CAMPBELL.  [1827. 

many  subjects  with  regard  to  which,  at  present,  he  had  but 
Blight  information,  or  none  at  all. 

A  gentleman  of  Virginia  writes  that  he  had  often  heard 
the  praises  of  Addison  Alexander  sounded  by  a  very  lovely 
young   female   relative  of  his,   who   had   "left   no  common 
picture  "  in  the  mind  of  her  listener  "  of  a  young  prodigy  of 
intellect   and   scholarship."      This   gentleman,   on   going   to 
Princeton  as  a  student  of  the  college,  found  that  the  picture 
of  Mr.  Alexander's  fair  kinswoman  was  not  overdrawn.     He 
says,  "  I  was  very  naturally  led  to  visit  at  his  father's  ;    and, 
besides  the  pleasant,  gentle  welcome  which  Dr.  Archibald 
Alexander  always  gave  one  coming  from  his  native  place,  I 
always  felt  when  I  saw  that  bright,  genial,  sincere-looking 
face  of  Mrs.  Alexander,  on  which  the  roses  of  youth  had  not 
yet  entirely  faded,  and  heard  her  talk  in  her  kind,  earnest 
manner,  that  I  was  in  some  measure  back  again  in  Virginia. 
But  Addison  was  very  much  of  a  recluse,  and  I  was  pressed 
with  college  studies,  and  I  did  not  make  up  much  acquaintance 
with  him  during  that  period  ;  though  my  appointment  along 
with  him  on  a  very  important  special  committee,  which,  for 
some  time,  had  frequent  sessions,  brought  me  at  that  time 
into  a  good  deal  of  intercourse  with  him.     One  thing,  how- 
ever, impressed  me  then,  as  I  believe  it  has  universally  im- 
pressed people  in  regard  to  him,  I  mean  the  unpretending 
simplicity  of  his  character.     Nobody  could  have  seen  in  him 
the  exhibition  of  any  consciousness  of  Ids  extraordinary  superi- 
ority, and  so  it  was  always  in  ray  observation  of  him." 

This  must  have  been  either  during  or  just  after  Mr.  Alex- 
ander's own  connexion  with  the  college  as  a  student.  I  think 
it  not  unlikely  it  was  in  1827  or  '28,  when  he  was  a  resident- 
o-raduate  in  the  town  and  before  he  became  connected  wnth 
Ml'.  Patton  and  Edgehill. 

There  are  but  few  incidents  relating  to  this  transition- 
period  between  his  life  as  a  college  student  and  his  life  as  an 
usher  or  schoolmaster.  "Some  years  after  graduating,"  writes 
Mr.  Campbell,  "  I  happened  to  pass  a  week  or  two  at  the  Rev. 
Dr.  Archibald  Alexander's,  in  Princeton.     I  observed  that 


^T.18.]  TESTIMONY    OF    PROFESSOR    HART.  99 

Aclclisoii  did  not  eat  with  the  family,  but  after  them  and  by 
himself  He  glided  into  the  dining-room  with  noiseless  adroit- 
ness, his  singularity  in  this  particular  being  apparently  ac- 
quiesced in  by  the  family  without  comment.  The  presence  of 
visitors  or  company  in  the  house,  as  a  general  rule,  he  appeared 
to  ignore."  This  he  attributed  to  an  extreme  constitutional 
diffidence  and  reserve.  "  In  general  he  was,  at  this  time, 
remarkably  tacitura,  without  being  at  all  morose.  He  was 
'  swift  to  hear  and  slow  to  speak.'  Yet  no  one  took  more 
pleasure  in  conversation  tlian  he,  only  he  confined  it  to  a  very 
few."  During  this  sojourn  of  Mr,  Campbell's  at  Dr.  Alex- 
ander's house,  he  occupied  the  same  room  Avith  Addison,  and 
the  two  sometimes  lay  awake  talking  till  a  late  hour.  "His 
pent-up  thoughts,  wht'ii  they  found  vent,  flowed  in  a  strong 
current.  In  the  upstairs  room,  Avhere  we  slept,  he  had  his 
manuscripts  arranged  on  the  floor  around  the  room,  along  the 
washboard,  where  he  could  readily  lay  his  hand  on  any  one 
that  he  wanted.  He  was  at  this  time  writing  for  a  paper 
published  in  Princeton.  I  remember  reading  a  humorous 
account  of  Commencement-day,  at  Princeton,  in  which  Addi- 
son, who  spoke  to  so  few  persons,  seemed  to  know  not  only 
what  the  country  people,  who  were  present  on  that  occasion, 
talked  about,  but  also  how  they  talked."  * 

It  is  with  lively  pleasure  that  I  now  have  recourse  to  the 
memory  and  kindness  of  Professor  John  S.  Hart,  LL.  D.  of 
Trenton,  formerly  of  the  Edgehill  school.  "  From  the  year 
1826  down  to  the  date  of  Addison's  death,"  writes  Dr.  Hart, 
"  no  student  I  suppose  ever  came  to  Princeton,  without  hav- 
ing his  imagination  excited  by  stories  bordering  upon  the  mar- 
vellous, in  regard  to  the  prodigious  learning  and  the  mental 
endowments  of  the  studious  recluse  who  was  seldom  seen,  but 
who  was  known  to  dwell  somewhere  in  the  neighbom-hood  of 
the  Theological  Seminary."  He  well  remembers  "the  impres- 
sion this  intellectual  giant  made  upon  my  own  youthful  imag- 
ination.    The  traditions  of  the  town  in  regard  to   him,  and 

*  This  is  an  exact  description  of  the  letters  of  Job  Raw,  in  the  Patriot, 


100 


PHILOLOGICAL    SOCIETY.  [1827. 


the  occasional  glimpses  I  had  of  him,  gave  mo  my  first  idea 
of  genius,  in  the  highest  meaning  of  the  word,  and  in  my  m- 
tercoursc  with  him  in  later  years,  which  at  times  was  entirely 
free  and  familiar,  that  first  impression  was  only  confirmed  and 
deepened.  No  man  that  I  have  ever  met  filled  so  entirely  my 
conception  of  mental  greatness  of  the  very  highest  order." 

The  first  actual  evidence  of  Addison's  abilities  that  came 
under  Professor  Hart's  notice  was  in  the  formation  of  the  Phi- 
lological* Society  in  the  college,  in  the  year  1828,     Professor 
Patt'on,  who  then  occupied  the  chair  of  ancient  languages  m 
the  college,  and  who  was  a  great  enthusiast  in  his  department, 
it  seems^endeavoured  to  infuse  some  of  his  own  enthusiasm 
into  the  young  men  under  his  instruction.     "  For  this  purpose 
he  called  Addison  to  his  special  assistance,  and  with  the  coop- 
eration of  the  other  members  of  the  faculty  and  of  the  stu- 
dents, the  Philological  Society  was  formerl,  and  Professor  Pat- 
ton  generously  placed  upon  its  shelves  for  the  free  use  of  the 
memlDers  the  entire  contents  of  his  private  library,  which  was 
particularly  rich  in  rare  and  costly  works  on  philological  sci- 
ence.    One  part  of  the  plan  was  to  have  stated  meetings,  at 
which  papei-s  were  to  be  read  on  various  subjects."     The  first 
paper  that  was  read,  and  the  only  one  of  which  he  had  any 
distinct   recollection,  was  by  Addison.     "  From  his  reputed 
antecedents  I  expected  to  hear  an  essay,  learned  indeed  and 
able,  but  dry  and  abstruse,  on  some  nice  point  of  philological 
inquiry.     Instead  of  that,  we  were  treated  to  a  discourse  on 
the  duty  of  studying  our  own  English  classics,  dwelling  with 
particular  emphasis,  I  recollect,  upon  the  noble  diction  and 
the  gorgeous  imagery  of  Edmund  Burke ;  and,  as  I  listened 
to  the  rtch  racy  English  of  his  own  glowing  periods,  and  no- 
ticed the  peculiar  Addisonian  grace  and  elegance  which  marked 
the  youthful  composition,  it  seemed  as  if  it  must  have  been  not 
accidental,  but  by  some  mysterious  prescience,  that  he  had 
been  named  Joseph  Addison."     He  remembers  at  all  events. 

*  This  is  Professor  Hart's  name  for  it.     If  there  were  not  two  societies  of 
lilcc  name,  this  was  called  the  Philologian. 


^T.18.]  LOVE    FOR    ENGLISPI    CliASSICS.  101 

that  it  Avas  a  common  remark  among  the  students,  after  hear- 
ing that  essay,  that  Addison  Alexander  was  well  named. 
♦"Such  was  the  efiect  produced  on  my  mind  by  the  youthful 
performance.  I  dare  say  there  are  scores  of  others  still  living 
who  would  testify  to  the  same  effect  having  been  produced  on 
them." 

This  love  of  the  best  English  classics  for  their  own  sake, 
and  not  at  all  because  other  people  admired  them,  was  always 
a  marked  trait  in  Mr.  Alexander's  intellectual  character. 
Johnson,  Swift,  Steele,  and  Addison  were  in  his  youthful 
fancy  almost  worthy  to  be  rivals  of  Sir  William  Jones  him- 
self in  the  estimation  of  scholars  and  men  of  taste.  What 
struck  him  in  Johnson  was  not  idiomatic  elegance,  as  in  the 
charming  essayist  and  critic  of  the  Spectator,  but  Herculean 
sense,  knowledge,  and  energy,  and  musical  cadence.  Burke, 
and  the  whole  school  of  fresh  original  writers  who  overlapped 
or  succeeded  the  age  of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  and  Garrick, 
filled  him  afterwards  with  a  sense  of  new  and  increasing 
enjoyment,  as  well  as  that  Cicero  of  the  English  pulpit,  the 
incomparable  Robert  Hall.  As  to  Burke,  he  was  in  his 
esteem  more  than  a  second  Johnson,  with  a  magnificence  of 
his  own,  and  without  Johnson's  faults.  It  was  just  like  the 
writer  of  the  essay  here  noticed  to  defeat  the  expectations  of 
those  who  looked  for  an  abstruse  philological  disquisition 
from  the  young  linguist.  He  rejoiced  at  every  chance  of 
thus  baffling  curiosity. 

It  cannot  now  be  known  when  Addison  first  became  a  con- 
tributor to  the  public  press,  but  probably  when  he  was  at 
school  with  Mr.  Baird.  We  know  that  he  used  to  print  news- 
papers with  a  pen  at  that  time.  A  paper  was  published  in 
Princeton  called  the  New  Jersey  Patriot.  In  less  than  three 
months  after  leaving  college,  at  the  age  of  seventeen,  he  con^ 
tributed  to  that  paper  an  article  of  two  columns  and  a  half  on 
Persian  poetry,  which  attracted  attention,  and  was  especially 
commended  to  the  notice  of  the  public  in  an  editorial  article 
of  the  paper  in  which  it  appeared.  He  wrote  during  the  en- 
suing winter  some  caustic  political  squibs  over  the  signature 


102  THE    PATRIOT.  n827. 

of  "  The  Jesuit,"  in  reference  to  the  election  of  a  TJnitecl  States 
Senator  for  New  Jersey,  Avhich  had  just  taken  place  and 
caused  great  excitement  in  the  state. 

In  the  following  smniuer  the  Patriot  ceased  to  be  a  politi- 
cal paper,  was  enlarged  and  placed  by  its  proprietor  under 
the  editorial  charge  of  Mr.  Alexander  and  one  of  his  brothers. 
This  position  afforded  full  scope  for  his  prolific  pen.  In  addi- 
tion to  editorial  matter  and  current  news,  he  almost  covered 
the  broad  sheet  with  essays,  poems,  tales,  and  communications, 
to  which  various  signatures  were  attached. 

It  was  at  this  time  and  at  this  early  age  that  some  of  the 
articles  at  a  later  day  published  in  the  Philadelphia  Monthly 
Magazine  appeared,  such  as  "  The  Fall  of  Ispahan,"  "Greece 
in  1827,"  and  "  The  Tears  of  Esau."  He  wrote  for  this  paper 
a  tale  called  "  The  Quaker  Settlement,"  of  which  I  can  dis- 
cover no  vestige.  He  wrote  also  a  tale  called  "  The  Jewess 
of  Damascus." 

The  Patriot  soon  ceased  for  want  of  patronage.* 

About  this  time  a  literary  weekly  paper  known  as  the 
Souvenir  had  a  short  existence  in  Philadelphia.  The  editor 
offered  prizes  for  the  best  Essay,  Poem,  Tale,  and  Biography. 
Addison  went  in  for  all  of  them,  and  on  the  sealed  envelope 
identifying  the  author,  placed  the  name  of  "  Horace  Seaford, 
care  of  J.  A.  A.,"  &c.  The  pviblisher  not  finding  it  convenient 
to  pay  the  prizes  offered,  announced  that  he  would  give  a  cer- 
tain number  of  copies  of  his  paper  to  the  successful  writer ; 
and  on  the  opening  of  the  seals,  Addison  was  inundated  with 


*  Durint^  the  days  that  the  Patriot  was  at  the  height  of  its  circulation,  a  pro- 
tracted controversy,  occupying  column  upon  column,  in  weekly  instalments, 
was  carried  on  in  successive  numbers  of  that  journal,  on  the  vexed  subject  of 
Dancing.  The  contending  writers  were  a  leading  clergyman  and  a  distinguished 
layman"  After  the  matter  had  gone  to  great  lengths,  and  the  readers  of  the 
paper  were  becoming  excessively  weary  of  the  conflict  and  of  tlie  topic  that  had 
provoked  it,  Addison,  who  was  then  one  of  the  editors  of  tlie  Patriot,  brought 
the  matter  to  a  sudden  close  with  the  characteristic  remark  in  large  typo,  that 
"  he  presumed  the  spirit  of  St.  Vitus  himself  must  be  satisfied  by  this  time  with 
what  had  been  said  on  both  sides  of  the  question." 


^T,18.] 


PERSIAN    POETS.  103 


copies  of  the  paper  addressed  to  "Horace  Seaford,  care  of 
J.  A.  A." 

■  I  am  so  fortunate  as  to  be  able  to  give  some  extracts  from 
tbe  article  on  "The  Persian  Poets."  It  is  signed  "  Ali."  It 
Trill  be  remembered  that  it  was  written  by  a  youth  of  little 
more  than  seventeen,  and  who  was  generally  supposed  to  know 
nothino-  of  oriental  literature  at  first  hand.  How  erroneous 
this  conception  Avas,  we  have  already  had  occasion  to  remark. 
After  touching  upon  the  wide  difierence  in  nature  and  de- 
gree between  the  influences  that  tend  to  promote  works  of 
science,  and  the  circumstances  which  foster  works  of  imagina- 
tion and  taste,  he  affirms  that  no  country  has  abounded  in  the 
latter  more  remarkably  than  Persia.  She  has  not  indeed,  he 
admits,  afibrded  to  her  sons  those  artificial  aids  which  consti- 
tute the  apparatus  of  the  western  scholar,  but  on  the  other 
hand,  he  urges,  she  has  richly  furnished  them  with  all  that 
tends  to  develope  the  latent  elements  of  poetic  talent,  and 
raise  them  to  maturity.  "  It  has  been  justly  observed,"  he 
continues,  "that  the  Age  of  Poetry  lies  midway  between  bar- 
barism and  complete  refinement.  It  is  neither  to  freedom 
from  all  mental  discipline  and  application,  nor  to  the  immen- 
sity of  public  libraries,  or  to  the  ease  and  excellence  of  jDublic 
instruction,  that  the  poet  owes  his  inspiration.  It  is  neither 
among  the  restraints  of  elegant  society,  nor  the  wild  excesses 
of  savage  life,  that  the  muses  work  their  wonders.  It  is  rather 
among  scenes  where  the  revolting  harshness  of  unsubdued 
ferocity  has  been  removed,  but  the  gloss  of  excessive  refine- 
ment has  not  yet  neutralized  the  energies  of  genius — where 
nature  herself  wears  a  poetic  garb,  and  the  manners  of  men 
are  modelled  after  her.  There  the  spirit  of  poetry  is  not  a 
shy  and  haughty  power,  inhabiting  the  retirements  of  the 
learned,  and  looking  on  the  multitude  only  to  despise  them, 
but  a  gentler  influence,  which  though  it  bends  in  the  exercise 
of  its  power  to  the  lowest  intellects,  gives  the'tn  elevation, 
while  it  loses  none  itself;  like  the  Peris  of  Persian  romance, 
which  leed  on  the  flowers  and  perfumes  of  earth,  though  they 
dwell  in  the  regions  of  the  air." 


104  ORIENTAL    SCENES.  [1828, 

How  fai*  this  description  may  he  applied  to  Persia,  he  pro- 
poses to  determine  by  an  unerring  test  as  he  thinks,  in  litera- 
ture as  in  morals,  by  the  degree  of  privilege  and  ojoportunity 
enjoyed.  This  he  does  by  considering  the  advantages  which 
she  has  afforded  to  her  poets.  After  speaking  of  the  fertility 
of  fancy  to  which  must  be  ascribed  the  hyperbolic  tendency 
so  visible  in  the  style  and  conceiDtions  of  their  authors,  he 
pi-oceeds  to  restrict  his  review  to  their  exclusive  advantages, 
which  have  aided  the  natural  powers  of  the  poet ;  and  these 
he  proposes  to  consider  without  regard  to  intellectual  endow- 
ments. 

In  the  midst  of  the  discussion  of  this  jDoint  there  occurs 
the  following  passage : 

"The  genius  of  the  Persian  was  never  compelled  to  struggle  witli 
disadvantages  of  geographical  position — to  borrow  Lis  ideas  of  verdure 
upon  earth  and  cloudless  serenity  in  the  skies,  from  the  writings  of  an- 
other age  and  nation — to  outrage  the  sensibilities  of  liis  auditors  or 
readers  by  sioging  the  praises  of  perpetual  spring  amidst  the  horrors  of 
Arctic  winter,  by  planting  roses  beneath  the  avalanche,  and  rearing 
bowers  on  the  shores  of  a  frozen  sea.  His  eyes  were  opened  on  scenes 
where  the  loftiest  flights  of  bis  imagination  were  matched  by  the  glo- 
ries of  tlic  world  around  him— where  his  boldest  pictures  of  the  majesty 
of  nature  were  but  copies  of  the  mountains  which  he  climbed  in  infancy, 
and  his  most  luxuriant  descriptions  of  fairy  scenery  were  drawn  from 
the  realities  of  his  native  valleys. 

"In  perfect  accordance  with  the  face  of  nature  were  the  manners  of 
the  people.  In  the  character  and  customs  of  most  ^Mohammedan  na- 
tions, but  especially  the  Persians,  there  ever  has  been  and  still  may  be 
observed  that  rich  peculiarity  so  exclusively  appropriated  by  the  people 
of  the  East,  as  to  have  acquired  almost  universally  the  name  of  Oriental. 
It  is  the  same  poetic  cast  of  manners  portrayed  in  the  sacred  scrip- 
tures, that  picturesque  simplicity  of  language,  that  figurative  express- 
iveness of  action,  which  is  so  interesting  to  every  cultivated  mind  from 
the  power  of  association ;  whether  it  occur  in  the  record  of  eternal 
truth  or  in  the  trivial  page  of  Asiatic  fiction.  The  very  dress,  food, 
and  colloquial  phrases  of  the  East  are  objects  of  lively  interest,  from 
their  poetic  character  and  their  correspondence  with  the  pictures  in 
that  book,  whose  sacred  precepts  and  sublime  descriptions  fell  so  early 
and  80  often  on  the  unconscious  ear  of  infancy  that  we  cannot  trace 


^T.18.]  PERSIAN    LEGENDS.  105 

theii-  introduction  to  tlie  mind,  but  retain  them  like  the  sliadowy  imaa;6 
of  a  halt-forgotten  dream.  It  is  tliis  early  familiarity  with  the  Bible, 
that  causes  the  imagination  (though  schooled  and  chastened  by  the 
nicest  art  and  subjected  to  the  control  of  the  soundest  understanding) 
to  yield  without  resistunce  to  the  spell  thrown  over  it  by  the  witchery 
of  oriental  romance.  "We  may  cling  to  the  familiar  state  of  things 
around  us,  or  shrink  from  the  thought  of  transition  to  another.  But 
while  we  retain  our  early  impressions  of  camels,  caravans,  and  deserts 
— of  dwelling  in  tents,  and  sleeping  on  housetops,  we  must  feel  that 
these  are  the  modes  of  life  most  congenial  to  the  poet,  and  the  scenes 
most  susceptible  of  poetic  delineation." 

It  was  in  such  a  situation,  he  goes  on  to  say,  that  the  Per- 
sian poet  undertook  the  task  of  perpetuating  the  history  of  his 
native  land  by  the  power  of  immortal  verse  ;  and  there  could 
not  be  a  subject  more  fitted,  as  he  conceives,  for  the  wildest 
flights  of  the  most  exuberant  fancy.  "  The  historical  legends 
of  ancient  Ii-an,  which  survived  the  Arab  conquest  and  are 
still  fondly  cherished  by  the  modern  inhabitants,  are  full  of 
appropriate  themes  for  the  loftiest  eflTorts  of  the  muse.  Songs 
of  chivalry  and  love,  which  are  often  thought  peculiar  to  the 
European  bard,  have  ever  been  favourites  with  the  populace 
of  Persia;  and  no  troubadour  or  minstrel  of  the  west  ever 
tuned  his  harp  for  the  recital  of  exploits  more  wild  and  daring 
than  those  of  Firdusi's  hei'oes."  Nor  are  their  characters,  in 
his  opinion,  entirely  void  of  that  species  of  refinement  which 
Avas  the  glory  of  the  Eurojiean  knight  in  the  golden  age  of 
chivalry,  and  which  so  strongly  distinguished  him  from  the 
rude  and  bloody  warriors  of  other  lands  and  eras.  "  So  much 
nearer  indeed,"  he  protests,  "  does  the  modei'n  knight  approach 
to  tlie  ancient  heroes  of  the  East  than  to  the  huge  but  childish 
characters  in  Homer,  that  we  can  scarcely  help  concluding, 
that  between  the  former  there  exists  a  natural  aflinity,  wbjle 
the  latter  are  of  a  different  race."  The  attachment  of  the  Per 
sians  to  the  memory  of  those  primeval  warriors  he  thinks  h 
strongly  evinced  by  the  tenacity  with  which  they  have  pre- 
served the  fragments  of  their  early  history.  "  Though  the 
triimiphant  Khalif,  Avith  his  Arab  troops  had  introduced  the 
5* 


106  PERSIAN    MIND.  [1827. 

Koran,  Jind  converted  every  fire-temple  to  a  mosque— tlioncfb 
tlae  religion  nnd  the  laws  of  Moliammed  were  universally  dif- 
fused, the  vanquished,  Avhile  they  adopted  both,  retained  their 
national  afTectioas,  While  they  heard  with  indiftcrence  the  tri- 
umph of  Omar  and  Othm  an  over  Greece,  Syria,  and  Egypt, 
they  cherished  the  recollection  of  their  native  conquerors; 
and  while  the  Arab  bard  found  little  in  the  character  or 
actions  of  the  prophet  and  his  successors  to  be  the  subject  of 
poetical  embellishment,  the  exploits  of  Zccb  and  Eiistam  fur- 
nished an  exhaustless  theme  to  the  minstrelsy  of  Persia." 

But  the  most  remarkable  advantage  enjoyed  by  the  bards 
of  Persia,  he  believes,  is  unquestionably  to  be  found  in  the 
rich  and  romantic  mythology  peculiar  to  that  land  of  poets. 
"It  may  be  regarded   as  a   singular  phenomenon,  that  the 
inflexible  spirit  and  uncompromising  bigotry  of  Islam  should 
have  allowed  itself  to  be  entwined  v/ith  so  wild  a  relic  of 
ancient  Paganism.      Though  the   sacred  cross  was  trodden, 
with  the  crown  of  Constantine,  beneath  the  foot  of  the  Moslem 
—though   every  remnant  of  Arab  idolatry  was  exterminated 
by  the    unsparing    zeal   of   the   prophet   and   his   Khalifs— 
though  the  sacred  fire  was  extinguished   upon  every  altar, 
from" the  Caspian  to  the  Persian   Gulf;   the   mythology  of 
Iran  was  too  elastic  to  be  trodden  down,  too  ethereal  for  an- 
nihilation.     The  mind  of  the  Persian  seems  constructed  for 
the  reception  of  poetic  images  and  the  enjoyment  of  romantic 
fiction  ;     so  that   although,  when  the  alternative  of  '  Death, 
Tribute,   or  the    Koran'  was  presented  to  the  vanquished, 
with    Avonted    flexibility  they  preferred   the   latter,   yet  the 
fanciful  dreams  of  the  Gebr  poets  and  the  beautiful  supersti- 
tions of  the  Gebr  populace  were  not  forgotten  —  they  were 
blended  with  their  imaginative  eff'orts.     They  were  strangely 
intermixed  with  their  devotions  ;    a  paradoxical  alliance  was 
formed  between  these  dreams  of  fairy-land  and  the  dogmas  of 
the  Koran.     The  holiest  saint  could  subscribe  to  both,  and 
the  devoutest  Shiah,  who  five  times  a  day  repeated  the  solemn 
profession,  'There  is  no  God  but  God,  and  Mohammed  is  his 
I'rophet,'  in  the  midst  of  his  genuflexions  could  tremble  at 


^T.  18.]  PERSIAN   MYTHOLOGY.  107 

the  po^^er  of  malignant  genii  and  listen  for  the  waving  of  the 
Peri's  pinion  in  the  breeze.  Nor  is  the  Persian's  preference 
of  his  own  mythology  surprising  or  absurd.  Apart  from 
national  and  habitual  feeling,  it  possesses  a  charm  peculiar 
and  delightful.  The  imagination  of  the  Arab  is  teeming  and 
almost  uncontrollable.  But  its  only  flashes  are  flashes  of 
lightning,  and  its  flights  are  the  flights  of  an  eagle  among 
storms  and  tempests.  The  fancy  of  the  Persian  is  more 
delicately  formed.  Its  creations  are  less  bold  and  vigorous, 
but  far  more  airy  and  enchanting ;  and  we  can  scarcely  won- 
der that  the  gross  delights  of  the  Prophet's  Paradise  should 
have  been  despised  for  the  charms  of  Gebr's  Elysium."  What 
follows  will  shock  some  readers.  His  fancy  had  been  per- 
•haps  too  much  wrought  upon  when  a  child  by  the  stories  of 
the  Arabs,  and  more  recently  by  the  fervid  descriptions  of  the 
Koran.  There  are  some,  however  who  may  agree  with  the 
bold  young  critic.  "  But  this  is  not  all.  The  most  fastidious 
taste,  on  a  fair  comparison  of  this  mythology  with  the  orations 
of  classic  genius  or  Grecian  superstition,  cannot  hesitate  in  a 
preference  of  the  former.  There  is,  in  the  fantastic  theologj'- 
of  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  a  coldness  and  a  coarseness,  which 
even  the  fire  of  Homer  could  scarce  animate,  and  the  delicacy 
of  Virgil  could  not  v>'holly  refine.  The  incongruous  mixture 
of  human  and  superhuman  attributes,  and  the  inconceivable 
vicissitudes  in  the  fortunes  of  their  immortals,  united  with  the 
disgusting  excesses  of  human  vice,  and  the  ridiculous  extremes 
of  human  folly,  by  v/hich  they  are  so  often  distinguished, 
render  the  Olympus  or  the  Pantheon  a  poor  field  for  the 
wanderings  of  genius  —  hoAV  poor  in  comparison  with  the 
Jlnnistan  of  Persia !  with  the  shadowy  possessors  of  that 
imaginary  region,  the  Peris  and  the  Dives,  those  good  and 
evil  beings  Avho  fill  the  intermediate  space  in  the  scale  of 
animated  nature  between  the  inhabitants  of  earth  and  the 
inhabitants  of  heaven  !  These  beings  which  may  be  regard- 
ed as  the  originals  of  the  /a^Vyand  giant  of  European  taste — ■ 
possessed  of  bodies,  but  bodies  formed  of  the  element  of  fire, 
powerful  but  not  almighty,  intelligent  but  not  omniscient ; 


108  POET'S    PARADISE.  [1827, 

the  Peris,  pure  but  not  impeccable  ;  the  Dives,  sinful  but  not 
Avitliout  hope,  engaged  in  mutual  wai",  but  not  upon  earth, 
neither  dwelling  among  men,  nor  entirely  reraovt^d  from  par- 
ticipating in  his  fortunes  ;  sometimes  courting  his  assistance, 
and  often  guiding  his  steps  and  directing  his  destiny ;  beings 
like  these  may  well  be  made  the  subject  of  poetical  romance. 
They  are  jorecisely  the  species  of  interijiediate  intelligences, 
which  might  be  made  the  machinery  of  an  epic  poem,  and 
possess  this  twofold  advantage  over  the  creations  of  classic 
mythology,  that  while  they  are  far  more  pure,  ethereal,  and 
poetical,  more  like  the  phantasms  of  a  "poet's  phrensv,"  they 
are  still  subjected  to  a  paramount  authority,  and  not  like  the 
gods  of  Homer,  clothed  in  the  vileness  of  mortality,  and  then 
disgraced  by  the  sceptre  of  the  universe.  Their  existence  and 
character  were  wholly  poetical.  They  were  unconnected  with 
religious  faith,  so  that  the  wildest  fictions  respecting  them  de- 
tracted nothing  from  the  Gebr's  reverence  to  the  Deity. 

"  Surrounded,  then,  by  the  most  impressive  and  enchanting 
scenes  of  nature  ;  by  boundless  deserts  and  cultivated  plains ; 
by  frowning  cliffs  and  verdant  valleys  ;  beneath  a  sky  which 
was  never  clouded,  and  among  a  people  who  '  lisped  in  num- 
bers,' the  Persian  poet  sang  of  the  most  chivalrous  exploits 
of  ancient  heroism,  the  most  romantic  fictions  of  a  beautiful 
mythology.  In  such  a  situation  what  might  we  not  expect  ? 
If  anything  more  can  be  conceived,  as  requisite  to  complete 
the  picture  of  the  Poets'  Paradise,  it  is  that  which  we  have 
already  seen  abundantly  supplied  in  the  munificent  patronage 
of  the  great  and  the  enthusiastic  admiration  of  the  populace. 
The  inferior  bards  of  other  lands  may  plead  with  justice  the 
insalubrity  of  climate,  the  ruggedness  of  natui'e's  works  around 
them,  the  rudeness  of  their  countrymen,  the  want  of  encour- 
agement, and  the  absence  of  applause  ;  but  Avhen  the  clas- 
sics of  the  land  of  poets  shall  be  subjected  to  the  impartial 
scrutiny  of  Western  taste,  deficiency  of  genius  alone  can  be 
the  apology  of  those  who  may  be  said  to  Imve  been  born  in 
the  precincts  of  Parnassus,  and  to  have  drawn  their  first  breath 
in  an  atmosphere  of  poetry." 


^T.  18.]  LITERARY    CAPRICES.  109 

It  will  probably  be  agreed  that  this  was  "  a  right  master- 
ful "  effort  for  a  lad  of  not  over  the  age  at  which  many  go  to 
college.  Indeed,  it  is  by  no  means  unlikely  that  this  produc- 
tion, like  many  others  of  the  same  hand  had  been  composed 
at  an  earlier  period  and  laid  aside  for  future  use.  But  of  this 
there  is  no  certainty.  We  know,  however,  that  the  writer 
who  here  subscribes  himself  "Ali"  was  as  cai-eless  of  the 
fate  of  such  accidental  effusions  as  the  ostrich  of  her  eggs 
which  she  deposits  in  the  sands  of  the  desert. 

It  would  be  incorrect  to  suppose  that  Dr.  Addison  Alex- 
ander* in  after  life  adhered  in  full  to  the  opinions  expressed 
in  this  remarkable  juvenile  critique,  nor  is  it  outside  the  limits 
of  conjecture  to  surmise  that  the  opinions  are  in  some  respects 
as  imaginary  as  the  signature.  Wliile  it  is  true  that  no  man 
was  more  volatile  than  he  in  many  of  his  personal  tastes  and 
preferences,  being  full  of  unaccountable  caprices,  it  is  also 
true  that  he  loved  to  wear  a  literary  mask,  and  to  mystify  his 
readers  in  every  ingenious  manner  possible.  It  was  also  well 
known  that  he  was  fond  of  espousing  sentiments  which  were 
at  once  novel  and  hard  to  defend.  Thus  his  depreciation 
of  the  characters  of  Homer  in  comparison  with  those  of 
Firdusi,  and  his  sallies  at  the  expense  of  the  Olympian  divini- 
ties as  contrasted  with  the  fabulous  creations  of  the  Jmnistan^ 
may  or  may  not  be  genuine.  He  may  have  been  carried 
along  impetuously  (as  was  his  wont)  by  the  heat  of  his  youth- 
ful admiration  (which  was  unquestionably  intense)  of  the 
Persian  poets,  even  to  the  disparagement  of  poets  the  most 
illustrious  of  other  countries ;  or,  which  is  almost  equally 
agreeable  to  what  is  known  of  his  whimsical  humours,  he  may 
have  been  merely  actuated  by  a  wish  to  puzzle  the  literati  of 
Princeton,  and  to  excite  a  hubbub  among  the  cultivated 
readers  of  "  The  Patriot."  There  is  good  evidence  in  the 
piece  itself  that  the  writer  sought  for  some  purpose  or  other 
to  conceal  his  hand.  It  is  not  written  in  his  usual  style  ;  at 
least  not  as  a  whole.  There  is  in  some  of  these  balanced  sen- 
tences an  evident  and  exquisite  imitation  of  the  great  literary 
dictator  of  the    previous   century.     No   one   who   is   at   all 


110  IMITATION    OF   JOHNSON.  [1827. 

familiar  with  Rasselas  and  the  Rambler  can  hesitate  to  come 
to  this  conclusion.  What  could  be  more  like  the  old  "  Bear" 
of  Bolt  Court  and  the  Mitre  Tavern  than  the  following- 
"  The  incongruous  mixture  of  human  and  superhuman  attri- 
butes, and  the  inconceivable  vicissitudes  in  the  fortunes  of 
their  immortals,  united  with  the  disgusting  excesses  of  human 
vice,  and  the  ridiculous  extremes  of  human  folly ; "  or  this : 
"  Surrounded,  then,  by  the  most  majestic  and  enchanting 
scenes  of  nature  ;  by  boundless  deserts  and  cultivated  plains  ; 
by  frowning  cliffs  and  verdant  valleys  ;  beneath  a  sky  which 
was  never  clouded,  and  among  a  people  who  lisped  in  num- 
bers;" or  this:  "If  any  thing  more  can  be  conceived,  as 
requisite  to  complete  the  picture  of  the  Poets'  Paradise,  it  is 
that  which  we  have  ali'cady  seen  abundantly  supplied  in  the 
munificent  patronage  of  the  great,  and  the  enthusiastic  ad- 
miration of  the  populace." 

We  can  almost  see  before  us  the  unconscious  lexicographer 
as  he  rounded  off  this  sentence  tuiming  his  candle  upside 
down  at  Mrs.  Bos  well's,  and  blowing  with  delight  at  the 
happy  finish  he  had  given  this  ponderous  period.  Mr.  Alex- 
ander's intuitive  taste  prevented  him,  however,  from  pushing 
this  imitation  to  the  verge  of  caricature,  and  thus  spoiling  his 
essay.  The  consequence  is  that  the  style  of  the  production 
taken  as  a  whole,  though  resembling  that  of  the  early  Ram- 
blers, is  as  vigorous  and  original  as  Johnson's  own,  and  where 
his  own  native  qualities  break  out,  much  superior  to  it  on 
literary  grounds.  Whether  this  imitation  of  Johnson  was 
wholly  accidental,  or  not,  is  another  question  :  but  it  will 
be  remembered  tliat  Addison  and  Johnson  were  in  every 
body's  hands  then,  and  one  of  his  classmates  tells  us  that 
the  young  collegian  was  much  given  to  voluntary  imitations 
of  the  most  admired  of  the  English  classics.  The  young 
graduate's  overweening  partiality  for  Oriental  studies  and 
the  masterpieces  of  Oriental  genius,  had,  as  we  have  seen, 
already  begun  to  wane,  and  was  destined  to  be  almost  entirely 
superseded,  or  at  all  events  overborne,  or  held  in  abeyance, 
by  his  enthusiastic  devotion  to  the  languages  and  still  more 


/Et.  18.] 


ARABIAN    NIGHTS.  HI 


to  the  literatures  of  ancient  and  modern  Europe.     The  litera- 
ture of  the  Greeks,  which  is  here  spoken  of  with  a  dash  of 
contempt,  was  afterwards  and  soon  to  become  the  theatre  on 
which,  after  the  sacred  text  of  the  Old  and  Xew  Testaments, 
he  employed  his  best   powers  through  life.     Yet  he  never 
ceased  to  go  for  an  occasional  solace  and  entertainment  to  the 
tales  of  the  Arabs  and  the  sweet  numbers  of  Persia.     One  of 
my  earliest   recollections   of  him  is   that   he   taught   me   a 
Persian  song   (which   I   have  not  yet   forgotten),  and   that 
he  used   to   read  me  wonderful  legends   and   fabulous   and 
romantic   stories    from   certain   ancient  rolls    inscribed   with 
characters  Avhich  I  subsequently  learned  were  Arabic.     I  also 
well  remember  reading  for  hours  at  a  time  in  his  study  and 
under  his  approving  eye  (and  that  day  after  day  till  I  finished 
the  volumes),  from  the  pages  of  the  "  Green  Book,"  as  we 
both  loved  to  call  it ;  which  was  nothing  less  than  Lane's 
larger   edition   of  the  Arabian  Nights   with   English   notes, 
with  the  golden  shields  and  Moorish  spears  on  the  back,  and 
the  superb  illustrations  on  the  inside.     The  impression  made 
upon  my  boyish  imagination  by  the  dark  features  and  spread- 
ing wings  of  the  Jinn  drawn  in  the  broad  margin,  will  never 
be  effaced.      But  when  the  ruddy  scholar  placed   me   in   a 
corner  of  his  cane  settee,  and  regaled  me  with  recitations, 
songs,  tales,  descriptions,  and  dialogues  of  his  own,  I  recog- 
nized in  him  a  being  possessing  powers  not  unlike  those  of 
"Sulliman  the  sou  of  Daoud,"  who  could  command  the  genii 
and  the  Afrik  at  pleasure  ;  for  no  captivation  was  ever  more 
complete  or  genuine  than  that  under  which  he  held  me  when- 
ever he  chose  to  do  so,  a  willing  prisoner. 

But  the  Patriot  during  the  time  he  contributed  for  it,  or 
rather,  as  I  might  almost  say,  wrote  it,  contained  very  dif- 
ferent material  from  that  of  which  a  specimen  or  sample  has 
just  been  given.  The  number  before  me  (vol.  ii.  No.  59)  is 
dated  September  29,  1827,  and  bears  this  title  :  "  New-Jersey 
Patriot,  Princeton.  Printed  and  published  by  D.  A.  Borren- 
stein."  Underneath  this  superscription  is  the  motto,  "  The 
Safety  of  the  People  is  the  Supreme  Law."     It  is  a  quarto 


112  ARTICLES    SIGNED   TROCHILUS.  [1827. 

sheet  of  moderate  size,  but  well-shaped  and  closely  printed. 
The  first  piece  is  a  communication  in  verse  signed  "  Roland," 
and  is  an  address  "  to  Music."  This  I  suspect  to  be  from  the 
pen  of  the  invisible  editor,  and  is  an  obvious  imitation  of  the 
style  of  poetry  which  was  so  much  in  vogue  before  Scott  and 
Byron,  and  which  continued  a  sickly  existence  even  after  the 
appearance  of  Wordsworth.  This  is  just  such  poetry  as  Burke 
was  not  ashamed  to  indulge  in  before  he  became  an  orator  and 
a  statesman.  * 

The  next  is  some  idle  stanzas  which  surely  must  have 
sprung  from  a  very  different  brain  !  They  are  in  a  totally 
different  measure,  are  to  "  The  Morrow,"  and  are  signed 
Trochihis.  They  are  puerile  and  worthless,  and  are  the  type 
of  thousands  like  them.  Yet  when  we  read  the  fine  prose 
satire  which  immediately  follows,  and  find  it  too  signed 
Trochilus,  a  piece  marked  by  all  the  energy,  vehemence,  and 
wit  of  Swift,  we  are  led  almost  insensibly  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  lines  to  "  The  Morrow  "  are  also  from  the  editor,  and 
are  either  intended  as  a  burlesque  upon  the  general  mass  of 
fugitive  newspaper  poetry  of  the  day,  or  else  merely  to  throw 
the  reader  off  his  guard ;  and  that  the  satirical  effusion  is  per- 
haps a  conscious  and  if  so  quite  successful  imitation  of  the 
Dean  of  St.  Patrick's.  This  however  is  pure  conjecture.  It 
is  possible  some  of  these  pieces  are  by  other  hands.  Remark- 
able and  innocent  as  this  pi-oduction  is,  it  is  not  exactly  quota- 
ble. It  contains  among  other  laughable  things  some  sly  and 
characteristic  hits  at  the  mathematicians  and  natural  philoso- 
phers. This  was  doubtless  to  teaze  the  curiosity  of  the  Prince- 
ton professors.  Then  comes  an  exposure  of  a  coloured  charla- 
tan by  the  name  of  Rusworm,  who  had  betrayed  the  confidence 
of  the  venerable  Dr.  Miller  and  others.  Then  we  have  a  letter, 
"  the  original  of  which  is  in  the  possession  of  a  gentleman  of 
Princeton,"  from  David  Garrick,  in  relation  to  a  tragedy  by 
William  Julius  Mickle,  the  translator  of  the  Lusiad.f     It  is 

*  And  specimens  of  which  are  given  in  liis  biography  by  Pryor. 
f  The  real  name  of  the  translator  of  Camolus  was  simply  AVilliain  Mickle. 
Julius  was  an  afterthought  of  his  own. 


^T.1S.1  COMMENCEMENT,    1827.  113 

addressed  to  George  Johnstone,  Esq. — a  friend  and  patron  oi 
the  poet,  "  The  Exile  of  Scio,"  which  follows,  and  purports  to 
be  from  the  "New  Monthly  Magazine,"  exhibits  strong  signs 
of  the  same  authorship.  My  conviction  is  that  Mr.  Alexander 
had  previously  written  it  and  contributed  it  to  the  Magazine, 
with  which  he  was  certainly  in  communication  ;  as  another 
romantic  and  descriptive  piece  in  this  paper  is  undoubtedly 
by  the  editor. 

The  letter  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigli  which  figures  on  the  same 
page  is  believed  to  be  genuine.  Two  jDieces,  one  on  "Visita- 
tion of  Schools,"  from  "  an  American  Journal,"  and  one  on 
Archimedes,  fill  up  the  side.  The  inside  is  taken  up  with 
Princeton  matters  and  domestic  news.  In  the  middle  of  the 
page,  liowever,  are  two  editorials,  one  of  which  is  in  the  usual 
serious  style  of  Mr.  Alexander,  much  affected  in  this  instance, 
it  must  be  confessed,  by  the  Johnsonese  swell.  I  give  a  part 
of  it,  as  it  aflbrds  us  a  transient  glimpse  of  the  Princeton  Com- 
mencement. There  is  a  full  account  of  the  exercises,  in  an- 
other column  of  the  same  issue.  The  annual  oration  before  the 
American  "Whig  and  Cliosophic  Societies  in  joint-meeting  was 
delivered  by  the  Hon.  Theodore  Frelinghuysen,  Attorney 
General  of  the  State  of  New  Jersey,  in  the  presence  of  an  unu- 
sually large  and  respectable  audience.  The  annual  exhibition 
of  imdergraduates  took  place  on  the  evening  of  the  25th.  This 
was  exactly  a  year  from  the  time  of  Mr.  Alexander's  own 
graduation,  so  that  he  was  not  yet  ready  to  take  the  master's 
degree.  The  Alumni  Association  of  Nassau  Hall  held  its  first 
annual  meeting  in  the  college  chapel  on  the  morning  of  Com- 
mencement. A  letter  was  read  from  his  Excellency  James 
Madison,  President  of  the  Association,  expressing  his  interest 
in  the  prosperity  of  the  college,  and  the  objects  of  the  Asso- 
ciation. At  this  meeting  it  was  resolved,  that  "  it  is  expedient 
that  a  history  of  Nassau  Hall  be  prepared  for  publication,  and 
that  the  members  of  the  association  be  requested  to  furnish 
during  the  ensuing  year  such  biographical  notices  of  the  Alum- 
ni, as  in  their  opinion  will  be  useful  to  the  college  and  inter- 
esting  to   the   public."     Also,  "that  all   such   biographical 


114  ALUBINI    ASSOCIATION.  [132T, 

notices  be  forwarded  to  Mr.  J.  Addison  Alexand.^r,  of 
Princeton." 

This  history,  if  ever  entered  upon  hj  the  young  student, 
was,  it  is  believed,  never  carried  out.*  These  pleasant  assem- 
blages of  the  Alumni  have  been  one  of  the  most  interesting- 
features  of  the  Princeton  Commencement  ever  since  the  meet- 
ing of  which  record  is  here  made. 

The  editorial  article  to  Avhich  )-efercnce  has  been  made, 
begins  thus :  "  We  are  gratified  to  state  that  the  number  of 
persons  attracted  to  Princeton  by  the  ceremonies  of  the  annual 
Commencement,  during  the  present  week,  was  unusually  large. 

*  The  following  names  comprised  the  olTicers  of  the  association  at  the  time 

referred  to  above : 

President. 

James  Madison  of  Virginia. 

Vice-Presidents. 

Aaron  Ogden  of  New  Jersey,  William  Gaston  of  North  Carolina, 

Richard  Stockton        "  John  Henry  Ilobart  of  New  York, 

Andrew  Kirkpatrick  "  Henry  W.  Edwards  of  Connecticut. 

Ashbel  Green  " 

Treasurer. 

Samuel  Bayard  of  New  Jersey. 

Secretary. 
John  Maclean  of  New  Jersey. 

Committee  of  Arrangements. 
Professor  Maclean,  Samuel  T.  Bayard,  Esq.  and  Mr.  William  C.  Alexander. 

It  may  be  interesting  to  some  also  to  know  that  the  members  of  the  Execu- 
tive Committee  of  the  New  Jersey  Bible  Society  at  this  time  were  :  Dr.  Archi- 
bald Alexander,  Chief  Justice  Ewing,  General  Erelinghuysen,  Dr.  Miller,  the 
Rev.  George  S.  Woodhull,  James  S.  Green,  Esq.  and  Samuel  Bayard,  Esq. 

There  is  still  another  item  which  may  have  an  interest  for  practical  men. 
The  delegates  to  the  Convention  for  the  promotion  of  Internal  Improvements, 
assembled  on  the  25th  inst.  at  the  hour  appointed,  in  the  upper  room  of  the 
Academy.  The  honourable  Richard  Stockton,  of  Somerset,  was  appointed  Presi- 
dent, and  the  honourable  William  Coxe,  of  Burlington,  Vice-President ;  John 
M.  Sberrerd,  Esq.  of  Warren,  Secretary,  and  Daniel  C.  Croxall,  Esq.  of  Hunter- 
don, Assistant  Secretary.  Delegates  were  present  from  eight  counties.  The 
business  discussed  was  of  considerable  importance,  but  we  have  no  room  for 
further  allusion  to  it. 


^T.18.]  FOREIGN    NEWS.  115 

A  larger  audience  has  seldom  been  witnessed  here  on  a  similar 
occasion,  than  that  which  occupied  the  church  on  Wednesday 
morning  and  the  preceding  night.  It  would  give  us  pleasure 
to  regard  this  as  an  indication  of  assuring  interest  in  the  pros- 
perity of  the  college."  And  after  some  very  strong  writing 
comes  this  sentence  of  unmistakable  Johnsonese:  "In  almost 
every  State,  public  means  of  instruction  are  maintained  by 
public  patronage,  and  are  esteemed  and  cherished  as  invalua- 
ble instruments  of  public  prosperity.  We  may  readily  imagine 
then  the  judgment  which  an  enlightened  people  in  an  age  of 
great  and  progressive  illumination,  Avill  be  prepared  to  pass 
upon  a  community  which  blindly  forgets  the  means  of  its  ex- 
isting greatness,  and  wilfully  rejects  the  only  means  of  future 
elevation." 

The  fourth  page  is  mainly  occupied  by  Foreign  News. 
This  department  of  the  paper  is  in  the  stately  Gazette  style  of 
the  same  columns  in  the  London  Times.  It  is  no  doubt  a 
genuine  extract  from  some  English  paper.  The  tidings  from 
Greece,  in  particular,  are  given  in  a  very  sonorous  and  spirited 
manner.  Redshid  Pasha  had  turned  towards  the  interior. 
The  Constantinople  fleet  had  returned  a  second  time  to  Nava- 
rin,  leaving  four  Greek  brigs  under  Lord  Cochrane  to  blockade 
the  entrance  of  the  Gulf  of  Corinth.  Tidings  also  had  arrived 
li-om  Napolithat  some  Greeks  occupying  a  convent  had  beaten 
and  driven  back  1500  Arabs  whom  Ibrahim  Pacha  had  ad- 
vanced against  them.  Four  hundred  of  the  Barbarians  had 
been  slain  on  the  declivity  of  a  hill,  where  the  descendants  of 
Leonidas  had  pjreparsd  an  ambush. 

The  last  piece  in  the  paper,  which  is  on  "  The  Sea,"  is  cer- 
tainly by  some  writer  after  the  discovery*of  steam,  and  if  not 
already  appropriated,  may  be  safely  attributed  to  the  young 
scholar  whose  pen  we  have  seen  to  have  been  so  busy  on  the 
first  page.  The  treatment  of  the  subject  is  very  brief  and  yet 
very  exhaustive.  The  style  is  so  altered,  as  not  to  be  recog- 
nizable. That  very  summer  he  had  made  his  first  visit  to 
the  sea-shore,  having  gone  to  Long  Branch  with  his  parents. 
He  always  used  to  say  that  what  most  impressed  him  on  the 


116  "THE    SEA."  [182T. 

sea-beach  was  the  thought  that  he  was  on  the  edge  of  a  great 
continent. 

THE   SEA. 

"There  is  something  in  being  noar  the  sea,  like  being  on  the  confines 
of  eternity.  It  is  a  new  element,  a  pure  abstraction.  The  mind  loves  to 
hover  on  that  which  is  endless  and  forever  the  same.  People  wonder 
at  a  steamboat,  the  invention  of  man,  managed  by  man,  propelled  by 
man,  that  makes  its  liquid  path  like  a  raihvay  through  the  sea.  I  won- 
der at  the  sea  itself,  that  vast  Leviathan,  rolled  round  the  earth,  smiling 
in  its  sleep,  waked  into  fury,  fathomless,  boundless,  a  huge  world  of 
water-drops.  "Whence  is  it?  Whither  goes  it?  is  it  to  eternity  or 
nothing  ?  Strange,  ponderous  riddle  !  that  we  can  neither  penetrate 
nor  grasp  in  our  comprehension,  ebbing  and  flowing  like  human  life, 
and  swallowing  it  up  in  '  thy  remorseless  womb ' :  what  art  thou  ? — 
what  is  there  in  common  with  thy  life  and  ours  who  gaze  on  thee  ? — • 
Blind,  deaf,  and  old,  thou  seest  not,  hearest  not,  understandest  not ; 
neither  do  we  understand,  who  behold  and  listen  to  thee !  Great  as 
thou  art,  unconscious  of  thy  greatness,  unwieldy,  enormous,  prepos- 
terous, twin  sister  of  matter,  rest  in  thy  'dark  unfathomed  cave '  of 
mystery,  mocking  human  pride  and  weakness.  Still  it  is  givea  to  the 
mind  of  man  to  wonder  at  thee,  to  confess  its  ignorance,  and  to  stand 
in  awe  of  thy  stupendous  might  and  majesty,  and  of  its  own  being 
that  can  question  thee."  * 

*  In  singular  contrast  with  this  successful  essay  in  the  sublime  style  is  a 
critique  that  appeared  in  another  issue  of  the  Patriot,  of  Shelley's  Poems ; 
which  were  then  agitating  the  literary  world  of  Europe.  We  do  not  scruple  to 
make  a  few  extracts. 

*  *  *  "The  particular  composition  of  Shelley's  which  forms  the  subject 
of  this  review,  is  Prometheus  Unboimd,  which  its  author  denominates  a  Lyrical 
Drama,  although,  as  its  author  observes,  it  has  neither  action  nor  dramatic 
dialogue.  It  may  be  observed  by  the  way,  that  writers  of  this  school  are  ex- 
ceedingly apt  to  miscall  and  misapply.  The  '  Prometheus  Unbound '  maybe 
regarded  as  a  text-book  in  this  style  of  composition.  The  dramatis  personse 
are  as  follows :  Prometheus  a  male  nondescript,  being  neither  god  nor  man. 
Asia,  Panthea,  and  lone,  female  non-descripts ;  Mercury  and  Apollo,  gods; 
the  Furies,  and  a  Faun.  To  these  add  several  voices — as  the  voices  of  the 
mountains,  voices  of  the  air,  voices  of  the  whirlwinds,  and  a  large  assortment  of 
spirits,  such  as  the  spirit  of  the  moon,  of  the  earth,  of  the  human  miud,  of  the 
hours  ;  who  all,  says  the  Reviewer,  attest  their  superhuman  nature,  by  singing 


^T.  18.:  CRITIQUE    ON    SHELLEY.  117 

At  the  time  Mr.  Alexander  assumed  the  editorial  charge 

and  saying  things  which  no  human  being  can  comprehend.     As  a  specimen  of 
the  Lyrics,  take  the  following  speech  of  a  cloud  : 

'I  silently  laugh  at  my  own  cenotaph, 

And  out  of  the  cavtrns  of  rain, 
Like  a  child  from  the  womb,  like  a  ghost  from  the  tomb, 
I  arise  and  unbuild  it  again.' 

And  the  following  song  by  the  spirits  of  the  human  mind  : 

'  Earth,  Air,  and  Light, 

And  the  spirit  of  Might, 
Which  drives  the  stars  in  their  fiery  flight. 

And  Love,  thought  and  breath, 

The  powers  that  quell  death, 
Wherever  we  soar  shall  assemble  beneath.' 

"In  imitation  of  this  wonderful  production,  I  once  projected  a  Lyrical 
drama  of  my  own,  which  I  entitled  'Flibbertigibbet  in  Liquor.'  After  so  long 
a  preface,  it  may  be  unpardonable  to  insert  a  portion  of  the  first  scene.  I  shall 
do  so  however  at  all  hazards,  and  appeal  to  any  impartial  judge  whether  the 
imitation  even  approaches  to  caricature. 

SCENE    I. 
ENTEK    TWO    SPIRITS. 
[Spirit  ryf  Turpentine  iingsJ] 

We  come !  we  come ! 
From  the  hidden  recess  of  a  puncheon  of  rum, 

Our  fragrant  breath, 

On  the  wings  of  death. 
Is  building  a  house  for  the  deaf  and  dumb. 

[Spirit  of  Wine  si7igs.] 

Hark!  Hark! 
On  the  breast  of  the  waves  the  seadogs  bark, 

The  frantic  boy. 

In  his  senseless  joy, 
Leaps  into  the  jaws  of  the  hungry  shark.  — 

[Spirit  of  Turpentine  sings.] 

Sleep!  sleep! 
Spirit  of  Wine,  thy  mighty  watch  keep, 

The  billows  sigh. 

While  the  phantoms  fly, 
To  their  cold  wet  home  in  the  gloomy  deep. 

ENTER    THREE    SPIRITS. 

[  Voice  of  Grog  sings.] 

Down! down! 
Where  the  Spirit  of  Wine  and  his  train  have  flowii 


118  PARTY    POLITICS.  [1827 

of  the  Patriot,  party  politics  were  running  high.*  The  iieroe 
canvass  between  John  Quiacy  Adams  (then  President  of 
the  United  States)  and  Andrew  Jackson  was  in  agitation. 
The  paper  was  to  be  neutral ;  but  the  people  expected  some 
politics ;  and  so,  to  meet  this  demand,  the  masked  editor 
would  write  an  editorial  arguing  the  questions  on  both  sides 
and  in  a  manner  so  adroit  that  it  Avas  not  only  impossible  to 
discover  on  which  side  the  new  champion  Avas  preparing  to  do 
battle,  but  even  to  detect  where  his  private  sympathies  lay. 


The  soul  of  the  v/orld, 
In  darkness  furled, 
Has  passed  to  its  tomb  with  a  speechless  groan! 

[  Voice  of'  Grary  sings.'] 

The  Spirit  of  Moisture  conies  flying  abroad, 
And  his  train  is  borne  by  the  Cyprian  god, 

Behold,  Behold, 

The  voice  of  the  ghost 

Of  a  murdered  toast 
Sings  an  anthem  of  praise  in  the  palace  of  gold. 

[Voice  of  Garlic  sin^s.] 

Fire!  fire! 
Rise  on  the  wings  of  blue  desire ! 

The  billows  laugh, 

For  the  spirit  of  sleep, 

In  the  lowest  deep 
Is  building  a  snowy  cenotaph. 

[The  Three  Voices.] 

Tlie  hour  is  come— from  the  puncheon  of  rum — 

I  see  the  spirit  come  flaming  around. 
'Tis  done— 'tis  done— on  a  beam  of  the  sun— 

We  pass  to  our  graves  with  an  earthquake  of  sound. 

itfi/sio— The  spirit  of  sleep  playing  upon  the  Solar  system." 

This  extravaganza  is  signed  W.  The  letters  of  Job  Raw,  on  Commence- 
ment Day  and  other  topics,  are  full  of  the  adventures  of  an  absurd  greenhorn 
who  makes  as  many  mistakes  as  Ycllowplusli  or  Mrs.  Partington. 

*  Numei'ous  allusions  to  this  contest  will  be  found  in  the  "Fortv  Tears' 
Famihar  Letters  "  of  the  Rc^.  J.  W.  Alexander  'D.  D.  The  members  of  clie 
family  were  amic.iljly  divided  on  this  question.  The  subject  of  these  memoirs 
was  a  political  Gallio. 


^T.18.1  PUZZLING    LEADER    OF    AUGUST,    1827.  119 

The  truth  was  he  was  as  strictly  impartial  as  he  professed  to 
be,  but  not  so  warmly  interested  in  the  clash  of  weapons.  All 
that  was  a  ruse.  A  specimen  of  these  puzzling  political  (or 
anti-political)  leaders  is  subjoined.  It  is  enough  to  show  how 
keenly  observant  Mr.  Alexander  was  of  what  was  going  on 
in  the  world. 

The  following  editorial  came  out  in  the  Patriot  of  the  18th 
of  August,  1827,  and  excited  much  curiosity  as  to  its  author- 
ship : 

"As  we  have  already  intimated  our  intention  to  abstain  from  any  participa- 
tion in  the  political  conflicts  which  divide  and  agitate  the  public  mind ;  and  as 
neutraUty  is,  in  these  days  of  violence,  regarded  as  more  questionable  and  sus- 
picious than  the  utmost  extravagance  of  party  zeal,  we  submit  to  our  readers 
the  following  considerations,  which  we  trust  will  serve  both  as  an  exposition 
and  vindication  of  the  course  which  we  have  adopted.  It  is  to  be  lamented, 
that,  while  there  is  little  or  no  essential  difference  of  opinion  among  a  large 
majority  of  the  people  as  to  the  fundamental  principles  which  ought  to 
govern  the  councils  of  the  United  States,  the  political  warfare  of  the  present 
day  is  waged  in  a  spirit  which  to  every  man  of  impartial  and  unbiased  judgment 
must  appear  unnecessary  and  even  prejudicial  to  the  character  of  our  country. 
The  privacy  of  domestic  life  has  been  invaded  ; — alleged  offences,  which  lime 
had  consigned  to  oblivion,  have  been  raked  from  mouldering  records ; — con- 
flicting and  recrimitative  accusations  of  the  most  startling  magnitude  and  impor- 
tance are  urged  by  hostile  partisans  with  a  zeal  and  vehemence  which  makes  it 
difficult  to  ascertain  the  truth.  On  one  side  it  is  averred,  that  General  Jackson 
is  a  '  Military  Chieftain,'  regardless  of  the  constitution  and  laws  of  his  country ; — 
that  he  is  no  friend  to  the  policy  by  which  the  industry  and  resources  of  the 
several  states  can  be  most  successfully  employed ; — that  he  is  supported  by  men 
of  desperate  character  and  '  vaulting  ambiiion  ; '  that  his  private  history  is 
sulUed  with  crimes  ; — that  the  principles  on  which  he  would  administer  public 
affairs  are  in  a  great  measure  unknown,  and,  so  far  as  they  can  be  penetrated, 
at  variance  with  those  which  alone  can  conduct  the  nation  safely  in  a  career 
of  prosperity  and  greatness.  To  Mr.  Adams  it  is  objected,  on  the  other  side, 
that  he  has  been  tried  and  '  found  wanting ; ' — that  his  adherents  have  made  a 
party  question  of  that  which  ought  to  have  been  supported  merely  on  natioril 
grounds  and  left  to  rest  upon  its  own  merits  ;  that  by  this  course  they  ha-jc 
not  only  put  in  jeopardy  the  due  encouragement  of  national  industry,  but  have 
thrown  the  apple  of  discord  amongst  the  members  of  the  Union  ;— that  he  has 
not  redeemed  the  pledges  which  on  various  occasions  he  has  given,  with  respect 
to  the  principles  which  should  govern  him  in  the  execution  of  his  responsible 
trust ; — that  he  has  employed  the  patronage  of  his  office,  merely  to  secure  his 


120  PUZZLING    LEADER    OF    AUGUST,    1827.  [1S27. 

re-election,  and  without  due  regard  to  the  qualifications  of  the  candidates,  and 
has  thereby  sacrificed  the  public  weal  in  seeking  to  promote  his  personal  inter- 
ests ; — that  from  vanity,  or  want  of  correct  judgment,  he  has  excluded  us  from  a 
most  profitable  branch  of  foreign  commerce  ; — that  the  means  by  which  he  at. 
tained  his  present  elevation  were  such  as  render  his  future  exclusion  from  office 
necessary  to  vindicate  the  purity  of  the  elective  franchise,  and  essential  to  the 
honour  and  future  safety  of  the  country. 

"  Such  are  the  charges  proclaimed  against  both  the  candidates  for  the 
presidential  chair  through  the  medium  of  the  press.  Many  of  them  have  been 
recently  promulgated,  and  are  yet  to  be  sustained  by  evidence,  or  demonstrated 
to  be  groundless.  Independent  of  both  parties,  wishing  to  decide  aright,  and 
anxious  only  to  serve  the  cause  of  truth  and  of  our  country,  we  cannot  con- 
sistently with  the  dictates  of  conscience,  at  the  present  stage  of  the  controversy, 
take  a  side  with  either  of  the  contending  ranks. 

"  Such  evidence  may  hereafter  be  adduced  that  General  Jackson  is  hostile  to 
the  plan  which  when  properly  modified  will,  we  think,  promote  the  welfare  of 
every  part  of  the  Union,  as  will  satisfy  us  that  the  public  good  cannot  be  ad- 
vanced by  a  change  of  the  administration.  Nor  is  it  beyond  the  bounds  of  pos- 
sibility, that  such  testimony  concerning  the  means  by  which  Mr.  Adams  came 
into  power  may  be  made  public,  as  to  render  it  our  duty  to  oppose  his  further 
continuance  in  office.  Such  being  the  state  of  the  question,  and  having  more 
than  a  year  before  us,  we  shall  await  with  patience  the  developments  of  the 
future,  without  pledging  ourselves  to  any  man  or  set  of  men.  We  shall  use  the 
prerogative  of  a  free  press,  and  utter,  with  independence,  but  with  becoming 
deference,  our  sentiments  respecting  public  men  and  public  measures.  Measures 
which  we  think  calculated  to  promote  the  public  good  we  shall  never  condemn, 
whatever  may  be  their  origin.  The  honest  acts  of  a  wise,  firm,  liberal  and  in- 
dependent government,  shall  receive  whatever  aid  our  feeble  exertions  can 
afford  them.  \Vc  shall  conclude  this  article,  already  perhaps  too  much  ex- 
tended, by  an  enumeration  of  the  qualifications  which  in  our  humble  opinion 
should  distinguish  the  chief  magistrate  of  this  republic.  He  should  possess 
firmness  enough  to  do  what  he  knows  to  be  right.  He  should  regard  more  the 
interests  of  the  country  than  the  stability  of  his  own  power.  He  should  have 
courage  and  wisdom  to  call  to  his  assistance  the  wisest  counsellors,  and  select 
for  office  the  most  able  men  of  unsullied  integrity  within  his  reach.  The  rays 
of  executive  displeasure  should  never  be  concentrated  on  the  humble  citizen  to 
consume  and  destroy  him,  because  in  the  just  exercise  of  a  freeman's  right  he 
condemns  measures  of  dou!)tful  expediency.  Wasteful  expenditures  he  should 
discountenance  and  resist.  The  interests  of  every  section  of  the  country  it 
should  be  his  study  to  promote;  nor  should  he,  to  extend  his  influence  and 
perpetuate  his  power,  patronize  measures  detrimental  to  one  portion  of 
the  Union  for  the  benefit  of  another.  In  short,  THE  COUXTIiY,  THE 
WHOLE  COUNTRY  f^'hould  occupy  every  aff'ection  and  actuate  every  measure 
of  a  President  of  the  United  States.     We  now  submit  the  matter  to  the  judg- 


^T.  18.J  WRITING    OF    FICTION.  121 

ment  of  our  readers.  When  the  proper  time  arrives  for  us  to  choose  a  side,  we 
hope  to  be  able  to  give  satisfactory  reasons  for  the  opinions  we  may  then  main- 
tain, so  as  to  merit  the  countenance  and  support  of  just  and  impartial  men.  In 
the  mean  time,  we  will  gather  for  our  own  information,  and  lay  before  our  readers 
all  the  important  political  information  from  both  sides  which  may  have  a  proper 
bearmg  upon  this  great  controversy,  in  the  full  persuasion,  that  fearless  neutral- 
ity where  both  parties  are  in  fault,  is  the  duty  of  every  Patriot. 

"The  great  Bacon,  describing  the  qualifications  and  duties  of  a  chief 
magistrate,  declares  it  to  be  essential  that '  he  set  not  to  sale  the  seats  of  justice, 
for  that  oppresseth  the  people,'— that  inutilis  ceqtdtas  sit  not  in  the  chancery, 
for  that  is  iriepta  misericordia  ;  that  utilisi  incequitas  keep  not  the  exchequer, 
for  that  is  crudele  latrocinium ;  that  infiddis  prudcntia  be  not  his  secretary, 
for  that  is  auffuis  sub  viridi  herbal 

The  last  extract  I  shall  make  from  the  Patriot,  is  the  con- 
cluding chapter  of  the  beautiful  eastern  tale  entitled,  The 
Jewess  of  Damascus.  Thi.^  is  the  best  specimen  now  extant 
of  Mr.  Alexander's  style  in  serious  oriental  fiction.  It  bears  a 
certain  resemblance  in  some  of  its  characters,  and  in  the  general 
diction,  to  Ivanhoe.  But  it  is  still  more  like  one  or  two  chap- 
ters in  the  Talisman,*  and  may  have  befti  to  some  extent  a 
deliberate  imitation.  There  is  little  doubt  that  in  comprehen- 
sive force  and  grandeur  of  imagination,  and  in  fertility  of  in- 
vention, as  well  as  in  observation  of  nature  and  manners,  in 
knowledge  of  human  character,  in  genuine  healthy  passion, 
and  multifarious  though  not  exact  and  critical  learning,  and 
in  quality  of  style,  considered  as  admirably  suited  and  propor- 
tioned to  his  subjects,  Scott  has  had  no  equal  since  the  days 
of  Shakespeare.  But  of  Mr.  Alexander  it  may  be  said  that  he 
also  had  rare  gifts  of  imagination,  and  a  productive  power  of 
untold  fecundity  and  versatility ;  and  a  knowledge  of  human 
nature  that  for  one  who  was  regarded  by  many  as  a  mere  vil- 
lage recluse  was  truly  wonderful ;  and  he  possessed  in  addition 
this  notable  advantage  over  the  wizard  of  the  North,  that  he 
was  intimately  and  even  critically  acquainted  with  the  history, 
literature,  and  tongues  of  the  lands  of  the  Syrian,  the  Persian, 
and  the  Arab,  of  which  he  wrote.     This  is  said  merely  in  the 

*  The  Tales  of  the  Crusaders  came  out  in  1825,  while  Mr.  Alexander  was  a 
Junior  in  college. 

6 


122  JEWESS    OF   DAMASCUS.  C182T 

way  of  introduction  to  the  concluding  passages  of  the  story 
itself,  and  to  indicate  the  opinion  that  certain  extracts  drawn 
from  the  two  writers  may  be  compared  without  serious  injury 
to  the  reputation  of  the  stripling  scholar.  Let  it  he  borne  in 
mind,  however,  that  writing  novels  and  poems  was  the  main 
business  of  Scott's  life;  whereas  it  was  Mr.  Alexander's  occa- 
sional pastime,  and  the  pastime  of  his  younger  years  and  idlest 
hours.  The  attention  of  the  reader  is  specially  invited  to  the 
magnificent  description  of  Damascus  as  it  lay  sparkling  in  an 
oriental  sunset.  It  reminds  one  of  the  opening  paragraphs  of 
the  Talisman : 

THE  JEWESS  OF  DAMASCUS.* 

(  Concluded.') 
"  The  Aga  of  the  Janissaries  paused.  The  workings  of  a  better 
spirit  were  visible  in  his  countenance.  '  I  know  not,'  said  he,  at  last, 
'  whether  I  ought  to  release  you  upon  any  terms.  But  you  seem  a 
stranger ;  and  I  will  take  it  upon  myself.  You  are  free,  if  you  will 
profess  the  faith  in  the  presence  of  these  witnesses.  Speak  quickly, 
rise,  and  begone.'  A  sentence  of  death  could  scarcely  have  been  more 
dreadful  to  the  Jew  than  this  unwonted  indulgence  of  the  Turk.  '  Ah,' 
thought  he,  '  the  tender  mercies  of  the  ungodly  are  cruel.  No,  let  me 
die,  rather  than  again  abjure  the  covenant  of  Abraham.'  But  as  he 
formed  this  mental  resolution,  the  recollection  of  the  enchanting  pros- 
pects it  would  blast,  and  the  agony  which  his  imprisonment  might  oc- 
casion to  more  than  one  affectionate  bosom,  rushed  upon  his  soul.  He 
reverted  to  the  horrid  stories  of  long  captivity  and  dreadful  death  in 
the  dungeons  of  the  Turkish  Empire,  and  thought  of  the  many  chances 
against  his  ultimate  deliverance,  and  of  the  ruinous  sacrifices  by  which, 
if  obtained  at  all,  it  must  be  purchased,— his  bosom  was  rent  by  an 
agonizing  conflict.— Truth,  honour,  devotion  to  his  God,  and  a  solemn 
pledge  to  earthly  friends,  impelled  him  to  refuse  ;  while  the  dread  of 
unknown  sufferings  and  of  certain  disappointment,  urged  him  to  obey. 
The  struggle  was  transient,  however,  though  terrific.  He  buried  his 
face  in  his  hands,  and  seemed  absorbed  in  prayer.  He  was,  indeed, 
beseeching  pardon  for  the  falsehood  he  had  resolved  to  utter,  and 

*  The  final  chapter  of  the  Jewess  of  Damascus  stands  next  in  the  column 
to  the  critique  on  Shelley. 


■^T.  18.]  JEWESS    OF   DAMASCUS.  123 

breathing  at  the  same  time  to  Heaven  the  profession  of  bis  true  belief. 
Then  without  raising  his  eyes,  after  several  fruitless  attempts  to  articu- 
late, he  muttered  in  Arabic  the  solemn  confession,  '  There  is  no  God 
but  God,  and  Mohammed  is  his  propliet.' 

"  '  He  has  spoken  it,  Aga,'  said  a  surly  Janissary,  who  stood  directly 
by  him,  'but  we  know  not  what  he  has  muttered  to  himself  besides.' 
'  Hast  thou  confessed  the  Prophet,  Ishaak,'  said  the  Aga,  who  now  sat 
upon  his  horse  and  overlooked  the  multitude,  '  Dost  thou  acknowledge 
thyself  a  Moslem  ? ' 

"  It  was  only  by  a  mighty  effort  that  the  Jew  could  give  utterance 
to  the  words  'I  do.'  '  Thou  art  free,'  said  the  Aga  ;  and  applying  to 
his  mouth  the  silver  trumpet  which  was  suspended  at  his  saddle-bow, 
he  gave  a  single  blast,  and  turned  his  horse's  head  in  the  direction  of 
the  castle.  The  Janissaries  gathered  around  their  leader,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  the  distant  sound  of  their  horses'  feet  had  wholly  died  away. 

"  Never,  perhaps,  did  a  release  from  danger  occasion  so  little  satis- 
f;iction.  Ishaak  now  reflected  that  he  had  violated  his  duty  to  heaven, 
broken  his  pledge  to  his  dearest  friends,  and  abjured  the  religion  of  his 
fathers.  He  was  wholly  unable  to  rise  from  his  knees  till  the  last  of 
the  spectators  who  had  remained  to  pity  and  insult  him,  grew  weary 
and  departed.  At  last,  when  the  crowd  seemed  finally  dispersed,  he 
arose  slowly  from  the  earth.  But  when  he  lifted  his  eyes  he  remained 
petrified  and  aghast.  In  the  middle  of  the  street  stood  a  camel  bearing 
on  its  hack  a  litter  of  that  description  used  in  journeys  by  eastern  fe- 
males of  superior  rank.  The  curtains  of  this  litter  were  withdrawn, 
and  within,  the  astonished  Jew  beheld  unveiled  and  fixed  upon  him  the 
countenance  of  Miriam.  Grief,  anger  and  amazement  beamed  from  her 
kindled  eye,  and  contempt  sat  quivering  on  her  lip.  As  her  look  met 
his,  she  dropped  her  veil,  the  curtains  were  hastily  closed,  and  the 
camel  proceeded  on  his  journey. 

'•  The  emotions  of  the  Jew  at  this  unexpected  sight  would  defy  any 
attempt  at  description.  An  hour  or  two  pa-sed  by,  during  which  he 
remained  in  a  state  of  torpid  frenzy.  He  was  wholly  insensible  of 
present  objects,  and  without  a  distinct  recollection  of  the  past.  At  the 
end  of  this  time  he  found  himself  again  before  the  door  of  Asher  Zid- 
dim.  Again  he  kissed  the  threshold,  and  again  gave  the  signal  for  ad- 
mission. The  door  was  opened  cautiously  as  before,  and  by  the  same 
grave  dome^^tic  ;  but  the  vi-itor  was  not  received  with  the  same  cordial 
and  respectful  avcIc.  me.  The  servant  came  out  to  receive  his  com- 
mands, and  gave  him  no  invitation  to  come  in.  Ishaak  mechanically 
named  his  master.     '  He  seeth  no  one  today.'    Ishaak  muttered  some 


124  JEWESS    or    DAMASCUS.  ^827. 

incoherent  questions  respecting  Miriam,  and  Ler  journey  to  Sidon - 
'  The  damsel  goeth  not  forth  to  Sidon,'  was  tl>e  L.conic  answer,  and  the 
frantic  Ishao.k  departed  in  despair.  ,      ,    ^        i      i    i    i  ;.. 

"It  was  sunset-a  glorious  hour  in  that  land  of  unclouded  shies- 
when  a  traveller  journeying  towards  the  sea,  paused  to  look  back  upon 
Daniascus.     It  was  the  same  stranger  who  had  surveyed  the  landscape 
when  glistening  in  the  freshness  of  the  morning.     But  the  man  seemed 
not  the  same.     The  lofty  hearing  of  his  front  and  the  proud  ghmce  of 
his  eye  were  exchanged  for  the  contraction  of  inward  pam  and  the  fit- 
ful gleam  of  terror  and  conscious  guilt.     He  gazed  long  m  s>  ence  on 
the  city  as  it  lay  gilded  by  the  parting  rays  of  a  rich  autumnal  sunset 
Tbe  splendour  reflected  from  its  domes  and  spires,  though  less  chxzzl.ng 
than  that  which  appeared  in  a  morning  view,  was  more  beautitul  and 
chastened.     Instead  of  the  unvaried  golden  tint  which  then  overspread 
the  scene,  the  different  objects  now  displayed  an  endless  variety  of 
hues.     Over   one  was   spread  a  colouring  of  purple.     Another  was 
arrayed  in  a  robe  of  fiery  red;  while  the  highest  points  m  the  view, 
the  pinnacles  and  spires,  were  still  gleaming  in  tlie  simple  brightness 
of  unmingled  sunshine. 

-  'Thou  art  still  beautiful,'  said  Ishaak,  '  but  the  glory  in  my  eyes 
has  departed.  I  look  upon  thy  palaces,  but  I  no  longer  covet  them  : 
I  survey  thy  groves  and  viueyards,  but  I  desire  them  not.  Thou  hast 
been  to  me  a  blasting  and  a  curse,  and  now  thou  smilest  in  thy  scorn 
upon  him  whose  peace  thou  hast  destroyed.' 

"  He  turned  aside  to  a  fresh  and  sparkling  fountain  which  threw  up  its 
liquid  columns  from  a  marble  basin  in  a  neighbouring  enclosure;  and 
having  bathed  his  throbbing  head  in  its  crystal  waters,  bade  farewell 
forever  to  Damascus,  and  journeyed  on. 

"  There  are  few  spirits  so  exempt  from  the  debasing  imperfections  ot 
humanity  as  to  endure  the  severing  of  ties  which  once  seemed  niter- 
woven  with  the  heart-strings,  and  still  retain  perfect  equanimity  of 
fcelin'^  If  there  is  any  principle  in  action  among  men  which  can 
accoinplish  this  in  even  a  moderate  degree,  it  is  the  principle  of  re- 
ligion It  is  such  a  sense  of  devotion  to  the  service  of  heaven  as  makes 
it^  siibject  forget  and  undervalue  the  affections  and  associations  of 
earth.  Yet  even  this  principle,  all-powerful  as  it  is  has  seldom  he 
effect  of  producing  entire  oblivion  or  indifference,  llus  was  sens.bly 
felt  by  Father  Isaac,  the  revered  and  holy  monk  of  the  Convent  o 

St  He  had  long  since  renounced  the   obstinate  unbehef  of 

Judaism.     His  heart  had  been  subdued  by  the  energy  of  grace,  and  his 
understanding  had  bowed  to  the   omnipotence  of  truth.      He  had 


jEr.13.-i  JEWESS    OF    DAMASCUS.  125 

retired  to  the  duties  and  enjoyments  of  monastic  seclnsion,  and 
bj  the  holiness  of  his  life  and  the  warmth  of  bis  benevolence  had 
gained  the  reverence  of  his  order  and  the  grateful  afi'ection  of  the  poor. 
Yet  there  were  times  when,  in  spite  of  all  his  efforts  to  suppress  it,  the 
memory  of  former  days  would  rise  upon  bis  view.  His  sins  and  follies 
be  voluntarily  recalled  as  subjects  of  repentance  and  self-abasement 
before  God.  But  with  them  there  often  came  inseparably  mingled 
images  of  joy  and  pleasure  which  he  would  gladly  have  forgotten. 
Among  these,  there  was  a  dream-like  form  which  though  sedulously 
excluded  from  his  waking  thoughts  would  often  flit  across  his  mind 
amidst  the  airy  pageant  of  some  delightful  vision.  He  tried  to  look 
upon  it  as  au  angel ;  but  memory  and  conscience  whispered  that  it  was 
a  woman. 

"The  summer  of  18—  brought  an  influx  of  Jewish  refugees  to  the 
city  of  Genoa.  Among  the  rest  were  a  considerable  number  of  exiles 
from  Damascus.  The  oppressions  of  the  Moslem  had  become  intolerable, 
and  even  the  venerable  Asher  Ziddim,  though  far  beyond  the  appointed 
goal  of  threescore  years  and  ten,  chose  rather  to  brave  the  danger  of  a 
boisterous  voyage  and  become  in  his  old  age  a  stranger  in  a  strange  land, 
than  to  endure  contempt  and  suffer  persecution  in  the  contaminated 
city  of  his  fathers.  His  daughter  clung  to  his  side.  They  were  all  to 
each  other.  She  renounced  every  other  association  to  be  the  solace  and 
companion  of  her  aged  parent;  while  be  had  made  it  the  object  of  all 
bis  efforts  and  designs  to  create  and  preserve  the  happiness  of  his  only 
child.    The  arrival  of  these  emigrants  was  not  long  a  secret,  even  in 

the  cloisters  of  St, .     The  monks  in  succession  visited  the  city  to 

labour  for  the  conversion  of  these  unbelieving  strangers.  Yet  there 
was  one  who  steadily  refused  to  aid  in  this  pious  enterprise— and, 
strange  to  tell,  that  one  was  the  most  revered  and  loved  for  piety, 
benevolence,  and  zeal,  the  self-denying,  devoted  Father  Isaac. 

"  Weeks  and  months  rolled  by,  and  each  as  it  passed  brought  tidings 
of  the  humanity  and  kindness  of  the  devoted  Damascenes.  The  aged 
Asher  had  fortunately  rescued  a  large  proportion  of  bis  riches,  which 
by  the  hands  of  his  daughter,  at  once  bis  almoner  and  steward,  were 
freely  dispensed  to  feed  the  bowels  of  the  poor.  The  name  of  Miriam, 
unbeliever  as  she  was,  soon  furnished  a  theme  of  eulogy  to  every 
tongue;  and  it  became  at  last  a  current  saying  among  those  who  fed 
upon  her  bounty,  that  the  balance  of  Justice  would  make  no  distinction 
between  the  good  \s^orks  of  Isaac  the  Christian  monk,  and  of  Miriam 
the  Jewess  of  D-imascu-." 

This  tale,  like  the  panegyric  of  the  Persian  Poets,  is  printed 


126  THE    EMPORIUM. 


n82T. 


under  the  signature  of  AIL  The  indulgent  reader  Avill  not 
forget  that  it  was  written  hurriedly  for  the  columns  of  a  vil- 
Inge  newspajier.  It  appears  to  have  been  modelled  in  some 
degree,  as  regards  its  form,  after  the  ingenious  romances 
which  Avere  already  beginning  to  fill  the  pages  of  the  English 
periodicals.  It  would  have  been  read  with  interest  had  it 
appeared  in  Maga.  It  is  thought  by  some  that  this  story 
would  not  have  done  discredit  to  John  Wilson,  or  to  Lock- 
hart,  on  the  score  of  imagination  and  diction,  while  it  is 
doubted  Avhether  either  of  these  could  have  more  successfully 
preserved  the  oriental,  and  yet  modern,  vraisemblmice. 

But  the  New  Jersey  Patriot  was  not  the  only  sheet  to 
which  Mr.  Alexander  was  contributing  these  fugitive  essays. 
He  was  also  writing  frequently,  if  not  so  constantly,  for  a 
journal  known  as  the  "  Emporium."  It  is  to  be  regretted  that 
most  of  his  communications  in  that  quarter  have  been  lost. 

The  Emporium  was  also  a  weekly  paper,  and  was  published 
in  the  city  of  Trenton,  then  as  still  the  capital  of  the  State.  It 
was  first  of  a  literary  and  miscellaneous  character,  but  after- 
Avards  became  the  leading  Democratic  organ  in  New  Jersey. 
It  Avas  established,  published,  printed,  and  edited,  by  Joseph 
Justice  and  Stacy  G.  Potts,  under  the  firm  of  Justice  &  Potts. 
Mr.  Potts,  then  a  young  printer,  afterAvards  became  an  emi- 
nent lawyer  and  a  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  New- Jersey. 
He  Avas  in  later  years  a  gentleman  of  much  dignity  and  suavity 
of  manners,  and  of  most  agreeable  social  qualities,  and  withal 
a  person  of  the  highest  probity  and  excellence  of  character. 
For  this  journal  Mr.  Alexander  wrote  copiously  while  in  col- 
lege, and  after  graduation  published  much  which  cannot  now 
be  recovered.* 

It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  all  this  was  the  merest 
diversion.  This  tide  of  matter  for  the  newspapers  was  wholly 
l)roduced,  one  may  say,  while  the  other  young  men  about 
Princeton  Avere  engaged  in  their  walks  and  talks,  Avere  visiting 

*  A  gentleman  who  lias  kindly  examined  the  files  of  this  paper  for  the  pe- 
riod in  question,  assures  me  that  there  are  pieces  which  "  read  like  him,"  but 
he  is  unable  to  identify  any  of  them. 


^l.  18.1 


ESTIMATE    OF    TIME.  127 


their  sweethearts,  or  were  playing  ball  in  the  college  campus. 
He  too,  it  must  be  admitted,  was  at  this  time  somewhat  fond 
of  walking,  and  would  occasionally  take  a  cheerful  stroll,  as  we 
have  seen,  with  his  friends  Mr.  King  or  Mr.  Napton.     It  was 
observed,  however,  that  with  the  exception  of  Mr.  Boiling's, 
he  seldom  entered  a  friend's  room  between  recitations,  or  be- 
fore the  hour  for  college  prayers,  a  degree  of  abstinence  which 
was  considered  a  sign  of  great  self-denial  in  an  undergraduate  ; 
nor  did  he  usually  encourage  his  fellow-students  to  visit  him 
at  his  own  home.     This  we  may  be  persuaded  was  from  no 
lack  of  hospitality  on  his  part,  and  I  have  never  heard  that  it 
gave  any  oflence  ;  but  simply  from  a  recluse  habit  already 
formed,  and  a  passion  for  saving  not  only  the  precious  ingots 
but  even  the  golden  dust  and  filings  of  time.     He  was  remark- 
able for  this  peculiarity  through  life.     He  would  rush  from 
the  breakfast  table  to  his  study  as  if  an  enemy  were  pursuing 
him,  and  slam  the  door  as  if  he  was  angry :  but  the  next  mo- 
ment he  would  be  heard  murmuring  in  an  earnest  rapid  tone 
as  he  bent  over  the  open  books  that  covered  his  table.     He 
also  had  a  habit  at  times  of  snapping  his  eyes,  as  if  involunta- 
rily, perhaps  unconsciously  ;  first  one  and  then  after  an  inter- 
val the  other ;  in  a  manner  curious  to  behold,  but  which  it 
would  not  be  easy  to  describe.     The  movement  did  not  dis- 
tort, but  gave  a  kind  of  pleasing  sparkle  to  his  face.     The  gen- 
tleman who  sat  next  to  him  at  Baird's  Academy  says  he  was 
even  then  the  admiration  and  despair  of  the  school ;  that  his 
cheek  was  ruddy  and  his  eye  sparkling;  that  he  was  never 
known  to  make  a  mistake  or  a  blunder  in  his  recitations,  or  to 
fail  to  arrive  at  a  perfect  demonstration  at  the  blackboard, 
and  that  no  one  ever  saw  him  hesitate  for  a  word.     The  im- 
l^ression  of  this   gentleman   was   that  "Addison   could   see 
through  anything  at  a  glance ;  that  he  could  not  help  solving 
his  problems,  if  he  triecV^    At  the  time  of  which  I  am  now 
speaking,  the  year  after  he  took  his  Bachelor's  degree,  it  does 
not  appear  that  he  was  much  changed  in  his  appearance  or 
characteristics  and  habits ;  except  that  he  was  visibly  a  little 
older,  somewhat  more  sedate,  more  fully  grown,  and  with  a 


128  READING    HOMER. 


[1827 


greater  breadth  of  knowledge,  cultivation,  and  experience  of 
life.  He  was  still,  like  the  minstrel-warriour  of  Bethlehem 
Judah,  "ruddy  and  withal  of  a  beautiful  countenance,  and 
goodly  to  look  to."  Strange  as  it  may  seem,  notwithstanding 
his  reserve  and  bashfulness  (for  though  the  Avord  bashfulness 
does  not  precisely  express  the  shade  of  meaning  intended,  it 
is  the  only  one  except  shyness  that  even  verges  towards  a 
just  description)  and  his  solitary  ways,  he  was  among  those 
who  knew  him  well  exceedingly  popular.  He  was  so  modest 
and  unassuming  that  no  one  envied  him  his  growing  honours. 
His  compeers  gloried  in  his  successes  as  successes  of  the 
Academy,  of  the  College,  and  of  Whig  Hall,  He  was  not 
one  of  those  who  seem  born  to  be  admired  and  hated  ;  but 
one  of  those  who  though  named  only  to  be  praised  are  known 
only  to  be  loved. 

One  of  the  very  few  records  of  Mr.  Alexander's  literary 
occupations  at  this  time  is  furnished  in  the  following  statement 
with  reference  to  the  dates  at  which  he  finished  the  several 
books  of  Homer's  Odyssey  in  Greek.  He  read  it  in  the  folio 
of  Spondanus,  Basle,  1533,  the  same  copy  which  was  after- 
wards perused  by  his  brother  James.  He  marked  at  the  end 
of  every  book  the  time  of  his  getting  through  it,  and  with  the 
result  exhibited  in  the  annexed  table : 


1827. 


No.of  . 

Book. 

No.  of  Book. 

I. 

January 

22, 

1827. 

Sin. 

February 

10, 

TI. 

u 

23, 

a 

XIV. 

11 

19, 

III. 

(( 

24, 

u 

XV. 

u 

21, 

IV. 

t( 

26, 

u 

XVI. 

11 

27, 

V. 

(( 

29, 

u 

xvir. 

March 

6, 

VI. 

a 

30, 

(I 

XVIII. 

11 

7, 

VII. 

Februar 

y  1, 

u 

XIX. 

11 

8, 

VIII. 

i( 

1, 

u 

XX. 

11 

9, 

IX, 

u 

6, 

11 

XXI. 

11 

10, 

X. 

(( 

7, 

i( 

XXII. 

11 

12, 

XI. 

11 

8, 

11 

XXIII. 

" 

12, 

XII. 

11 

8, 

u 

XXIV. 

" 

13, 

I  give  here  a  letter  which  evidently,  from  its  handwriting, 


^T.  1S.J  EARLY    LETTER.  129 

belongs  to  nu  early  period  of  his  life.  It  Avoiild  not  he  reco"-. 
nized  as  his  by  those  who  Avere  familiar  only  with  his  manu- 
script of  a  later  day.  The  only  date  upon  it  is  the  month, 
September.  The  internal  evidence  corresponds  perfectly  with 
the  external,  in  pointing  to  a  period  anterior  to  the  time  when 
his  writing  became  round  and  elegant.  There  is  a  greater 
freedom  and  elasticity  of  style  than  he  permitted  himself 
afterwards.  It  was  addressed  to  his  brother  James  in  Vir- 
ginia and  at  Charlotte  Court-House.  Now  his  brother  James 
went  to  Virginia  in  1826  and  returned  in  1828,  and  did  not 
reA'isit  his  old  home  in  Charlotte  till  several  years  had 
elapsed.  Moreover,  the  allusion  in  the  letter  to  "  a  journey 
northward"  is  in  such  terms  as  necessarily  imply  a  residence 
in  the  South,  and  not  a  mere  visit  to  that  region.  This  is  fur- 
ther presupposed  in  the  reference  to  a  previous  correspondence 
betv^^een  the  brothers.  The  mention  of  the  elder  brother's 
sickness,  seems  to  fix  the  time  as  towards  the  close  of  his  two 
years'  sojourn  in  his  native  state.  The  repeated  calling  in  of 
the  name  of  Mr.  Patton  might  seem  to  indicate  the  time  the 
younger  brother  was  that  gentleman's  assistant  at  Edgehill ; 
but  this  was  not  till  November  of  the  year  following  the  elder 
brother's  return  to  the  North.  We  are  thus  shut  up  to  three 
years,  1826,  1827,  and  1828.  In  the  autumn  of  one  of  these 
years  the  letter  was  written.  There  are  some  things  Avhich 
might  make  one  incline  towards  1828.  The  letter  shows  him 
at  work  upon  the  Pentateuch.  So  does  the  journal  for  the 
winter  of '28.  The  letter  speaks  of  the  recent  completion  of  a 
poem  entitled  the  "  Tears  of  Esau,"  and  the  journal  discloses 
the  fact  that  he  wrote  off  this  poem  for  the  columns  of  the 
monthly  magazine  on  the  12th  of  January  of  that  year.  It  is 
not  necessarily  implied,  however,  that  he  composed  it  then. 
It  is  more  probable  that  be  copied  it.  Besides,  I  find  from 
his  diary  that  on  the  3d  of  January  1828,  he  was  already  deep 
m  Exodus,  whereas  this  letter  though  making  copious  refer- 
ences to  the  book  of  Genesis,  makes  no  mention  of  any  of  the 
later  books.  Then  again,  in  the  letter  he  has  a  daily  task  of 
four  languages ;  in  the  journal  (unless  his  j)ractice  in  the  latter 


130  WHEN    WRITTEN.  .     [1827. 

part  of  the  year  differed  from  that  in  the  earlier),  of  five,  six, 
and  sometimes  seven:    in  the  letter  he  has  just  mastered  the 
forms  of  Spanish   grammar,   and   has  merely  sent  for  Don 
Quixotte ;  in  the  journal  for  Jan.  1828  he  already  has  a  daily 
task  in  Don  Quixotte.     This  I  think  makes  it  certain  that  the 
letter  was  not  written  in  1828.     It  could  hardly  have  been 
written  in  1826,  which  was  the  year  he  was  graduated.     The 
little  matters  of  Princeton  news  in  the  letter  direct  our  view 
to  the  succeeding  yeai-.     A  minute  comparison  of  the  letter 
with  the  journal  renders  this  conclusion  almost  sure.     I  shall 
therefore   assume  that  in  September  1827,  the  young  scholar 
was  pursuing  the  study  of  Hebrew,  Arabic,  and  Italian,  and 
had  just  possessed  himself  of  the  rudiments  of  Spanish.     He 
at  this  time  scorned  chrestomathies,  and  collectanea  such  as 
Dalzell's.     He  thought  the  best  way  of  mastering  a  ncAV  lan- 
guage w^as  to   open   a  great  classic  and  go  through  it   from 
cover  to  cover  with  the  forms,  the  rules,  and  the  lexicon.     It 
was  doubtless  the  best  way  for  him.     He  had  the  knack  of 
penetrating  the  secret  of  a  mass  of  foreign  idioms  at  a  glance, 
and  of  moving  on  at  once  to  the  subjugation  of  the  literature. 
The  literature  was  his  main  quarry  after  all.     In  Hebrew,  he 
was   now  poring  over  the  sublime  and  inspired   words  of 
Moses.      In  Arabic  he  put  himself  under  the   guidance  of 
Mohammed  ;    in  Persian,  of  Sadi  and  Hafiz  ;  hi  Italian,  which 
he  was  merely  commencing,  of  Tasso.     He  soon  after  took  up 
Cervantes,  Ariosto  and  Dante. 

The  letter  about  to  be  given  has  a  laughable  mixture  of 
the  boy  and  the  man  in  it.  It  is  written  with  all  the  reckless 
ease  of  a  youthful  correspondence  with  a  cherished  brother. 
Yet  the  writer  never  in  his  life  threw  out  more  sagacious  hints 
on  the  subject  of  philology,  and  never  wrote  better  or  more 
playfully  on  the  defects  of  current  English  style  ;  and  he 
never  expressed  himself  with  more  knowledge  or  a  more 
pathetic  tenderness  in  the  av ay  of  criticism  on  the  original 
Scriptures,  regarded  as  a  branch,  and  a  most  imposing  one,  of 
universal  belles  lettres.  The  critique  on  the  Koran,  that 
"bantling   of   Mohammed,"  is   evidently  the    germ  of   the 


^T.  18.]  ADMIRATION    OF    HEBREAV.  131 

larger  and  later  one  in  the  Repertory.  It  is  at  once  shrewd, 
subtle  and  humorous.  As  a  whole  the  reader  will  find  this 
learned,  elegant,  discriminating,  free  and  easy,  bantering  effu- 
sion, as  well  worth  reading  as  any  of  his  similar  productions 
in  after  years.  It  is  very  precious  in  a  biographical  point  of 
view,  as  a  fragment  of  records  Avhich  have  long  since  perished. 

"  Deae  James, 

"The  manner  in  which  you  speak  of  a  journey  northward  has  en- 
couraged us  all  to  conceive  a  hope  which  you  must  take  care  not  to  dis- 
appoint.    Meantime,  let  us  have  a  little  converse  de  omnibus  rebus  &c. 

"  I  believe  you  have  received  no  letter  from  me  since  the  receipt  of 
your  philological  mammoth.  Cordially  as  I  concurred  in  the  senti- 
ments which  you  there  ex'pressed,  I  thought  it  advisable  to  make 
allowances  for  the  evanescent  nature  of  violent  emotions  and  not  echo 
your  rhapsodies  till  I  was  sure  that  they  were  likely  to  continue.  The 
absence  of  philology  in  your  subsequent  epistles  is,  I  suppose,  to  be 
ascribed  to  sickness.  I  trust  you  have  not  lost  the  noble  enthusiasm. 
I  am  studying  as  a  daily  task  four  languages.  In  Hebrew,  I  read  the 
Pentateuch ;  in  Arabic,  the  Koran  ;  in  Persian,  Hafiz  and  Sadi ;  in 
Italian.  Tasso.  You  will  not  be  surprised  to  learn,  that  my  admiration 
of  Hebrew  grows  continually.  The  exquisite  and  to  me  wonderful 
combination  of  primitive  simplicity,  and  philosophical  exactness  in  that 
mysterious  tongue  are  without  a  parallel.  The  further  I  advance  in 
the  knowledge  of  it  and  its  offspring  Arabic,  the  more  I  am  struck  with 
the  indications  which  present  themselves,  of  their  structure  having  been 
the  result  of  elaborate  research  and  subtle  contrivance,  and  yet  the 
simplicity  which  I  have  mentioned  is  so  obvious  and  unequivocal  as  to 
preclude  all  hypotheses  that  might  otherwise  be  formed.  I  am  perfectly 
sincere  when  I  assert  that  in  every  respect,  the  book  of  Genesis  appears 
to  me  the  finest  specimen  of  historical  composition  that  was  ever  pro- 
duced. I  never  thought  so  when  I  read  it  in  English,  though  I  must 
add,  that  the  fidelity  of  our  version  is  far  greater  than  I  had  ever  con- 
ceived to  be  possible.  The  translation  which  comes  nearest  to  it  in 
tliis  respect  is  Sale's  Koran,  but  alas,  longo  intervallo.  The  reason  of 
his  inferiority  is  to  be  found  in  the  character  of  the  Koran  itself;  for  I 
do  declare,  that  of  all  the  ridiculous  exhibitions  of  ignorance,  folly,  and 
stupidity  that  ever  saw  the  light,  this  bantling  of  Mohammed  (even  in 
its  original  swaddling  clothes)  is  the  most  absurd.  The  only  thing  to 
recommend  it,  is  the  number  of  ethical  truths  which  it  contains  well 
expressed  ;    and  occasional  ebullitions  of  a  fervid  imagination  in  the 


132  ITALIAN    AND    SPANISH    STUDIES.  [1827 

■way  of  description  and  apostrophe  wliich  no  style  nor  subject  can 
wholly  suppress  in  the  work  of  an  Oriental  writer.  To  return  a 
minute  to  Genesis— how  often  have  you  ever  read  the  2Tth  chapter  in 
the  original  ?  It  is  beyond  praise  as  a  touching  narrative  ;  and  nothing 
can  be  more  pathetic  than  the  point  to  which  the  story  is  brought  in 
the  38tli  verse. 

:  7j2*:i  iVp  lbs 

"I  was  so  struck  by  the  pathos  of  the  story  on  a  recent  perusal  that 
I  threw  it  impromptu  into  very  blank  verse,  which  you  will  see  in  the 
Patriot.     (By  the  bye  send  us  some  poetry.) 

"  I  am  reading  Tasso  with  great  delight.  It  is  surprising  with  what 
graceful  unconstrained  ease  his  thoughts  succeed  each  other  notwith- 
standing the  awkward  restraint  to  which  the  ottara  riraa  subjected 
him.  The  Italian,  through  its  characteristic  softness,  seems  admirably 
adapted  to  make  the  sound  an  echo  to  the  sense.  You  know  the  verse 
which  Blair  quotes  descriptive  of  the  effects  of  a  trumpet  blown  in  the 
lower  regions  where  tromba,  rimbomba,  piomba  and  similar  words  are 
admirably  expressive.  Mr.  Patton  says  that  no  ancient  or  modern  lan- 
guage is  more  rich  in  words  descriptive  of  delicate  and  varying  emo- 
tions, especially  those  of  love.  The  following  couplet  by  Tasso  I  have 
adopted  as  a  valuable  apothegm  : 

"  '  L'aspettar  del  male  e  mal  peggiore, 
Forge,  che  non  parebbe  il  mal  prescnte.' 

I  have  mastered  the  forms  of  Spanish  grammar  completely  ;  and  have 
just  sent  to  Philadelphia  for  Don  Quixote.  M.  Coulombe,  a  man  edu- 
cated under  the  auspices  of  Napoleon  and  possessed  of  considerable 
learning,  has  established  himself  in  Princeton.  He  teaches  French ; 
and  proposes  to  open  a  German  school.  Mr.  Patton  speaks  well  of  him. 
As  writing  to  you  is  tbe  only  vent  which  I  find  for  my  speculations  on 
literature,  I  will  set  down  two  or  three  questions  for  your  considera- 
tion. 1.  Is  not  the  imperative  mood  the  root  of  the  verb  in  all  lan- 
guages; i.  e..  Do  you  not  suppose  the  first  verb  was  used  imperatively 
or  oratively  (ut  ita  d.\  and  that  it  will  be  found  in  a  majority  of  the 
diverse  tongues  that  this  is  the  simplest  form  ?  Love— to  love— T  love. 
It  is  the  only  simple  part  of  the  English  verb.  2.  Ought  not  all  col- 
lectanea on  Dalzell's  plan  to  be  relentlessly  proscribed  ?  They  have 
hurt  me  exceedingly.  3.  Ought  not  the  republic  of  letters  to  pass  an 
act  abolishing  punctuation  ?     Keep  the  period  and  the  mark  of  interro- 


^T.18.]  TEARS    OF    ESAU.  1^3^ 

gfition  ;  but  let  the  rest  go  hang.     I  am  glad  to  see  you  disapprove  tho 

dash.     I  loathe  it  as  it  is  used  by ,  e.  g. :   '  This  work— and  we 

wish  we  could  say  other  works — came  forth,'  &c.  No  such  form  of  a 
sentence  should  be  tolerated.  Dr.  Johnson  never  used  even  a  paren- 
thesis. There  is  little  news  stirring.  The  family  are  well.  *  *  *  * 
William  sends  you  the  Report  of  the  Colonization  Society,  and  wishes 
you  to  read  Vroom's  address  and  give  your  opinion. 

"Yours  ever, 

"A." 

I  have  been  so  successful  as  to  find  the  poem  referred  to  in 
this  letter,  in  an  old  brown  fragment  of  the  newspaper  in  which 
it  originally  appeared.  The  piece  had  been  carefully  hoarded 
by  one  of  the  author's  playmates  and  oldest  admirers.  It  pos- 
sesses a  high  dramatic  and  exegetical  interest,  and  is  unlike 
anything  else  from  Mr.  Alexander's  pen.  It  will  be  remarked 
that  notwithstanding  the  protest  in  the  letter  to  his  brother 
he  has  not  discarded  the  dash  or  the  parenthesis.  The  piece 
sheds  some  light,  too,  on  his  own  character.  He  too  was  one 
day  to  be  seen  in  tears  and  helplessness— "Ais  mighty  frame" 
also  "shuddering  in  anguish";  and  was  to  excite  a  similar 
surprise.  lie  too  "  loved  not  to  be  scanned  so  searchingly." 
It  had  been  too  long  and  injuriously  thought  of  him  that 
'•from  an  eye  so  hard,  so  diamond-like,  infusible,  though 
bright,  the  kindly  drops  of  pity,  love,  or  grief,  ne'er  found  a 
vent."  "  Yet  have  I  seen  him  weep  *  *  *  and  heard  him 
cry  aloud  in  sorrow,  as  a  child." 

The  difference  was  this,  Esau  was  really  hard-hearted  ; 
but  Addison  Alexander,  with  all  his  force  and  brilliancy  of 
character,  had  also  the  gentleness  and  softness  of  a  girl. 

THE  TEARS  OF  ESAU. 

[From   an  unpublished  DvamaJ\ 

Genesis,  xxvii :  30—41. 

Mark  yon  tall  chief  returning  from  the  chase : 
Canst  thou  not  read  in  that  deep  wrinkled  brow, 
That  quivering  lip,  that  fiercely  flashing  eye, 
The  mingled  characters  of  smothered  grief 


134  TEARS    or    ESAU.  [1827 

And  rankling  discontent?     Thou  readcst  well. 

'Tis  Esau,  first-born  of  the  ancient  Isaac, 

And  monarch  of  the  chase.     There !  did'st  thou  see 

The  sudden  gleam  his  eye  shot  forth  upon  us  ? 

Approach  him  not  too  nearly  :  drop  thine  eyes : 

He  loves  not  to  be  scanned  so  searchingly. 

Yet  men  have  guessed  in  vain  what  hidden  crime 

Preys  on  his  soul,  and  makes  his  eye  a  coward. 

The  story  which  thou  rcadest  in  his  aspect 

Is  written  in  the  process  of  his  life, 

And  stamped  on  all  his  deeds.     Proud,  fearless,  fierce, 

Relentless — ever  mindful  of  his  wrongs. 

Forgetful  of  the  kindness  which  repays  them. 

Who  would  not  say  that  from  an  eye  so  bard, 

So  diamond-like,  infusible,  though  bright. 

The  kindly  drops  of  pity,  love,  or  grief, 

Ne'er  found  a  vent !     Yet  have  I  seen  him  weepj 

Ay,  seen  him  weep,  and  heard  him  cry  aloud 

In  sorrow,  as  a  child.     'Twas  on  that  day, 

When  Jacob — but  you  know  the  tale  of  old. 

Ah,  Arioch  !  'twas  a  sight  to  chill  the  blood, 

I  scarce  believed  it ;  though  I  stood  in  service 

Upon  the  dying  bed  of  Isaac.     There 

The  rugged  hunter  knelt,  and  when  he  heard — 

The  savoury  food  still  smoking  in  his  hand. 

And  gently  offered  to  his  father's  taste — 

Yes,  when  he  heard  the  old  man's  faltering  tongue 

In  broken  accents  tell  the  treachery ; 

And  saw  those  sightless  eyes,  with  bursting  tears 

Of  agony  distended  ;  and  that  hand. 

That  withered  hand,  whose  hallowed  imposition 

Had  laid  on  Jacob's  head  the  promised  blessing — 

When  its  cold  trembling  touch,  reminded  him 

Of  all  that  he  had  lost — what  did  he  then? 

I  stood  in  staring  terror  to  behold 

The  wild  and  fearful  bursting  of  his  wrath 

Come  forth  in  frenzied  action  :  but  it  came  not ; 

I  looked  again  :  for  how  could  I  believe, 

That  Esau,  the  fierce  hunter — that  the  Esau, 

Whom  I  had  known  so  terrible  in  anger, 

Should  bear  his  griefs  thus  meekly  ?     When  I  looked. 

His  head  was  bowed  upon  his  father's  hand. 

His  owr  concealed  his  face ;  his  mighty  frame 


ffiT.lS.]  MONTHLY    MAGAZINE.  135 

Was  shuddering  in  anguish  :  but  anon, 

Between  his  fingers,  drop  by  drop  I  marked 

The  scalding  tears  were  oozing,  and  I  heard 

Those  strong  convulsive  sobs,  which  more  than  tears 

Betray  a  man's  proud  grief.     I  could  have  wept 

To  see  him  humbled  thus.     The  gentler  Jacob 

Might  weep,  and  who  would  mark  it  ?     'Tis  his  nature. 

But  to  see  tears  upon  the  manlier  cheek 

Of  rugged  Esau — 'twas  a  moving  sight. 

Long  did  he  weep  in  silence,  but  at  last 

There  came  from  him  a  wild  and  bitter  cry, 

And  then  in  deep  and  hollow  tones  he  said, 

"  Hast  thou  for  me  no  blessing,  0  my  father  1 " 

What  could  the  old  man  say  ?     Before  him  knelt 

The  eldest  born — his  best  beloved  son. 

Him  whom  he  would  have  blessed,  but  for  the  arts 

Of  Jacob  and  his  mother.     Once  again. 

He  murmured  forth  "  thy  brother — 'twas  thy  brother." 

Again  wept  Esau,  and  again  he  asked, 

"  Hast  thou  reserved  no  blessing  for  thy  son  ? 

Thine  Esau,  Oh  my  father  !  "     Then  once  more 

The  biting,  blasting  thought,  that  he  had  lost 

That  mystic  benediction,  by  whose  virtue, 

The  favour  of  Jehovah  seemed  ensured, 

Rose  on  his  mind  ;  and  as  it  rose  he  cried 

In  bitterness  of  soul.     But  with  that  cry. 

His  weakness  ended,  and  his  agony 

Passed  from  him  as  a  dream.     Across  his  brow, 

He  drew  his  hand  impatiently,  then  sprang, 

As  if  in  anger,  to  his  feet.     His  eyes. 

No  longer  bathed  in  grief,  were  fired  with  rage ; 

And  on  his  quivering  lip  there  seemed  to  hang. 

Unutterable  things.     The  child  was  gone, 

And  vengeful  Esau  was  himself  again.  .  t  j 

During  the  year  1828  in  the  intervals  of  study  he  was  also 
a  frequent  writer  for  the  "Philadelphia  Monthly  Magazine," 
edited  by  Dr.  Isaac  C.  Snowden.*  Some  of  these  contributions 
were  in  verse.  The  world  of  romantic  literature,  and  es- 
pecially poetry,  and  the  world  of  severe  scholarship,  seemed 
now  to  press  their  conflcting  claims  upon  him.  He  may  be 
thought  to  have  stood  for  a  moment  as  if  irresolute,  like  Gar- 


136  WRITING    VERSES.  [1828 

riclc  between  tragedy  and  comedy,  or  like  the  hero  in  the 
Choice  of  Hercules.*  Judge  Napton  assures  us  that  his  friend 
"was  certain  of  success,  if  he  had  chosen  to  enter  the  domain 
of  fiction.  He  probably  never  dreamed  of  this,  but  he  had  a 
strong  yearning  towards  the  poetic  muse.  There  is  no  evi- 
dence, however,  that  he  ever  gravely  meditated  the  pursuits 
of  mere  literature.  The  real  conflict  in  his  mind  was  between 
Arabia  and  America,  the  Orient  and  the  Occident ;  and,  at  a 
later  day,  between  the  law  and  theology.  His  efforts  in  verse 
were  merely  for  the  sake  of  mental  diversion,  or  to  please  his 
friends.  Alas,  that  we  should  haA'e  so  little  from  his  j^en  in 
the  way  of  serious  stanzas  !  What  we  have  gives  us  the 
strongest  evidence  of  what  we  might  have  had,  if  he  had  not 
bent  his  M'hole  mind  on  other  things.  The  huge  labours  of 
the  philologist  and  commentator,  left  little  room  for  those  of 
the  bard,  or  even  of  the  polite  litterateur.  Thus  law  checked 
the  literaiy  aspirations  of  Lord  Mansfield  : 

"  How  sweet  an  Ovid,  Murray,  was  our  boast ! 
How  many  Martials  were  ia  Pulteney  lost !"  f 

And  the  speculations  of  moral  philosophy  proved  too  much  for 
the  genius  of  John  Wilson,  which  hardly  ever  after  blossomed 
into  verse.     The  fairies,  as  an  anonymous  writer  in  "  Black- 

*  The  following  is  a  list  of  liis  contributions  to  the  "  Philadelphia  Monthly 
Magazine"  in  1827  and  1828.     I  do  not  think  he  ever  wrote  for  it  afterward. 

Volume  I. 
Page  125.  "The  Fastidious  Man." 
"     170.   "  Oriental  Literature." 
"     187.  "The  Complacent  Man." 
"     212.  "Archy  McMorrow." 

Volume  JI. 
"       74.  "A  Vision  of  Greece"  (poetry). 
"       76.  "Aut  Caesar  aut  nullus." 

"       89.  "Anecdotes  of  the  Barmecides.     From  the  Arabic." 
"     152.  "  Hurt  Feelings." 
"     351.  "Father  and  Son  ;  a  Love  Story." 
\  The  Dunciad,  Book  IV.,  lines  169,  170. 


-iEt.18.]  dr.    SNOWDEN.  137 

■wood"  23reclicted  at  the  time,  vrere  smothered  in  the  Profes- 
sor's gown. 

He  liad  a  good  deal  of  private  corresjwndence,  too,  at  this 
time  with  Dr.  Snowden,  under  w^hose  good  management  the 
"  Monthly  Magazine  "  had  reached  a  creditable  degree  of  ex- 
cellence, though  it  was  never  widely  circulated.  In  Philadel- 
phia, however,  it  was  read  by  many  cultivated  people,  and  was 
to  be  seen  upon  the  tables  of  most  of  the  public  libraries  and 
lyceums.  I  have  not  rescued  a  single  one  of  Mr.  Alexander's 
notes  to  the  editor,  but  several  of  Dr.  Snowden's  letters  to  the 
Princeton  essayist  have  fiillen  into  my  hands,  and  two  of  them 
are  here  given.  They  are  all  gracefully  and  happily  expressed, 
and  are  good  specimens  of  the  old  quill-pen  hand  then  in 
vogue.  They  are  all  about  the  Magazine  and  Mr.  Alex 
ander's  varied  contributions,  which  were  sometimes  grave 
sometimes  gay.  The  distressed  editor  commonly  beseeches 
his  young  friend  to  send  him  light  and  playful  pieces,  for  vrhich 
he  knows  he  has  a  cunning  gift,  but  is  almost  always  willing 
to  publish  even  his  most  learned  essays.  These  kind  and  in- 
telligent letters  were  sacredly  kept  by  Mr.  Alexander  under 
the  endorsement  "  Snowdeniana." 

"  Philadelphia,  Jam/.  14,  1823. 
"Dear  Sir,  ^        J       ,  ■ 

"  The  fourth  mmiber  of  the  Philadelphia  Monthly  Magazine  is  just 
completed,  and  will  appear  as  usual  on  the  15th.  The  conduct  of  a 
work  like  this  is  certainly  a  task,  but  to  me  a  very  pleasant  one ;  and 
would  be  still  more  so,  if  all  my  correspondents  left  me  so  little  to 
correct  as  you.  I  have  the  same  pleasure  in  receiving  the  communi- 
cations of  several  gentlemen,  which  I  have  in  yours ;  but  some,  the 
matter  of  which  is  excellent,  I  have  to  subject  to  modifications,  which 
are  sometimes  very  troublesome. 

" '  The  Fastidious  Man '  is  quite  a  popular  paper  here,  as  it  de- 
serves to  be:  the  counterpart  in  No.  4  will  I  think  please  also.  I 
am  much  pleased  with  the  short  article  on  Oriental  Literature,  and 
take  this  opportunity  to  remark,  however  strange  it  may  appear, 
that  subjects  of  an  elevated  character  had  better  be  deferred  for 
the  present,  until  the  Magazine  has  acquired,  by  means  of  light 
and  pleasing  papers,  that  popularity  which  will  enable  a  learned 


138  HIS    LETTERS.  n82& 

article  to  stand  it3  ground  in  the  crowd.     It  may  afford  an.  author 
some  satisfaction  to  know,  that  four  or  five  thousand  readers  have 
access  to   his   writings  every  month,   which   is  the   case  with  the 
Magazine— not  that  it  has  so  ample  a  patronage,— (the  subscribers, 
though  consisting  of  the  first  citizens,  are   comparatively  few)   but 
so  many  libraries,   athentcums,   &c.^  &c.,   have  placed  it   on  their 
tables,  that  the  Avhole  world  seems  to  use  it  without  contributing  a 
cent  to  its  support.     This  is  a  disadvantage  to  new  publications— but 
it  cannot  be  prevented.     I  think  you  might  promote  its  interests  by 
placing  a  copy  of  the  third  number  (of  which  I  send  you  tw^o)  on  the 
tab]es°of  the  Cliosophic  and  AVhig  Societies.     The  result  would  be 
totally  different  in  this  case  from  that  of  those  which  I  have  just 
mentioned,  since  the  students  wiU  only  see  it  long  enough  to  know  its 
character,  by  the  time  they  leave  college,  when,  it  is  probable,  many 
may  think  of  subscribing  for  it  on  their  return  to  their  homes.     This 
however  I  leave  to  your  discretion  ;   if  the  societies  should  not  think 
proper  to  subscribe  for  a  copy  each,  I  will  present  theni  with  one. 
I  thank  you  for  the  paper  on  Self-importance,  it  is  excellent  in  its  kind ; 
but  not,  as  you  liave  intimated  yourself,  exactly  the  thing  that  I  wished. 
It  wants  some  of  the  raciness  of  your  first  paper,  as  well  as  variety 
and  point.     Self-importance,  as  it  manifests  itself  in  a  thousand  forms 
in  a  city  would  admit  of  many  choice  touches.    You  have,  however, 
treated  the  subject  well,  and  in  a  style  of  much  perspicuity  and  elegance. 
It  will  appear  in  the  fifth  number. 

"Let  me  request,  if  perfectly  convenient  to  you,  another  short 
article  in  the  course  of  two  weeks,  or  earlier.  Take  any  li-ht  topic 
that  may  occur  to  you,  and  play  with  it,  in  your  ancient  namesake's 
vein  ;  and  I  will  consent  to  your  being  learned,  after  a  few  more  num- 
bers of  the  Magazine  have  appeared  :  I  have  held  my  own  tongue  (pen 
I  should  say)  on  classical  matters  ever  since  the  first  number,  when  I 
was  informed,  to  my  great  surprise,  that  it  was  too  learned.  This  is  a 
droll  age,  but  we  must  humour  it  a  little,  if  we  wish  to  make  it  wiser. 
"  I  am,  dear  Sir,  with  great  respect, 

"  Your  unknown  friend, 

"  J.  0.  SXOWDEX." 

"PniL.vDELrni.v,  May  3,  1828. 
"  Dear  Sie, 

"I  received  your  pleasant  letter  of  May  1st  duly.  You  desire  me 
to  indicate  what  class  of  subjects  I  prefer  for  the  magazine,  '  grave,  or 
lighter  articles  suggested  by  fancy.'    As  you  say  it  rests  with  me  to  say 


^T.  18.]  MONTHLY    MAGAZINE.  139 

what  species  I  prefer,  I  will  remark,  that  however  agreeable  it  would 
be  to  me  to  insert  graver  papers,  yet  the  success  of  the  Magazine 
requires  gaiety :  your  grave  pnpers  would  be  very  acceptable  to  me, 
but  I  and  all  ray  readers  would  prefer  your  gaiety.     That  faculty  is 
rare.     I  have  but  two  besides  yourself  who  play  in  that  vein.     The 
mass  of  my  correspondents  are  your  grave  gentlemen  ;  they  abound  ; 
I  am  at  no  loss  for  sober  sense,  in  good  taste :  the  inference  then  will 
be  that  efforts  of  fancy,  playful  essays  or  sketches,  would  be  more 
desji-able  to  me   and  my  readers.     People  in   this  age  do  not  read 
magazines  to  get  wise;   e.  g.  Blackwood,  Campbell,  &c.,  &c.     Choose 
then,  my  good  friend,  whatever  subject  you  please  ;  and  if  at  any  time 
you  have  on  hand  something  of  the  graver  sort  wjiich  you  may  think  a 
'confounded  good  thing'  and  wliich  you  would  like  to  see  inserted, 
be  sure  to  send  it  to  me  ;  and  if  I  entertain  the  same  opinion  I  shall  be 
happy  to  give  it  a  pbice.     This  induces  me  to  reply  to  a  query  in  your 
letter  and  which  you  did  not  wisli  that  I  should  answer:  I  have  never 
inserted  an  article— I  will  say  line— I  had  almo.-t  said  word  (such  has 
been  my  care  in  these  matter.-)  which  I  did  not  approve  of;  or  under  the 
influence  of  any  one.     My  control  over  tlie  magazine  is  absolute  ;  for, 
while  I  am  Editor,  I  am  also  the  sole  Proprietor,  and  my  correspondents 
are  numerous— e.  g.,  seventy  and  more  rejected  papers  (among  wliich, 
to  my  grief  I  say  it,  is  one  by  the  worthy  friend  to  whom  I  am  at  this 
moment  writiuL',  and  which  he  sent  me  three  or  four  months  ago  (Con- 
rad and  Anselrao). 

"  With  respect  to  the  article  on  Self-importance,  which  appears  to 
have  given  you  a  little  trouble,  I  may  say  that  It  did  not  meet  my 
wishes:  but  then,  the  style,  the  diction,  the  flow  of  sentences,  and 
other  matters  redeemed  it,  and  I  gave  it  place,  of  rigid,  not  as  a  perfect 
guest,  but  as  one  who  deserved  to  be  in  good  compnny.  The  piece,  I 
assure  you,  was  not  without  its  friends— among  them  Dr.  Franklin 
Bache.     So  much  for  'Self-Importance.' 

"You  say,  you  could  give  me  a  trifle  on  'Hurt  Feelings'  Good! 
the  subject  will  take. 

"You  mention  in  a  postscript  'Historical  Romances  in  miniature,' 
founded  on  colonial  and  revolutionary  legends.  Such  papers  would  be 
particularly  interesting. 

"I  hereby  request  my  worthy  friend  'A.  J.  A.'  alias  'A.  L.  I.'  to  accept 
(for  kindnesses  already  rendered),  'a  complete  set  of  the  Philndelphia 
Monthly  Magazine'  for  five  years,  commencing  from  October,  1828.' 

"  I  am,  Sir,  your  unseen  but  sincere  friend,  J.  C.  Snowdeis-. 

"  J.  A.  Alexander,  Princeton. 


140  PERSIA    AND    THE    EAST.  [1828. 

«I  am  still  unwell— a  chill  and  fever  yesterday  and  much  debility 
to-day— Twenty  to  one  I  have  written  as  bad  English,  ay  and  Latin, 
scraps  as  that  Irish  gentleman  Avho  swore  that  no  one  could  write 
grammar  with  such   a  pen.     Pass  over  such  foibles  as  those  of  an 

invalid.  .  ,  ... 

"  God  bless  yon,  and  mend  your  manuscript : 

"Good-niuht,  J.  0.  S." 

It  is  interesting  to  read  what  he  composed  at  tliis  critical 
period  of  his  life,  whether  in  one  mode  or  the  other ;  but  the 
poetry  has  this  charm,  that  these  were  in  a  manner  farewell 
efforts.  I  give  below  two  of  the  pieces  contributed  by  him 
to  the  "  Monthly  Magazine."  Though  published  later,  they 
were  both  Avritten  about  this^  time. 

The  first  implies  a  probable  acquaintance  with  the  litera- 
ture of  the  East  and  especially  of  Persia.  The  second  shows 
a  growing  enthusiasm  for  that  of  the  West.  We  shall  soon 
be^^convinced  on  still  better  grounds  than  any  that  have  yet 
been  given,  that  Mr.  Alexander  was  neither  a  tyro  nor  a  pre- 
tender in  these  matters.  Moore  has  written  Oriental  verses 
ad  nauseam  without  ever  seeing  the  Orient  or  reading  any 
one  of  its  numerous  languages.  Kinglake  and  Beckford  have 
written  on  the  same  subjects  and  with  the  same  success  in 
prose.  But  none  of  these  has  written  such  a  Diary  as  the  one 
on  which  we  are  about  to  enter. 

THE  FALL  OF  ISPAHAN.* 

{From  the  Fersian.) 

The  whispers  of  the  morning  breeze 
Through  nodding  groves  of  spicy  trees 
Have  roused  the  bulbul  from  his  rest ; 
And  springing  from  his  fragrant  nest 
He  skims  in  search  of  hiscious  food, 
Thy  crystal  waves,  fair  Zcnderoud  !  \ 
But  save  the  flight  of  that  lone  bird, 
No  sound  nor  sign  of  life  is  heard  ; 

•  The  City  of  Ispahan  was  sacked  by  the  Afghans  in  the  early  part  of  the  last  ceu- 

tury. — J.  A.  A. 

t  A  stream  running  through  the  city.— J.  A-  A. 


^T.18.]  FALL    OF    ISPAHAN.  141 

Nor  voice  of  mirth  nor  busy  hum 
Nor  trumpet's  blast,  nor  roll  of  drum, 
Nor  horseman's  march,  nor  camel's  tread : 
But  silence  reigns,  as  deep  and  dead 
As  when  the  march  of  time  began. 
Through  all  thy  dwellings,  Ispahan ! 

Again  'tis  morning;  but  no  more 
The  silence  reigns  that  reigned  before ; 
The  dying  child's  expiring  cry. 
The  dying  mother's  farewell  sigh, 
The  groans  of  famine  and  disease. 
Are  now  the  burden  of  the  breeze  ; 
The  bulbul  wheels  his  rapid  flight 
Away,  with  wonder  and  affright — 
To  see  the  dead  by  thousands  strewed 
O'er  the  polluted  Zenderoud  ! 
To  feel  the  hot  contagious  breath 
Of  the  stern  messenger  of  death, 
To  hear  the  murmur  of  despair 
Which  agitates  the  troubled  air. 
As  famished  beast  and  starving  man 
Throng  through  the  streets  of  Ispahan. 

Once  more  'tis  morning,  and  again 
The  voice  of  nature  and  of  men 
Is  hushed  in  silence,  such  as  reigns 
Through  death's  unvisited  domains ; 
But  not  that  calm  and  holy  rest 
Which  soothes  to  peace  the  troubled  breas 
And  guardian  vigils  loves  to  keep 
O'er  the  defenceless  infant's  sleep : 
The  pause  that  now  enchains  the  air, 
Is  the  dead  stillness  of  despair : 

No  more  to  greet  the  sun's  first  rays, 

The  bulbul  tunes  his  thousand  lays ;  * 

His  song  no  more  shall  be  renewed 

Along  thy  waters,  Zenderoud  ! 

For  see !  o'er  citadel  and  moat. 

The  Persian  flag  has  ceased  to  float. 

And  struggling  with  the  adverse  air 

A  stranger's  flag  is  floating  there. 

•  One  of  the  epithets  applied  to  the  bulbul  by  the  Persian  poets  ia  that  of  Ilezer-avaz 
or  thousand  voices,  in  allusion  to  the  variety  of  its  notes.— J.  A.  A. 


142  A   VISION   OF    GREECE. 

The  strife  is  o'er  ;  the  deed  is  done  : 
The  Persian  warrior's  race  is  run  ; 
His  sword  is  broken,  and  he  lies 
In  death,  still  gazing  on  the  skies ; 
While  o'er  the  dying  and  the  dead, 
In  sullen  mockery  is  spread, 
The  banner  of  the  fierce  Afghan, — 
And  thou  art  fallen,  Ispahan !  " 

About  the  same  time  ap2:)eared  the  following; 

A  VISION   OF   GEEECE. 

Calm  twilight  o'er  the  Grecian  isles 
lias  thrown  her  veil  of  sombre  gray ; 

The  dying  sunset's  farewell  smiles 
In  golden  pomp  have  passed  away. 

No  sounds  the  solemn  silence  wake 
Save  ocean's  deep  and  distant  roar, 

As  his  chafed  billows  dash  and  break 
In  sullen  murmurs  on  the  shore. 

But  as  that  dull  and  dream-like  song 
Subsides  in  momentary  rest, 

A  strain  of  music  creeps  along, 
As  from  the  islands  of  the  blest. 

Whence  flow  the  sounds  ?     It  is  a  lyre — 
And  swept  by  none  but  Grecian  hand ; 

In  mingled  tones  of  vengeful  ire 
And  sorrow  for  his  native  land. 

As  lie  pursues  a  theme  so  dear, 

Hark !  how  the  ancient  cliffs  prolong, 

With  all  their  echoes  far  and  near, 
The  burden  of  the  minstrel's  song.  ^ 

"Is  this  the  land,"  he  faintly  sighs, 
"Where  glory  reared  his  crest  of  old. 
And  freedom  to  the  cloudless  skies 

Her  crimsoned  flag  in  wrath  unrolled  ?  " 

"Is  this  the  land,"  he  fiercely  asks, 

As  memory  goads  hini  with  her  sting, 

"  Tills  land  where  bondsmen  ply  their  tasks 
And  kneel  before  an  alien  kins  ? 


n82& 


^T.18.J  A    VISION    OF    GREECE.  143 

"  Is  this  the  land  where  Xerxes  fled 
Alone,  unarmed  and  in  dismay? 
Is  this  the  noble  Spartan's  bed  ? 
Can  this  be  proud  Thermopylae  ?  " 

As  the  last  echo  dies  away, 

A  hollow  voice  responds  to  his — 
"  Can  this  be  proud  Thermopylas  ?  " 
The  answer  comes — "  It  is,  It  is !  " 

And  see !  above  the  hallowed  tomb, 

Where  sleeps  the  Spartan  and  his  men, 
Their  ghosts  seem  mustering  in  the  gloom^ 

And  rallying  for  the  fight  again. 

Behold !  behold !  the  grisly  band 

Have  seized  upon  their  ancient  pass ; 
Before  them  stalks  in  stern  command, 

The  spirit  of  Leonidas. 

One  shout — one  shout  of  ancient  days, 

And  all  is  silent  as  before  ; 
While  from  the  cliffs  a  sudden  blaze 

Its  blood-red  light  begins  to  pour. 

Enough,  enough,  they  work  their  will ; 

No  sooner  is  the  signal  given. 
Than  from  the  crest  of  every  hill 

An  answering  beacon  flames  to  Heaven. 

But  what  portentous  sound  is  this. 

Which  rises  with  the  rising  dawn  ? 
Half-stifled  shouts  from  Salamis, 

And  cries  of  waf  from  Marathon. 

The  spell  is  broken  !    Arm  for  fight ! 
Vengeance  is  sure,  for  God  is  just ! 
Greece  has  arisen  in  her  might,  " 

And  spumed  her  fetters  to  the  dust 

Again,  again,  from  every  height, 

The  war-cry  sends  its  dread  alarms ; 
Again  the  sun's  returning  light. 

Sees  renovated  Greece  in  arms. 

She  invokes  no  more  the  fabled  powers, 
Whom  erst  her  magic  minstrels  sung ; 


Ui  ENGLISH    POETS.  1828. 

But  to  the  wind  from  all  her  towers, 
The  banner  of  the  Cross  is  flung. 

No  more  the  heathen  anthem  rings, 

To  Mars  from  her  embattled  posts ; 
Her  sovereign  is  the  King  of  kings. 

Her  patron  is  the  Lord  of  Hosts. 

See  land  and  ocean,  tower  and  mast, 

Teeming  with  countless  throngs  of  men  ! 

The  dream  of  servitude  is  past, 
And  Greece  is  now  herself  again. 

The  constellation  of  poets  that  about  this  time  continued 
to  fix  the  attention  of  the  world  and  dazzle  the  eyes  of  the 
critics,  could  hardly  fail  to  be  an  object  of  considerable  attrac- 
tion to  the  author  of  these  verses.  As  canto  after  canto,  book 
after  book  came  out,  they  were  eagerly  read  by  Mr.  Alexander, 
as  well  as  by  his  two  older  brothers.  None  of  the  gifted 
writers  whose  productions  swarmed  during  this  period  and 
filled  so  much  of  the  labours  of  Mr.  Jefi"rey  and  his  coadju- 
tors in  the  Edinburgh  Review,  seems  to  have  exerted  a  more 
decided  impression  on  the  style  of  Mr.  Alexander  than  those 
of  Lord  Byron.  The  American  student  was  richly  qualified 
to  appreciate  intellectual  excellence  of  this  sort,  and  his 
quick  soul  must  have  kindled  under  the  inspiration.  The 
correspondence,  therefore,  can  hardly  be  altogether  accidental 
between  the  stirring  numbers  of  "the  Childe"  and  the  nervous 
diction  and  peculiarly  sonorous  rythm  of  every  scrap  of  verse 
that  fell  from  that  young  scholar.  And  yet  the  poetry  of 
Addison  Alexander  is  as  original  and  sid  generis  as  his  prose. 
Some -of  the  very  themes*  on  which  Byron  loved  to  write 
were  also  favourites  of  Mr.  Alexander's.  Much  of  this  was 
doubtless  due  to  a  partial  similarity  of  tastes,  and  perhaps 

*  To  say  nothing  of  such  familiar  pieces  as  "  The  Isles  of  Greece,"  I  need 
only  point  to  the  LXXIII.  stanza  of  the  second  canto  of  Childe  Harold,  and  the 
spirited  translation  of  the  Greek  war  song  AeDre  iralSes  tojv  "E.Wt]v<>)v  of  Riga, 
*'  Sons  of  the  Greeks,  arise."  Both  of  the  last  named  contain  like  allusions  to 
Leonidas  and  Thermopylije.  The  stanzas  given  in  the  text  will  not  suffer  in 
comparison  with  this  animated  lyric. 


^T.18.]  CHANGE    OF    STUDIES.  145 

a  resemblance  of  native  talents.  But  he  was  now  about  to 
enter  more  and  more  heartily  upon  the  business  of  a  transla- 
tor and  interpreter  of  foreign  tongues,  and  to  turn  his  back 
upon  the  captivating  East  and  the  blandishments  of  poetry. 
Like  the  Shepherd  in  Lycidas  after  a  wistful  retrospective 
glance,  he  was  soon  to  cease  his  song. 

He  touched  the  tender  stops  of  various  quills, 
With  eager  thought  warbling  his  Doric  lay ; 
And  now  the  sun  had  stretched  out  all  the  hills, 
And  now  was  dropped  into  the  western  bay; 
At  last  he  rose,  and  twitched  his  mantle  blue; 
To-morrow  to  fresh  woods  and  pastures  Tiew, 


CHAPTER  ly. 

The  first  records  which  I  have  been  able  to  find  of  Mr. 
Alexander's  studies  as  preserved  in  his  own  journals  are  now 
to  be  laid  before  the  reader.  The  earliest  allusions  to  his 
literary  employments  are  contained  in  the  two  letters  to  his 
brother  James,  which  have  already  been  given. 

"Jan.  1.— Arabic,  Al  Koran,  Suna  19.  Hebrew,  Exodus,  chnp. 
xix.  Italian,  Tasso,  Ger.  Lib.  Canto  12.  Latin,  Cicero  iu  Q.  Cfficilium. 
German,  Kules  of  pronunciation ;  Greek,  Matthew,  chaps.  3-4:." 

"  Jan.  2.— Hebrew,  Exodos,  chap.  20.  Persian,  Hafiz  (Nott's  Ed.) 
ode  IG.  French,  Auxiliary  verbs.  Spanish,  Don  Quix.  chaps.  27-28. 
Greek,  Matt.  ch.  4-8." 

"Jan.  3.— Hebrew,  Exod.  chs.  20-21.  Arabic,  Al  Koran,  Suras 
19-20.  Latin,  Cicero  in  Cffilio,  and  pro  Lege  Mauilia.  Gern:an,  De- 
clensions of  art.,  subs,  and  adj.  Greek,  Matthew,  9-12.  Italian,  Tasso, 
G.  L.,  Canto  12  ;  wrote  paradigm  of  reg.  verbs." 

"Jan.  4.— Hebrew,  Exod.  chs.  21-22.  Persian,  sundries.  Spanish, 
Don  Quix.  clis.  28-29.  Syriac,  Michaelis  gram,  alphabet,  points,  regu- 
lar verbs.  Greek,  Matthew,  chs.  13-16.  French,  wrote  paradigm  of 
eleven  regular  verbs  (bis)." 

"Jan.  5.— Hebrew,  Exod.  chs.  22-23.  Arabic,  Al  Koran,  Suras 
20-21.  Latin,  Cicero  Orat.  pro  Lege  Manilia.  Greek,  Matt.  cbs.  IV- 
20.-  French,  Description  de  I'Arahe,  par  Neibuhr.  English,  Byron's 
poems.  Italian,  wrote  translation  of  Historia  Sacrn.  German,  wrote 
paradigms  of  ten  auxiliary  verbs." 

uja„_  G.— Hebrew,  Genesis  chs.  1-10;  Exodus,  19-23.  Greek, 
Matt.  1-G  and  20-28.  English,  Butler's  Analogy,  Intro,  and  ch.  1. 
Italian,  Tasso,  Ger.  Lib.  canto  13." 

"Jan.  7.— Hebrew,*  Exodus  chs.  23-24.  Persian,  Persian  contro- 
versies,  slix-liii  and  Gulistan  of  Sadi.  Syriac,  Matt.  chap,  i :  6-17. 
Spanish,  Don  Quix.  chs.  29-30.  Greek,  Homer's  Odyss.  Lib.  1.  Mark 
1-4.     French,  par.  eleven  regular  verbs." 

"  Jan.  8.— Hel>rew,  Exodus,  chs.  24-25.  Arabic,  Al  Koran,  Suras 
21-22.    Latin,  Cicero's  orations.     German,  revised  nouns,  adjs.  and 


^T.18.1  JOURNAL.  147 

verbs.  Greek,  Mark,  cb.  5-8.  Italian,  wrote  traiisbition  of  Historia 
Sacra." 

"  Jan.  9. — Hebrew,  Exoil.  cbs.  25-26.  Persian,  Pers.  contro.  and 
Gulistan.  Syriac,  Matt.  cb.  i.  v.  18-25.  Frencb,  Levizac's  grammar 
and  irregular  verbs.  Spauisb,  Don  Quix.  cbs.  30-31.  Greek,  Mark, 
cbs.  9-12," 

"Jan.  10— Hebrew,  Exodns,  cbs.  20-27.  Arabic,  Al  Koran,  Suras 
22-23.  Latin,  Cicero,  pro  Arcbia  poeta.  German,  tbe  wbole  of  Wen- 
derbork's  grammar,  Greek,  Mark,  cbs,  13-lG,  English,  Otway'a 
pLiys.  Italian,  paradigms  of  regular  and  irregular  verbs ;  translation 
of  Historia  Sacra." 

"Jan,  11.— Hebrew,  Exod.  cbs.  27-28.  Persian,  Gulistan  of  Sadi. 
Frencb,  regular  and  irregular  verbs.  Spanisb,  Don  Quix.  cbs.  31-32, 
Greek,  Luke,  cb.  i." 

"Jan.  12,— Hebrew,  Exodus,  cbs.  28-29.  Arabic,  Al  Koran,  Suras 
23-24.  Latin,  Cicero.  Greek,  Luke  1-3.  English,  wrote  *  communi- 
cations for  tbe  Pbiladelpbia  Monthly  Magazine,  viz. :  1.  A  dramatic 
fragment,  2.  The  Fall  of  Ispahan.  3.  A  Vision  of  Greece.  4.  Tbe 
Tears  of  Esau." 

The  diary  of  the  next  few  days  presents  more  fully  his 
method  of  studying  the  various  languages  which  now  occu- 
pied his  attention.  What  is  extracted  from  these  entries  is  a 
specimen  of  all. 

"Jan.  14.- Eead:  in  Hebrew,  Exodus,  cbs.  29-30.— May  not  our 
canopy  he  derived  from  the  Hebrew  233,  a  wing?  Tbe  shadow  of 
icings  is  a  frequent  expression  in  tbe  Bible.  There  is  another  deriva- 
tion, more  curious,  and  I  think  much  more  certain  :  I  mean  that  of 
each  from  TTix  :  The  use  of  tbis  word  as  a  distributive  pronoun  in 
Hebrew  is  very  remarkable.  One  to  another  would  be  properly 
translated  sinsn  ix  "^N  a  man  to  his  friend  or  Irother.  Nor  is  this 
mode  of  expression  confined  in  its  application  to  human  beings,  nor 
even  to  animals  in  general ;  We  find  it  used  in  Exodus  with  things 
which  it  would  scarcely  be  possible  to  personify.  For  example  ; — '  The 
five  curtains  shall  be  coupled'  nninN  bx  ndx  ^woinan,  (or  generi- 
cMy  female)  to  her  sister,'!,  e.  one  to  anotlier.  'And  other  five 
curtains  shall  be  coupled  ivoman  to  her  sister.''  Anotlier  peculiar  idiom 
which  occurs  to  me  is  that  in  wbicb  tbe  v>'ord  son  is  used  in  connection 

*  That  is,  I  think  he  means,  revised,  copied  and  posted  them. 


148  DAILY    STUDIES.  tl828. 

with  the  number  of  years  to  express  a  man's  age.  To  give  one  examplo 
out  of  many  nrj  nisi:  d':;— |3  nb  'Noah  was  the  so7i  of  six  hundred 
years.''  This  may  perhaps  be  explained  by  the  fact  tiiat  the  terina 
expressive  of  natural  relations  among  men,  t^uch  as  father,  mother,  son 
and  daughter,  are  frequentl>'  used  to  express  relations  of  a  different  kind 
and  between  different  objects  ;  a  large  proportion  of  the  Arabic  proper 
names  being  formed  by  this  rule.  For  example — '  Father  of  power,' 
i.  e.  the  powerful.  I  have  never,  however,  met  with  tliis  idiom  in  the 
books  of  Moses  in  reference  to  any  thing  but  the  length  of  life." 

"2.  In  Spanish.  Don  Quixote,  chs.  32-33.  The  most  elaborate 
passage  in  tliis  work  of  Cervantes  which  I  have  yet  met  with,  is,  'La 
Novela  del  curioso  Impertinente.'  Indeed,  from  the  pains  which  he 
takes  to  introduce  all  his  episodes,  it  is  evident  that  he  laboured  them 
with  a  care  which  he  did  not  give  to  the  main  story.  To  this  fiict  he 
seems  to  allude  himself  when  he  speaks  of  the  enjoyment  which  his 
liero  had  been  the  means  of  affording  to  the  world,  'no  solo  de  la 
dulzura  de  su  verdadera  historia,  sino  de  los  cuentos  y  episodios  della, 
que  la  misma  historia.'  If  the  author  had  any  partiality  for  this 
episode,  'La  ISTovella,'  it  was  certainly  not  a  blind  one.  This  story  is 
finely  conceived,  ingeniously  developed,  and  elegantly  expressed.  The 
speech  of  Lothario  in  opposition  to  the  proposal  of  his  friend  is  sa  fine 
a  specimen  of  ethical  argument  and  eloquence,  that  the  reader  is 
tempted  to  exclaim,  as  Sancho  to  his  master—'  Mas  bueno  era  onestra 
merced  para  predicadore  que  para  cabellero  andante.'  The  following 
sentence  contains  a  strong  but  most  expi'essive  description  of  the  eifect 
of  suppressed  sorrow, — '  No  exensaras  con  el  secreto  tu  dolor  ;  antes 
tendras  que  lloras  contino  si  no  lassimas  de  los  ojos,  lassimas  sangre  del 
corazena.'' 

"3.  Persian.  The  Gulistan.  Persian  and  Hebrew  are  radically 
distinct,  in  their  genius  and  structure,  as  well  as  vocables.  They  agree 
however  in  this  remarkable  circumstance,  that  the  government  of  one 
substantive  by  another  is  denoted  by  a  change  in  the  latter  and  not 
the  former  as  in  almost  all  other  languages.  The  cardinal  number 
fi.r  siz  is  the  same  also  in  both  the  Hebrew  and  Persian  languages. 
The  Persian  agrees  with  the  Syriac  (a  derivative  of  Hebrew)  with 
respect  to  the  definite  article,  which  is  formed  in  both  by  adding  a 
vowel  at  the  end  of  the  noun.  The  coincidences  between  the  Peri-ian 
and  English  are  very  numerous  and  striking,  and  are  rendered  more 
remarkable,  by  the  fact  that  many  of  the  words  common  to  both  are 
simple,  original,  primitive  terms  used  in  ordinary  intercourse,  and  not 
mere  technicalities." 


^T.18.]  ENGLISH    READING.  149 

"  4.  In  English.     (1.)  Sir  William  Jones's  anniversary  discourse  on 
the  Philosophy  of  tlie  Asiatics.    I  read  tliis  with  a  view  to  the  composition 
of  an  article  on  the  same  subject.    Sir  William,  however,  speaks  princi- 
I'ally  in  reference  to  the  Hindus.    I  should  confine  myself  to  tlie  Moham- 
medan nations.     (2).  The  Ed:nburgh  Review.     Review  of  the  Ilaniil- 
toiiian  Syt-tem.     I  find  I  have  adopted  this  system  unconsciously  in 
teaching  J.  A.  and  P.  S.  C.  the  Italian  language.     The  principal  difi"er- 
ence  is  this  that  I  introduce  grammatical  inflexions  at  an  earlier  period. 
My  rule  is  to  give  a  short  lesson  translated  word  for  word.    When  the 
meaning  and  combination  of  words  is  learned,  to  give  the  paradigms 
of  the  verbs  contained  in  it  to  be  committed  to  memory,  and  explain 
the  other  grammntical  difficulties  before  proceeding  fm-thcr.     (3).  The 
Red  Rover,  vol.  2,  chs,  1-7.     I  am  fond  of  beginning  witli  tlie  second 
volume  of  a  novel.     It  makes  the  first  doubly  interesting.     I  think  the 
comparison,  or  rather  the  equalizing,  of  Cooper  with  Scott  is  highly 
unjust  for  these  causes  following: — 1.  Scott,  it  is  evident  from  every 
page  of  his  works,  is  a  tnan  of  taste.  Cooper  not.    (2).  Scott  is  always 
at  his  ea-e  ;    Cooper,  constrained,  and  appnrently  striving  after  some- 
thing unattainable.     (3).  Scott  is  always  perspicuous.      His  pictures 
are  not  only  striking  in  distant  view,  but  perfectly  intelligible  in  all 
their  parts.     Cooper,  on  the  contrary,  is  often  obscure,  and  that  when 
he  has  no  intention  to  be  mysterious — and  his  descriptions  frequently 
leave  the  mind  confused  anl  clouded  without  any  definite  image  to 
occupy  it.     Cooper  may  be  a  man  of  more  depth  and  strength  of  feel- 
ing ;  but  Scott  is  vastly  his  superior  in  liveline-s  and  fertility  of  fancy. 
Cooper  relies  on  the  interest  of  his  scene,  and,  at  most,  on  variety  of 
incident,  to  arrest  tiie  attention  of  his  reader.     Scott  enchains  it  by 
the  delineation  of  character.     All  Cooper's  passages  may  be  resolved 
into  one  or  two  varieties ;  and  of  these  few,  some  are  unnatural  and 
even  monstrous;  while  Scott  has  an  endless  diversity,  and  all  of  them 
true  to  nature.    The  only  passage  in  Cooper's  writings  I  have  met  with 
approaching  to  suldimity,  is  the  description  of  the  storm  in  tiie  first 
volume  of  the  Pilot;  but  although  the  advantages  as  to  scene  and  oir- 
cuni;  tances  would  appear  to  be  on  his  side,  that  description  i^  nothing 
when  compared  with  the  escape  of  Sir  Arthur  Wardour,  his  daughter 
and  Edie  Ochiltree  from  the  sea,  in  the  Antiquary." 

"5.  French.  Telemaque,  pp.  1-5.  Wrote  paradigms  of  all  the 
verbs  occurring  in  the  aV)ove  passage  of  Telemaque,  being,  in  number, 
tliirty-five  r.gular  and  sixteen  irregular  verbs ;  total,  fifty-one." 

"Jan.  15. — The  finest  passage  which  I  have  seen  in  the  Koran  is 
the  comparison  of  the  excellence  of  the  wicked  to  the  laTce  of  the  desert 


150  EARLY    CRITICISM.  [1828. 

(an  optical  illusion  in  sandy  and  hot  countries),  whicli  occurs  in  the 
cliai)ter  df  light.  I  diffei*  in  toto  from  all  ^Yritel•s  who  assert  that 
Mohamnieil,  in  devising  a  religion  for  hi.s  followers,  proceeded  upon 
anv  regular  plan  whatever.  We  are  too  apt  to  ascribe  motives  to  those 
who  never  felt  them,  and  regard  as  deep-laid  contrivance  what  proba- 
bly arose 'from  accident.  He  was  first  an  entliusiast ;  a  half-mad  vision- 
ary. In  this  character  he  began  his  revelations,  and  afterwards  finding 
their  effect,  became  an  ambitious  aspirant  after  power.  The  idea  that 
he  endeavoured  to  adapt  liis  doctrines  to  the  belief  and  propensities  of 
particular  sects,  I  think  unwarranted:  not  only  from  his  ridiculous 
anachronisms,  but  from  the  character  of  the  stories  whicb  he  gave  as 
sacred  history.  All  that  he  has  borrowed  from  the  Scriptures  has  the 
appearance  of  being  caught  from  oral  narration.  When  we  consider 
the  fondness  of  the  Arabs  for  story-telling,  we  may  readily  believe  that 
the  Jews  and  Christians  who  were  among  them  found  abundant  em- 
ployment in  rehearsing  impres?ive  narratives  of  the  Pentateuch  and 
Gospel.  That  these  should  take  slrong  hold  of  Mohammed's  mind, 
then  in  a  low  condition  is  not  surprising.  By  nature  imaginative,  he 
may  have  brooded  in  secret  over  these  historical  facts,  till  he  felt  their 
influence  in  a  rising  desire  to  emulate  the  ancient  prophets.  This  I 
believe  to  be  the  source  of  his  Scriptural  information.  That  he  was 
actually  assisted  in  the  composition  of  the  Koran  by  either  Jew  or 
Christian,  I  think  improbable;  because  either  would  have  given  more 
connected  narratives.  In  his  own,  not  only  is  the  truth  diluted,  but 
the  facts  confused  and  out  of  order,  like  the  attempts  of  a  man  to  re- 
pe;it  a  half-forgotten  story." 

The  fullowaiig  criticism  gives  us  an  insight  into  his  early 
tastes,  confirming  also  the  impressions  and  justifying  the 
inferences  which  we  have  already  drawn  from  otlier  sources, 
as  to  his  amazing  intellectual  energy  : 

"Jan.  17. —Read  the  'Red  Rover.'  After  reading  this  novel 
through,  I  am  inclined  to  think  it  the  best,  as  a  whole,  of  Cooper's 
writings.  The  interest  is  far  more  intense  and  better  supported  than 
in  any  of  the  rest.  There  is  a  sameness,  however,  in  his  descriptions 
which  nothing  but  the  comparative  novelty  of  naval  romance  enables 
us  to  tolerate.  The  ships  arc  forever  '  bending  their  tall  sizars  as  if  to 
salute'  this  or  that  object,  and  then  'gracefully  recovering  their  erect 
position.'  He  is  too  fond,  moreover,  of  '  lurking  smiles,'  and  '  strug- 
"•ling  smiles,'  and  other  cant  phrases  of  his  own,  which  would  appear 


^T.18.]  STUDIES    rOR    THE    MONTH.  151 

to  indicate,  that  lie  Lad  no  very  vivid  impression  of  tlie  object  in  his 
own  mind;  but  described  rather  by  rote;  so  that  liis  descriptions, 
especially  of  men,  are  like  set  speeches,  differing  only  in  minor  par- 
ticulars, but  capable  of  being  adapted,  by  a  little  alteration  to  any 
character.  In  denouement  he  is  never  successful.  The  winding  up  of 
his  novel  is  wretched  in  itself  and  rendered  more  so  by  its  resemblanca 
to  the  closing  chapters  of  the  '  Spy.'  " 

This  plan  of  writing  down  his  thoughts  on  the  studies  and 
readings  of  the  day  he  kept  np  for  several  weeks.  I  continue 
to  quote  from  the  journal : 

"Jan.  2G.— I  have  been  reading  the  past  week  nine  chapters  in 
Hebrew ;  seven  chapters  in  the  Koran,  and  one  in  the  Arabic  New 
Testament;  twelve  chapters  in  the  Italian  Bible ;  two  in  the  Persian 
New  Testament;  two  in  the  Spanish  do.;  one  in  the  German  do.; 
three  chapters  in  Don  Quixote,  and  several  passages  in  Telemaque." 

"Jan.  31.— During  the  month  wliich  is  now  closing,  I  have  read 
thirty-two  chapters  in  the  Hebrew  Bible,  all  of  them  twice  and  most 
of  them  three  times ;  seventeen  Suras  in  the  Koran— all  of  them  twice 
except  the  first  and  last.  I  have  also,  within  this  month,  begun  the 
study  of  the  German  language,  and  made  such  progress  as  shall  be 
mentioned  hereafter.  I  commenced  reading  the  Greek  Testament  on 
the  first  of  the  month,  but  discontinued  it  after  finishing  two  gospels. 
On  the  11th  inst.  I  commenced  the  practice  of  repeating  what  I  read 
in  Hebrew  in  Martini's  Italian  version,  which  I  have  regularly  con- 
tinued. On  the  25th  inst.  I  procured  the  5th  voUime  of  Walton's 
Polyglot,  and  since  that  date,  have  read  the  Scriptures  in  sis  lan- 
guages on  the  following  plan.  1.  Leviticus  in  the  morning;  in  He- 
brew critically,  (i.  e.  with  grammar  and  lexicon).  2.  The  Gospel  of 
John  in  the  morning  in  German— critically ;  at  night  in  Spanish  cur- 
sorily. 3.  The  Gospel  of  Matthew  in  the  morning  in  Persian— criti- 
cally; at  night,  in  Arabic  cursorily;  repeating  every  day  the  readings 
of  the  preceding.  Tliese  readings  have,  since  the  25th,  been  my  stand- 
ing orders  of  the  day,  which  I  was  not  at  liberty  to  set  aside.  My 
moveable  orders  of  the  day,  which  miglit  be  dispensed  with,  if  neces- 
sary or  shifted  from  one  day  to  another,  were— 1.  The  critical  reading 
of  Don  Quixote  in  Spanish.  2.  The  reading  of  Telemaque  in  French. 
3.  All  English  reading ;'  and  lastly,  composition.  On  Sundays  I  have 
been  in  the  practice  of  repeating  the  portions  of  Scripture  read  during 
the  week." 

"l^'eb.  2.  — During  the  past  week  I  have  read,  critically^  1.  In 


152  STUDIES    FOR    THE    WEEK. 


[1828. 


Hebrew  nine  chapters  in  Leviticus.  2.  In  Persian,  five  chapters  in 
Matthew.  3.  In  Ai-abic,  eight  cliapters  in  Matthew  and  four  Suras  in 
the  Koran.  4.  In  German,  five  chapters  in  John.  5.  In  Spanish, 
eiglit  chapters  in  Don  Quixote.  6.  In  Italian,  nine  chapters  in  Levit- 
icus.    7.  In  French,  all  the  first  book  of  Telemaque." 

"Feb.  9.— During  the  week  which  began  on  Monday  the  4th  and 
closes  to-night  (for  I  exclude  Sundays),  I  have  read  critically— that  is 
to  say,  with  strict  philological  attention,  and  with  the  usual  aids  of 
grammar,  lexicon,  &c.,  as  follows : — In  Hebrew— Lev.  14r-23 ;  In  Per- 
sian, Matt.  9-14 ;  in  German,  John,  8-13  ;  in  Arabic,  Koran,  39-42  ; 
in  Spanish,  Don  Quixotte,  39-41.  In  French,  Telemaque,  one  Book. 
During  the  same  period  I  have  read  cursorily — that  is  to  say,  with  a 
view  to  philological  improvement,  but  with  less  strict  attention  to  ver- 
bal accuracy  and  grammatical  niceties,  (besides  repeating  in  this  way 
every  day  the  portion  read  critically  the  day  before)  as  follows:— In 
Arabic,  Matt.  9-14 ;  in  Italian,  Lev.  14-23  ;  in  Spanish,  John  8-13. 
In  addition  to  the  above  I  have  read  attentively,  '  Goode's  Book  of 
Nature,'  ii.-vii.,  and  skimmed  over  Dunham  &  Olapperton's  Discoveries 
in  Africa.  To  conclude,  I  have  recovered  my  knowledge  of  the  Syriac 
Alphabet,  and  acquired  the  Ethiopic." 

"Saturday  night,  12  m.,  Feb.  16.— I  have,  during  the  past  week 
finished  in  Hebrew,  Leviticus,  the  third  book  of  Moses,  having  been 
employed  upon  it  since  the  25th  of  January.  It  was  not  so  pleasing  a 
task  as  the  perusal  of  Genesis,  and  Exodus  (I  speak  more  critico) — so 
many  words  occur  of  which  the  meaning  is  at  best  uncertain  and  the 
Avhole  is  so  generally  confined  to  a  single  subject,  that  there  is  com- 
paratively little  room  for  philological  [investigation].  The  26th  chap- 
ter, however,  is  very  eloquent,  and  it  is  very  interesting  to  observe 
the  difierence  in  the  design  and  character  of  the  different  books  of 
Moses  thus  far.  The  first  is  a  picture  of  the  ancient  world  and  patri- 
archal times ;  a  history  of  the  chosen  people  while  favoured  by  the 
Deity  but  still  living  in  the  midst  of  other  nations  and  complying  with 
their  customs.  But  the  second  begins  the  story  of  their  sufferings 
and  their  wrongs,  their  deliverance  and  their  government,  and  their 
journeyings  toward  that  land  where  they  were  about  to  be  established 
as  a  peculiar  people.  The  third  contains  the  detail  of  those  singular 
ceremonial  observances  which  were  to  be  the  badge  of  their  distinction 
from  the  rest  of  the  human  race. — I  have  also  finished,  during  this 
week,  the  same  book  in  Martini's  translation,  having  read  every  driy 
since  the  16th  of  January  (Sundays  excepted)  the  same  portion  criti 
cally  in  Hebrew  and  cursorily  in  Italian." 


^T.18.]  QUARTERLY    RETROSPECT.  153 

These  records,  spreading  before  us  as  they  do  an  exact 
chart  of  his  course  at  this  time,  give  one  a  good  idea  of  his 
thoroughness  and  system  in  laying  the  foundations  of  his 
subsequent  attainments.  He  continued  to  work  under  this 
schedule  through  the  summer  months.  His  labours  are 
summed  up  in  the  quarterly  retrospect  following,  viz. : 

"March  81.— The  first  quarter  of  the  year  1828  is  this  day  com- 
pletec].  A  detailed  review  of  all  my  studies  during  that  period  would 
be  but  a  repetition  of  the  foregoing  pages.  Laying  aside  therefore  the 
consideration  of  subjects  attended  to  accidentally,  or  on  particular 
occasions,  and  of  those  which  I  have  begun,  and  for  various  reasons 
abandoned,  I  shall  confine  myself  to  a  consideration  of  my  advances  in 
the  six  languages  which  have  been  the  regular  and  special  object  of 
my  attention. 

"I.  Hebrew.  In  Hebrew  I  have  read  since  the  1st  of  January,  the 
last  twenty-one  chapters  of  Exodus;  the  whole  of  Leviticus,  Numbers, 
Deuteronomy,  and  tlie  first  fifteen  chapters  of  Joshua;  in  all  a  hundred 
and  tliirty-three  chapters. 

"  IL  Arabic.  In  Arabic  I  have  read  the  last  ninety -five  chapters  of 
the  Koran,  and  thirty-three  pages  in  De  Sacy's  Arabic  Chrestomathy, 
besides  the  Gospel  of  Matthew  in  "Walton's  Polyglot ;  making  (exclu- 
sive of  De  Sacy)  one  hundred  and  twenty-three  chapters. 

"  III.  Spanish.  In  Spanish  I  have  read  the  last  twenty-six  chapters 
of  the  first  part  of  Don  Quixote,  and  the  first  eighteen  chapters  of  the 
second  part — in  all  forty-four  chapters. 

"  IV.  French.  In  French  I  have  read  the  whole  of  Telemaque;  the 
'  Avare '  of  Moliere,  and  two  acts  of  Racine's  Andromaque,  besides  a 
number  of  minor  tracts. 

"V.  German.  The  study  of  German  I  have  begun  within  the 
quarter,  and  besides  Wenderbork's  and  ISToehden's  grammars,  liave 
read  the  gospels  of  Matthew  and  John,  in  Luther's  translation,  and  five 
chapters  in  the  gospel  of  Mark — in  all  fifty-four  chapters. 

"  VI.  Persian.  In  Persian  I  have  read  since  the  1st  of  January 
the  Gospels  of  Matthew  and  Jolin  in  Walton's  Polyglot — and  various 
parts  of  the  Gulistan  of  Sadi  and  the  Tooti  Nameh.*  The  last  two 
works  I  use  in  MS.  To  these  facts  it  may  be  added  that  I  have 
regularly  instructed  P.  S.  0.  and  J.  A.  in  Italian ;  and  have  written 
sundries." 

*  Or  Tales  of  a  Parrot. 


154  VARIED    READING.  [1823. 

"April  24.— I  was  born  on  the  24tli  of  April  1809,  and  am  con- 
sequently nineteen  years  old  this  day.  Since  my  last  birthday,  besides 
parts  and  parcels  of  other  works,  t  have  read  the  following  classical 
"works  entire : 

"1.  In  Hebrew.  The  Pentateuch  of  Moses;  the  books  of  Joshua, 
Judges  and  1st  Samuel. — 2.  lu  Arabic.  The  Koran  of  Mohammed, 
the  Gospel  of  Mattliew,  and  parts  of  Abulfaraj  and  Facklibeddin.  3. 
In  French.  The  Telemaque  of  Fenclon,  the  'Avare '  of  Moliere  and  the 
Andromaque  of  Racine.  4.  In  Spanish.  The  Don  Quixote  of  Cervantes. 
5.  In  Italian.  The  Gerusalemme  Liberata  of  Tasso  and  the  Xovelle  of 
Soave  in  two  volumes.  I  am  an  enemy  to  all  chrestomathies,  collecta- 
nea, and  other  scrap-books  for  the  students  of  any  language.  Where 
no  other  books  can  be  had,  the  use  of  such  substitutes  is  compulsory  ; 
but  Avhen  entire  classical  works  can  be  obtained,  no  student  ought  to 
hesitate.  The  Quarterly  Eeview  very  justly  says,  that  a  young  man  of 
sense  and  diligence  will  learn  vastly  more  Greek  by  one  perusal  of  the 
Iliad  than  by  any  attention  to  such  compilations  as  those  of  Andrew 
Dalzel.  This  has  been  my  principle.  "When  about  to  learn  a  language, 
I  have  endeavoured  to  obtain  a  standard  work  of  acknowledged  merit, 
and  read  it  from  end  to  end  ;  and  if  no  other  such  could  be  immedi- 
ately obtained,  my  rule  has  been  to  read  the  first  again.  To  the  above 
list  I  may  add  a  sixth  :  6.  In  German.  The  four  Gospels,  in  Luther's 
version.  I  have  determined  that  in  the  ensuing  summer,  in  addition 
to  my  philological  pursuits,  I  will  read  law,  beginning  with  Black- 
stone's  Commentaries." 

The  following  entries  give  a  minute  history  of  his  studies 
for  some  time  longer : 

"  June  30. — 1.  Since  the  "Ist  of  March  I  have  i-ead  in  Hebrew,  the 
last  nine  cliapters  in  the  book  of  Joshua,  the  two  books  of  Samuel,  the 
two  books  of  Kings,  the  prophecy  of  I?aiah,  and  twenty-two  chapters 
in  that  of  Jeremiah  ; — in  all,  one  hundred  and  forty-fonr  chnpters. 

"  2.  In  Spanish,  I  have  read  during  the  same  period  the  last  fifty-six 
chapters  of  Don  Quixote,  and  some  numbers  of  '  El  Mercuric  de  Nueva 
York,'  a  weekly  newspaper  published  every  Saturday. 

"  3.  I  have  read  in  French  the  last  two  acts  of  Racine's  Androm- 
aque,  the  first  two  acts  of  Corneille's  Menteur  &c.,  and  one  satire  of 
Boileau's;  also,  the  second  volume  of  De  Sacy's  Arabic  grammar. 

"  4.  I  have  read  in  Persian  twelve  tales  (or  chapters)  of  the  Tooti 
Nam  eh. 

"  5.  In  German  I  have  read  the  last  eleven  chapters  in  Mark ;  all 


^T.19.]  PHILOLOGICAL    SOCIETY    FORMED.  155 

of  Luke,  Acts,  Romans,  and  t^vo  cliapters  in  Corinthiaus— in  all  eighty- 
six  cLapters. 

"  6.  In  Italian  I  have  read  the  Last  seven  cantos  of  Tasso's  G.  L., 
and  tlie  first  eigliteeu  cantos  of  the  Orhxndo  Furioso— in  all  twenty- 
five  chapters. 

"  T.  In  Latin,  The  Institutes  of  Justinian. 

"  8.  In  Greek,  The  tenth  hook  of  the  Odyssey. 

"In  English,  Coke  upon  Littleton  and  the  second  hook  of  Black- 
stone's  Commentaries—the  latter  a  second  time." 

"  Aug.  23.  The  Philological  Society  was  formed  this  day  com- 
posed of  graduates  and  students." 

The  studies  of  the  quarter  are  thus  summed  up  : 

"  Sept.  30.  1.  In  Hebrew.  Since  the  30th  day  of  June  I  have  read 
the  last  tliirty  chapters  of  Jeremiah — the  prophecies  of  Ezekiel,  Ilosea, 
Joel,  Amos,  Obed,  Jonah,  Micah,  Nahum,  Habakkuk,  Zephaniah,  Haggai, 
Zechariah,  Malachi,  and  thirty-six  Psalms;— in  all,  a  hundred  and  sixty- 
nine  chapters. 

"  2.  Italian.     The  last  twenty-eight  cantos  of  Orlando  Furioso. 

''  3.  Spanish.     Twelve  numbers  of  '  El  Mercurio,  &c.' 

"  4.  French.  The  funeral  orations  on  the  death  of  Marechal  Tu- 
renne  by  Flechiea  and  Mascara  ;  the  last  two  acts  of  the  '  Menteur '  of 
Corneille  ;  otlier  plays  by  same  author  and  four  comedies  of  Moliere. 

"  5.  Arabic.     Sundries  in  the  Koran  and  Lokman's  Fables. 

"  6.  Persian.     Sundries  in  the  Gullstan  and  the  Tooti  Nameh. 

"T.  Greek.  Homer ;  Ilias,L,IL,XVIIL:  Odyssey,  L,  IL  Sophocles, 
the  Antigone,  several  hundred  lines.     No  more. 

"  8.  Latin.     The  first  Book  of  Cicero,  de  Inventione  Rhetorica. 

"9.  English.  Vattel's  Law  of  Nations;  the  Federalist;  the  first 
two  volumes  of  Stewart's  Philosophy  of  the  Human  Mind ;  the  first  two 
volumes  of  Kent's  Commentaries  on  American  Law ;  the  third  volume 
of  Blackstone's  Commentaries  (for  the  third  time) ;  and  sundries." 

There  are  several  allusions  to  Mr.  Alexander's  astonishing 
progress  in  Lis  studies,  in  his  brother's  letters  to  Dr.  Hall. 
On  the  4th  of  April  he  writes,  "Addison  has  just  completed 
the  Koran  in  Arabic,  a  work  which  few  have  attempted 
in  America.  He  has  added  Spanish  and  Italian  to  his 
list  of  languages  ; "  ^'  and  on  the  2Sth,  "  Addison  has  finished 

*  See  Familiar  Letters,  Vol.  I.,  p.  66. 


156  SCENERY   OF    PRINCETON.  1182a 

Ariosto,  and  is  now  at  Boccacio.  He  has  read  about  halt 
of  'Corneille,  which  I  have  also  read.  In  Spanish  AddisoK 
began  Avith  Don  Quixote  and  read  it  over  and  over."  *  He 
was,  like  every  other  person  of  taste,  a  great  admirer  of  the 
serious  and  gay  creations  of  Cervantes,  and  laughed  uncon- 
trollably at  the  absurdities  of  Sancho  Panza.  He  was  almost 
equally  amused  with  Gil  Bias,  and  despised  the  practice  of 
reading  such  books  in  translations. 

It  would  be  delightful  to  be  able  to  look  in  upon  tie 
young  student  as  he  bent  his  eyes  over  these  tasks,  mur- 
muring the  while  like  a  swarm  of  bees  in  the  warm  sun- 
shine. Princeton,  tlie  Princeton  of  that  day  especially,  had 
attractions  alike  for  old  and  young  people.  The  society  of 
the  place  was  refined,  intellectual,  various,  and  agreeable,  and 
would  have  been  pleased  to  receive  the  noted  graduate,  editor, 
and  magazinist  to  its  bosom.  Princeton  is  and  was  famous 
for  its  fine  level  prospects,  and  beautiful  sylvan  walks  along 
the  banks  of  streams  that  were  still  lovely,  if  not  so  fair  and 
beguiling  as  Cam  or  Isis ;  rustic  shades  which  would  have 
well  befitted  the  speculations  of  Plato,  and  verdant  undula- 
tions displaying  the  fantastically  wreathen  roots  of  the  beech- 
ti-ee,  or  the  summer  shadows  of  the  oak  or  dogwood  or  sassa- 
fras,— with  many  a  shining  surface  of  reflected  sky  and  softly 
delineated  cloud — where  Isaac  Walton  might  have  pursued 
his  sweet  meditations,  or  Virgil  or  Theocritus  piped  to  their 
imaginary  shepherds.  Every  observing  alumnus  of  the  college 
or  resident  in  the  town,  has  noticed  the  rare  glory  of  the  sun- 
sets. Morning  and  evening,  in  good  weather,  nearly  all  the 
young  persons  of  the  place  seized  the  occasion  to  take  pedes- 
trian rambles  ovei-  the  village  roads  and  into  the  surrounding 
country.  A  wide  lane  shaded  for  a  considerable  distance  by 
noble  elms  led  immediately  from  the  college,  through  green 
fields,  to  Stony  Brook  with  its  grassy  meadow  margins,  and 
its  isolated  groups  of  trees,  or  denser  forest  stretched  along 
the  stream  for  miles.  This  lane  commanded  the  rear  view  of 
the  old  grey  building  yclept,  at  the  suggestion  of  good  Gov- 

*  See  Familiar  Letters,  Vol.  I.,  p.  109. 


^T.  19.]  DEVOTED    TO    HIS    BOOKS.  157 

ernor  Belcher,  ]^assau-Hall»  This  was  from  the  college,  south 
as  the  crow  flies.  The  main  thoroughfare  ran  east,  through 
the  oj^en  country  to  Kingston.  The  prospect  to  the  west 
Avas  at  that  time  full  of  umbrageous  charm  and  shelter.  To 
the  north  Avas  Rocky-Hill,  with  its  immense  boulders  and  pre- 
cipitous acclivities.  Nor  were  these  various  localities  without 
their  actual  or  traditionary  associations. 

But  the  cloistered  enthusiast  was  not  vulnerable  to  any  of 
these  influences.  "  None  of  these  things  moved  him."  His 
passion  for  literature,  the  rapid  progress  he  was  making  in 
different  departments  of  science,  his  love  of  cheerful,  indoor 
solitiide,  his  wonderful  health  and  unflagging  spirits,  and  his 
native  shyness,  and  repugnance  to  the  awkward  contacts  of 
the  world,  overmastered  every  thing  else.  The  Spring  might 
be  never  so  balmy,  the  early  Summer  never  so  florid  and  in- 
viting, the  autumnal  coolness  never  so  crisp  and  bracing,  and 
the  autumnal  forests  never  so  dreamily  brown  and  crimson. 
What  were  these  things  to  "Addison" — as  he  was  still  known 
among  his  old  companions  of  the  college  and  academy?  He 
was  a  citizen  of  the  world  of  mind.  He  wandered  in  the 
fields  of  thought.  He  took  wing,  and  hovered  over  the  con- 
tinents of  literature.  He  was  deaf  to  the  voices  of  ordinary 
ambition.  He  coveted  none  of  the  intoxications  of  mere 
pleasure.  "What"!  he  might  exclaim,  as  he  swept  the 
pages  of  the  Gulistan  or  the  Cyropscdia,  "  what !  crave  ye 
wine,  and  have  Nilus  to  drink  cf "  ? 

Time  was  too  short,  it  seemed  to  him,  for  any  dalliance. 
Some  might  have  to  exercise  their  bodies  to  preserve  their 
health;  but  it  was  diflerent  in  his  case;  he  was,  as  Wilson  used 
to  say,  "  as  strong  as  an  eagle."  He  was  as  great  a  prodigy  of 
flesh  and  colour  as  of  intellect.  Why  should  he  exei-cise  his 
body?  Of  recreation,  other  than  in  the  pursuits  of  philology 
and  belles-lettres,  and  in  making  fun  for  the  bevy  of  children 
that  was  always  at  his  beck  and  call,  he  needed  none,  he  cared 
for  none.  His  duty  evidently  was  to  inform  and  discipline  his 
mind.  No  !  let  others  do  as  they  liked  ;  he  would  keep  hia 
room ;  he  would  read  the  Bible,  and  the  Koran,  and  Firdusi, 


158  NUCIiEUS    OF   A   LIBRARY.  [1823. 

and  Dante,  and  Tasso,  and  Xenoitlion,  and  Sir  Walter  Scott. 
This  was  to  him,  not  hardship  but  joy ;  not  slavery  hut  free« 
dom  ;  it  was  his  element.  "  Stone  walls  do  not  a  prison  make." 
No  swallow  was  ever  happier  in  the  sky,  than  he  was  among 
his  morocco-covered  tomes.  "  Fishes  that  tipple  in  the  deep, 
know  no  such  liberty  "  ! 

Of  course  his  library  v\^as  as  yet  but  the  nucleus  of  the 
large  collection  he  afterwards  amassed.  He  Avas  pretty  rich 
in  Enfjlish  history,  biography,  criticism,  poetry,  and  essays  of 
the  Rambler  and  Spectator  kind ;  in  the  Latin  and  Greek 
classics ;  and  in  the  learned  helps  in  classical  and  philological 
study,  and  in  the  principal  modern  languages ;  he  had  enough 
in  Arabic,  but  was  poor  in  his  darling  tongue,  the  Persian. 
What  he  lacked  he  could  mostly  find  in  his  father's  library, 
or  at  the  seminary,  or  at  the  college,  or  with  his  brother  James 
(Avho  was  devoted  to  books),  or  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Hodge, 
Mr.  Hall  or  some  other  iriend.  He  was  not  much  addicted  to 
the  habit  of  borrowing,  and  what  he  borrowed  he  invariably 
returned.  A  new  poem  from  Lord  Byron,  or  a  new  story 
by  "  the  great  unknown,"  would  excite  his  interest  as  it  Avould 
that  of  every  cultivated  reader  of  English  ;  but  he  became  still 
more  enthusiastically  interested  if  he  found  (as  he  once  did)  an 
Arabic  manuscript  or  got  wind  of  a  new  Arabic  and  Persian 
dictionary.*  The  soft  light  of  his  candles  fell  upon  characters 
of  the  most  uncouth  description,  and  upon  walls  already  bur- 
dened with  folios  and  odd-looking  grammars  and  lexicons.  Yet 
the  bow  was  not  always  bent.  He  had  his  own  peculiar  pas- 
times. He  would  revel  in  the  romantic  poems  of  Spenser  and 
Tasso  and  Ariost'o  and  in  the  wonderful  chapters  of  the  Avon- 
derful  book  of  Cervantes  ;  and  the  boys  and  girls  were  nearly 
always  welcome,  whether  for  a  romp  or  story. 

During  the  month  of  October,  he  read  in  Hebrew  a  hun- 
dred and  seventeen  Psalms,  and  thirteen  chapters  in  the 
book  of  Proverbs  ;  in  French,  all  the  comedies  of  Moliere ; 
in  Italian,   the   whole   of  the   Decameron   of  Boccacio ;    in 

*  He  obtaLaed  access  to  Ricliardsou. 


^T.19.1  BEGINS    CHINESE.  158 

English,  the  Paradise  Lost  and  the  first  vohime  of  Chitty 
on  Special  Pleading  ;  in  German,  Paith,  Esther  and  Jonah  ; 
and  in  Arabic,  all  the  historical  passages  of  the  Koran.      . 

The  months  of  ISTovember  and  December  were  occupied  in 
the  study  of  the  same  subjects,  with  this  addition— the  com- 
mencement of  the  study  of  Chinese;  as  appears  from  his  note 
under  Dec.  12.— "Learned  the  first  six  of  the  two  hundred 
and  fourteen  keys  ;  to  wit,  those  formed  by  a  single  stroke." 
Whether  he  continued  this  study  is  not  here  recorded.  He 
took  it  up  again  at  a  much  later  period,  and  prosecuted  it  far 
enough  to  understand  the  structure  and  genius  of  the  written 
language.  One  of  the  volumes  in  which  he  kept  his  first  diary 
in  Europe  is  marked  with  very  many  of  the  Chinese*  word 
signs. 

I  now  give  his  review  of  the  past  year : 

"In  reviewing  the  memoranda  of  ray  studies  during  ihe  year  1828 
contained  in  this  book,  the  first  circumstance  which  strikes  my  attention 
is  that  they  are  almost  exchisively  philological.  They  have,  perhaps, 
been  too  much  so;  but  I  do  not  regret  it  for  two  reasons  :—l.  My 
taste  is,  at  present,  strongly  inclined  toward  philological  pursuits  ;  if  I 
were  to  postpone  the  indulgence  of  it,  it  would  perhaps  change  its 
direction,  and  leave  me  unwilling,  and  therefore  unable  to  pursue 
philology  even  so  far  as  would  be  necessary.  2.  Languages  are  the 
keys  to  science,  philosophy,  literature,  history,  &c.  &c.,  and  should  bo 
mastered  early.  The  languages  to  which  I  have  attended  during  the 
past  year  are— Hebrew,  Arabic,  Persian,  French,  Italian,  Spanish  and 
German."! 

"  1.  Hebrews  I  have,  since  the  1st  of  January,  1828,  read  the  whole 
of  the  Old  Testament  in  the  original,  with  the  exception  of  the  book  of 
Genesis  and  eighteen  chapters  in  Exodus,  which  I  had  read  in  1827.t 
In  the  perusal  of  the  Hebrew  Bible,  I  have  not  been  very  strict  or  sys- 
tematic. I  have  freely  used  the  English  translation  as  an  auxiliary, 
and  have  seldom  resorted  to  the  grammar.     I  find,  however,  that  I 

*  The  reader  will  remember  that  it  was  this  language  which  threw  Mezzo- 
fanti  into  the  brain  fever,  that  caused  him  for  a  time  to  forget  all  his  tongues. 

f  He  for  some  reason  omits  to  catalogue  Syriac  and  Latin. 

X  This  seems  to  confirm  my  judgment  as  to  the  true  date  of  the  letter  to 
his  brother  respecting  the  "  Tears  of  Esau,"  etc.     See  above. 


160  RETROSPECT    OF    THE    YEAR.  [1823. 

Lave  insensibly  acquired  that  sort  (not  degree)  of  familiarity  with  the 
language  which  we  get  of  our  own  tongue  by  colloquial  practice.  I 
cannot  run  tlirough  the  paradigm  of  any  one  verb  perhaps,  correclly ; 
but  I  recognize  the  individual  inflexions  when  I  meet  with  them,  and 
find  little  difficulty  in  translating  simple  sentences  from  the  English 
into  Hebrew.  But  although  this  mode  of  acquiring  the  knowledge  of 
a  language  is  the  most  agreeable,  and  perhaps  the  best  foundation  fol 
subsequent  improvement,  I  feel  that  it  is  not,  in  itself,  sufficient.  I 
therefore  intend  to  accompany  my  second  reading  of  the  Bible  (which 
I  expect  to  commence  to-morrow)  with  an  attentive  study  of  Hebrew 
grammar ;  always  excepting  the  accentual  system,  which  I  design  to 
leave  untouched.  I  also  design  to  adopt  the  practice  of  waiting  He- 
brew exercises ;  which  practice  I  have  found  exceedingly  improving  in 
French  and  other  languages.  I  am  surprised  that  this  is  neglected  by 
Hebrew  students,  since  the  exactness  of  our  English  version  furnishes 
tlie  greatest  facility  for  doing  it  with  pleasure  and  success.  [In  a  note 
to  this,  dated  Dec.  31,  1832,  he  says :— "  I  afterwards  changed  my 
opinion  on  this  subject,  and  my  mode  of  study  too."]* 

"  2.  Arabic,  In  Arabic  I  have  read  during  the  past  year,  the  last 
ninety-six  Suras  of  the  Koran  ;  one  or  two  articles  in  De  Sacy's  Arabic 
Chrestomathy,  and  the  Gospel  of  Matthew  as  contained  in  Walton's 
Polyglot.  The  early  age  at  which  I  commenced  the  study  of  this 
language  (nine  or  ten),  and  the  almost  constant  attention  which  I  have 
given  to  it  since,  have  made  me  perhaps  as  familiar  with  its  genius 
and  construction  as  those  of  any  other  I  ever  studied.  It  i>,  however, 
verydifficu't  as  to  its  grammatical  forms  and  rules,  while  its  vocabulary 
is  like  an  ocean.  I  wish  to  pursue  it  further.  I  have  lately  copied  out 
of  the  Koran  all  the  historical  passages  upon  which  I  intend  to  write 
explanatory  notes,  and  add  a  glossary  and  compendious  grammar. 
The  exercise  will  be  useful  to  myself  and  may  enable  me  to  afford 
assistance  to  others. 

"  3.  Persian.  In  Persian  I  have  read,  during  the  past  year,  the 
Gospels  of  John  and  Matthew  contained  in  Walton's  Polyglot ;  about 
fifteen  tales  in  the  Tooti  Nameh,  or  Tales  of  a  Parrot,  and  sundry  parts 
of  the  Gulistan  of  Sadi.  Of  this  charming  language  I  am  passionately 
fond ;  and  nothing  but  the  want  of  proper  and  necessary  books  pre- 
vents my  pursuing  it  extensively.  I  have  Avritten  for  one  or  two,  but 
have  heard  nothing  yet  respecting  them. 

*  This  probably  refers  to  the  scheme  as  a  whole.  He  never  undervalued 
the  importance  of  writing  every  language  that  is  to  be  really  learned. 


iET.19.]  MEMORANDA    OF    DR.    RICE.  161 

"4.  French,  I  have  been  accustomed  from  my  inf.mcy  to  read 
French  books  without  a  dictionarj',  and,  hke  most  persons  who  bav« 
any  previous  acquaintance  with  the  Latin,  found  liitle  difficulty  ic 
catching  the  general  idea,  in  ordinary  cases.  As  I  felt,  however,  that 
I  was  acquiring  a  pernicioi'.s  Jiabit  of  superficial  study,  and  had  variong 
reasons  for  desiring  an  accurate  knowledge  of  tlje  language,  I  began  in 
January  the  study  of  the  grammatical  forms  and  rules,  which  I  mas- 
tered without  difficulty;  and  have  since  read — Le  Telemaque  de  Fene- 
lon  ;  six  tragedies  and  une  comedie  de  Oorneille  ;  Toutes  les  comedies 
de  Moliere;  Le  Siecle  de  Louis  XIV. ;  Le  Petit  Careme  de  Massilhrn  ; 
and  various  detached  articles  in  different  books.  Since  Dec.  1st,  I  have 
also  taken  lessons  from  M.  Louis  Hargous  of  Trenton,  a  Frenchman, 
educated  for  a  priest,  but  now  a  teacher  of  French  and  Spanish.  I  am 
already  sensible  of  the  advantages  arising  from  the  instructions  of  a 
living  teacher,  and  in^^nd  to  continue  my  attendance  upon  him,  in  con- 
junction with  my  private  reading  of  the  best  authors."* 

It  is  unnecessary  to  make  further  selection,  as  the  rest 
of  this  retrospect  consists  merely  of  the  names  of  the  books 
he  read  in  Italian,  Spanish,  German,  English,  Greek  and 
Latin,  which  have  already  been  inscribed  on  these  pages. 

An  admirable  view  of  what  Mr.  Alexander  was  at  this 
period  of  his  private  and  social  relations,  may  be  obtained 
from  the  following  extract  from  a  letter  of  the  Rev.  John  H. 
Rice,  D.  D.,  of  Mobile : 

"I  saw  Addison  Alexander  for  the  first  time  in  July  1S28.  I  was 
then  just  ten  years  old.  I  had  come  on  from  Petersburg,  Virginia,  in 
order  to  go  to  school  at  Amherst,  Massachusetts.  My  father,  mother 
and  elder  sister  accompanied  me.  We  came  to  Princeton  by  stage- 
coach from  Trenton,  and  stopped  at  Dr.  Alexander's,  where  we  s;.ent 
several  weeks.  I  think  it  was  the  evening  of  the  day  of  our  arriviil, 
that  I  met  Addison  on  the  back  porch  of  his  fiither's  house.  I  can 
recall  his  appearance  as  vividly  as  though  it  were  yesterday.  He  was 
unusually  fleshy,  as  he  continued  to  be  until  a  short  time  before  his 
lamented  death,  and  wore  at  that  time  the  glasses  which  continued  to 
be  a  necessity  for  him  during  his  whole  life.  I  was  told  that  he  iiad 
lately  graduated  at  Princeton  College,  though  at  the  time  I  did  not 

*  Mr.  Alexander  thought  a  great  deal  of  Mr.  Hargous,  and  they  were  much 
together ;  as  his  diaries  attest. 


162  OLD    BLACK    AND    PETER   AllUN.  11828. 

know  wliat  that  meant.     He  was  tlieu  the  same  shy,  diffident,  retiring 
person  that  he  was  in  after  life.     He  seemed  averse  to  going  into  the 
house,  whei-e  his  strange  uncle  and  aunt  were ;  but  I,  being  a  boy,  was 
running  about  tlie  house  everywhere  with  the  boys  who  were  a  little 
younger  than  myself.     Upon  going  out  upon  the  back  porch  I  found 
Addison  tliere.    He  greeted  me  cordially,  and  very  soon  began  to  tease 
me  about  Virginia,  my  provincial  dialect,  and  the  enormous  use  of  calo- 
mel which  he  affected  to  beheve  was  the  chief  article  of  tlie  diet  of  the 
eastern  Yirginians.     I  had  heard  that  ho  was  a  great  student  and  very 
learned,  and  at  first  was  a  little  afraid  of  one  who  was  then  regarded  as  a 
prodigy.    You  know  how  fond  he  was  of  children,  and  with  what  won- 
derful skill  he  would  entertain  them  for  hours  when  he  had  the  requi- 
site leisure.     I  had  been  but  a  day  or  two  at  Dr.  Alexander's,  when  I 
felt  as  familiar  with  Addison  as  thougli  he  had  been  a  boy  of  my  own 
age."     [He  was  a  few  months  past  nineteen.]  ."He  yery  soon,  I  be- 
lieve it  was  the  second  or  third  evening  after  my  arrival,  began  to  tell 
me  his  celebrated  story  of    '  Old  Black,'  which  every  child  who  ever 
enjoyed  his  intimacy  wih  remember.     It  kept  us  all  in  a  continuous 
roar  of  laughter,  so  tluxt  I  often  rolled  over  the  floor  of  the  room  be- 
yond all  power  of  self-restraint ;  which  seemed  to  afford  him  a  great 
deal  of  quiet  amusement.     This  story  of  '  Old  Black,'  which  consisted 
of  a  series  of  ludicrous  mistakes  and  blunders  of  an  old  serving  woman, 
he  evidently  improvised,  inventing  the  incidents  as  he  related  them. 
These  alternated  with  a  similar  story  of  a  serving  man,  whom  he  called 
'  Peter  Arnn.'     He  also  took  occasion  of  our  intercourse  to  impart  in 
the  pleasantest  way  a  great  amount  of  valuable  information,  some  of 
which  I  retain  to  this  day.     Before  I  left  Princeton  he  presented  me 
with  my  Life,  printed  with  the  pen  in  a  number  of  small  volumes  neatly 
stitched  and  bound  in  blue  covers.     It  was  written  with  all  the  for- 
mality and  seriousness  of  an  actual  biography.     These  I  kept  with 
great  care  until  they  were  literally  worn  out.     You  know  how  chil- 
dren always  loved  him.   So  I  became  devotedly  attached  to  him  during 
the  few  delightful  weeks  that  I  spent  at  Princeton  in  the  summer  of 
1828,  weeks  made  delightful  chiefly  by  his  wonderful  skill  in  entertammg 
children.    I  left  Princeton  for  Amherst,  Mass.,  in  September.    Soon  after 
I  received  a  letter  from  Addison  written  on  folio  post  paper,  giving  me 
a  plavful  account  of  everything  that  had  taken  place  in  Princeton  since 
my  departure.     He  continued  to  write  these  large  letters  to  me,  at  in- 
tervals,  during  the  four  years  that  I  remained  at  Amherst.     Among 
them  were  several  which  seemed  to  me  then  to-be  the  most  wonderful 
productions  of  humnn  genius.    And  I  confess  that  they  still  appear  very 


^T.  19.]  THEIR    CIIAUACTERISTICS.  163 

extraordinary.  They  were  written  in  the  form  of  poetry  or  verse ;  and 
being  read  entirely  across  the  page,  were  in  verse  of  one  measure  and 
one  sense,  but  being  read  half-way  across,  made  poetry  of  another 
measure  and  the  opposite  sense.  "With  him  such  a  performance  re* 
quired  no  labour,  it  was  dashed  off  with  greater  ease  than  I  can 
scribble  these  recollections.  I  kept  all  these  letters  with  affectionate 
care,  but  in  the  hxpse  of  time  and  my  many  interruptions,  they  have 
disappeared.  They  would  be  worth  to  me  now  more  than  their  weight 
in  gold.     They  were  all  written  on  the  largest  sized  folio  post  paper." 

The  above  sketch  presents  a  true  picture  of  Mr.  Alexander 
as  he  appeared  to  me  when  I  was  a  boy  ;  though  as  has  ah-eady 
been  said,  he  never  appeared  to  any  two  persons  in  precisely 
the  same  way.  There  was  doubtless,  too,  a  greater  efferves- 
cence of  youthful  spirits  at  the  lime  referred  to  by  Dr.  Rice  than 
at  any  time  within  my  own  recollection.  The  story  of  "  Old 
Black"  has  been  graven  upon  my  memory  v.'ith  a  pen  of  iron. 
I  have  heard  it  in  one  or  other  of  its  innumerable  variations  a 
hundred  times.  It  is  given  in  full,  in  one  of  its  forms,  in  "  Wis- 
tar's  Magazine  ; "  which  was  the  most  elaborate  and  curious  of 
all  the  works  he  prepared  for  children.  The  story  of  "  Peter 
Arun  "  was  of  a  somewhat  higher  grade,  and  passed  through 
full  as  many  transformations.  Old  Black  bore  a  shadowy 
resemblance  to  Mrs.  Malaprop,  and  the  whole  thing  was  in 
a  style  of  broad  farce.  As  printed  wath  the  pen,  it  is  given 
in  the  form  of  a  dialogue  between  Old  Black  and  Mrs.  Bald. 
The  two  characters  are  as  distinctly  drawn  as  those  of  Dickens 
or  Fielding,  and  are  natural  and  unexaggerated  like  those  of 
Goldsmith.  The  characteristic  of  Peter  Arun  was  shrewd 
mother  wit  combined  with  a  sort  of  hilarious  insouciance, 
which  ventured  to  the  most  reckless  lengths,  yet  without  a 
particle  of  fear,  without  real  malice,  with  imperturbable 
sang-froid,  and  with  no  serious  ill  consequences.  Seldom 
was  a  character  better  sustained  or  managed  with  more 
adroitness  or  humour.  Peter's  repartee  is  as  poignant  as  it 
is  endless.  The  "  Wistar's  Magazine "  contains  the  corre- 
spondence between  Mr,  Arun  and  a  gentleman  whom  he  had 
wilfully  but  in  perfect  good  humour  offended,  and  whom  he 


164  JOHNSON,    CROW,    LANE. 

liad  provoked  to  a  challenge.     It  is  a  ridiculous  builesquc  on 
the  duello  aiKl  the  code  of  honour,  and  in  point  of  nch,  intel- 
lectual, mirtlifulness  deserves  a  comparison  with  some  of  the 
best  parts  of  "  Le  Bourgeois  Gentilhomme."     Another  of  his 
famous  stories  was  "  Linn  Lane,"  and  still  another,  '•  Wick- 
liffe,  Johnson,  Crow,  and  Lane."     These  were  delivered  orally 
and  were  indefinitely  varied  to  suit  the  character  of  the  cir- 
cumstances and  of  the  auditors.     They  were  chief  favourites 
with  the  younger  children,  and  have  seldom  if  ever  been  sur- 
passed by  the  most  renowned  caterers  for  the  little  boys  and 
girls.     They  were  as  original  and  showed  genius  as  plainly 
and  decidedly  as  his  lectures  in  the  seminary.     Linn  Lane  was 
sometimes   introduced   alone:    sometimes   in    company    with 
W.  J.  and  C.     He  had  a  voice  that  still  rings  in  my  ears,  and 
that  was  as  inimitably  peculiar  and  laughable  as  some  of  the 
cries  of  the  parrot.     Sometimes  it  was  Linn  Lane  among  the 
Indians  :  sometimes  it  was  Linn  Lane  at  school :  sometimes  it 
was  the  incorrigible  little  wag  and  mischief-maker  following 
and  with  his  comrades  mocking  the  unfortunate  Wicklitfe, 
who  had  a  squeaking  voice.     When  the  bass  tones  of  Johnson 
were  mingled  Avith  the  bland  tenor  of  Crow,  the  shrill  pipe  of 
poor  Wickliffe,  and  the  forever  indescribable  quavering  out- 
cry of  Lane,  all  uttering  the  same  words,  and  all  but  one  of 
the  performers  uttering  them  in  the  way  of  gibe  and  mockery ; 
the  effect  was  sometimes  perfectly  irresistible.     It  was  often  a 
wild  burst  of  laughter,  a  chorus  of  shouts,  and  a  series  of  de- 
lighted childish  questions.     The  result  was  in  part  a  triumph 
of  ventriloquism,  or  at  least  of  histrionic  mimicry,  in  which 
the  face  and  throat  were  changed  to  meet  every  emergency. 
Sometimes  the  raconteur  would  laugh  himself  in  a  quick  un- 
controllable way,  as  if  the  tun  of  the  thing  had  just  struck 
him  for  the  first  time.     More  commonly,  however,  he  was  per- 
fectly grave,  and  only  showed  his  interest  in  what  was  going 
on  by  the  anhnation  with  which  he  told  his  tale. 

The  year  1829  was  entered  upon  with  the  same  studies 
which  occupied  his  mind  during  the  preceding.  Particular 
attention  was  paid  to  the  Greek.     We  shall  still  find  him 


^T.19.]  READING    FOR    THE    DAY.  165 

going  to  foundation  principles ;  mastering  all  the  grammars 
he  can  lay  his  hands  upon,  and  reading  critically  all  the  best 
Greek  authors.     He  also  acquired  the  modern  Greek. 

Specimens  of  the  diary,  showing  the  way  in  which  he 
spent  his  time  at  this  period,  may  not  be  considered  out  of 
place  here,  and  will  be  read  without  weariness  by  a  large  class 
of  book-lovers,  and  students  of  strange  biography. 

"Jan.  14.  After  brenkfast  went  to  consult  Prof.  Hodge  about  a 
proofsbeet  of  tbe  Repertory,  and  remained  there  in  conversation  till 
11:  then  returned  and  read  the  twenty-first  chapter  of  Genesis  in 
Hebrew ;  then  read  a  review  of  Gieseler's  Kirch engeschichte  in  tbe 
Stndien  und  Kritiken  of  Hamburg,  written  by  himself;  then  removed 
my  book-case  and  a  number  of  my  looks  from  my  chamber  above 
stairs  to  the  dining-room  below ;  then  read  the  general  catalogue  of 
the  Seminary  just  published,  and  looked  at  the  National  Gazette  of 
yesterday  ;  then  glanced  at  the  British  Critic  for  July  1828— particu- 
larly at  the  account  of  the  proceedings  of  the  two  Universities  ;  then 
glanced  at  Ewald's  book  on  Arabic  Prosody  ;  then  read  the  preface  to 
Rosenmilller's  Arabic  grammar ;  then  wrote  an  abstract  of  Gieseler's 
article  aforesaid,  to  be  inserted  in  the  Repertory ;  then  read  the  27th 
cliapter  of  Isaiah  in  Hebrew ;  then  read  a  part  of  chapter  five  in 
Df  Sacy's  Arabic  grammar ;  comparing  it  with  Rosenmtiller's,  which 
appears  to  be  a  translation  of  De  Sacy;  then  read  the  28th  chapter  of 
Isaiah  ;  then  wrote  a  foolscap-sheet  of  French  exercises  ;  and  then — 
to  bed." 

Another  specimen  is  from  the  journal  of  the  next  day  : 

"Jan.  15.  Read  a  pait  of  the  29th  chapter  of  Isaiah  in  Hebrew; 
the  4th  chapter  of  Louis  XV.  ;  the  4th  chapter  of  the  2d  section  of 
Condillac's  Essai  sur  les  Connais'sances  humaines,  in  French,  and  the 
12th  chapter  of  Don  Quixote  in  Spanish ;  then  wrote  the  6th  and  Yth 
exercises  in  Josse's  Spanish  grammar;  then  read  about  a  hundred  lines 
in  the  Clouds  of  Aristophanes  ;  then  read  about  the  same  number  in 
Chaucer's  Canterbury  Tales ;  then  went  to  the  Philological  Hall,  to 
attend  a  meeting  of  the  Board  of  Criticism  of  the  Philological  Society, 
and  received  from  the  Pres'dent  an  anorymous  translation  of  Horace's 
Book  1.,  ode  22,  to  criticise.  Read  in  the  Hall  the  14th  canto  of 
Dante's  '  Inferno,'  and  finished  the  article  on  Arabian  Literature  in 
the  Foreign   Quarterly  Review ;   returned  home   and  examined  tho 


166  ARISTOPHANES    AND    SHAKESPEARE.  [1S29. 

anonymous  translation  aforesaid,  notinjT  down  some  observations  on 
tlie  same ;  then  read  a  review  of  Ilase's  Dogmatik  and  Gnosis  in 
tlie  Thcologisclie  Studien  ;  then  read  the  remainder  of  Isaiah  29  in 
Ilebrew  ;  then  read  De  Sacy's  Arabic  grammar ;  then  read  Shak- 
speare ;  then  read  Genesis  22,  28,  in  Hebrew ;  then  wrote  a  sheet  of 
French  exercises — and  to  bed." 

I  find,  under  dale  of  Feb.  10,  1829,  in  a  detached  fragment, 
in  tlie  sliape  of  a  little  manuscript  book,  in  Mr,  Alexander's 
early  hand,  the  following  critique  upon  the  two  dramatists 
mentioned  above : 

"I  have  finished  the  famous  Clouds  of  Aristophanes,  but  can 
scarce!}'  say  what  my  feelings  and  opinions  are  as  I  close  the  book. 
Such  a  combination  of  extremes,  intellectual  and  moral,  I  have  never 
before  known.  Such  transitions  from  earth  to  heaven,  from  Parnassus 
to  the  dunghill,  are  to  me  new  and  startling.  Shakespeare  is  unequal, 
but  his  inequalities  are  nothing  to  the  fits  and  starts  of  Aristophanes. 
The  English  poet  never  dives  so  deep  into  pollution,  nor  rises,  in  point 
of  artificial  elegance,  so  high  as  the  Athenian.  Shakespeare's  genius  is 
obviously  nntutored.  His  excellences  and  his  faults  are  perhaps  equal- 
ly attributable  to  his  want  of  education.  It  is  altogether  probable  that 
many  of  these  original  and  most  significant  and  poetic  modes  of  expres- 
sion which  he  has  introduced  into  our  language,  arose  entirely  from 
his  ignorance  of  grammar  and  of  foreign  tongues.  Had  he  been  fa- 
miliar with  technical  distinctions  and  etymological  analogies,  his 
thoughts  would  have  been  distracted  between  words  and  tJiings.  The 
dread  of  committing  solecisms,  and  the  ambition  to  exhibit  that  sort  of 
elegance  which  results  from  the  formal  rules  of  an  artificial  riictoric, 
would  have  cooled  his  ardour.  His  'muse  (if  fire  '  would  never  Iiavc 
reached  '  the  heaven  of  invention,'  but  would  have  stayed  its  flight 
amidst  the  clouds  and  mists  of  puerile  conceit.  I  never  read  any  of 
Shakespeare's  real  poetry  (for  much  of  his  verse  is  most  bald  prosing) 
without  feeling,  in  my  very  soul,  that  no  man  could  write  thus,  whose 
heart  was  fixed  on  propriety  of  diction,  as  a  principal  or  even  a  second- 
ary object.  He  seems  to  have  let  his  imagination  boil,  and  actually  to 
have  taken  the  first  wcu-ds  which  bubbled  up  from  its  ebullition. 
Hence  his  strange  revolt  from  authority  in  the  use  of  ordinary  words 
[in  senses]  as  far  removed  from  common  practice  as  from  etymology. 
And  that  reminds  me  of  another  circumstance.  In  the  common  blank 
verso  of  his  dialogue,  not  only  is  he  habitually  careless,  but  seems  not 


^T.19.]  ARISTOPHANES    AND    SHAKESPEARE.  167 

to  know  (in  many  cases)  the  method  of  constructing  a  harmonious  verse ; 
and  perhaps  his  broken  measure  is' more  dramatic  than  one  smoother 
would  be;  certainly  more  so  than  the  intolerable  tintinnabulum  of  the 
Theatre  Fran§ais.     But  let  him  rise  into  one  of  his  grand  flights,  and 
his  numbers  are  as  musical  as  the  'harp  of  Orpbeus.'     I  defy  any  man 
to  bring  forward  any  specimen  of  heroic  blank  verse,  where  the  rhythm 
is  as  melodious  as  in  some  passages  of  Shakespeare,  and  the  sense  at 
the  same  time  within  sight — I  mean  comparably  good  in  any  degree. 
Milton,  you  say,  &c.    But  who  can  read  the  Paradise  Lost  without  think- 
ing of  the  square  and  compass?     Even  when  we  admire,  we  admire 
scientifically — we  applaud  the  arrangement  of  the  cEesuras  and  pauses, 
and  are  forever  thinking  of  iambuses  and  trochees  and  hypercatalectics, 
and  all  the  hard  words  that  Milton  himself  would  have  dealt  forth  in 
lecturing  upon  his  own  versification.      AVhereas,  I  do  verily  believe, 
that  Shakespeare  knew  no  more  of  Prosody,  tlian  of  Animal  Magnet- 
ism or  Phrenology.     Thompson,  again,  is  among  our  finest  specimens 
of  rich  and  musical  blank  verse,  but  Thompson  is  laboured  too ;  not  in 
Milton's  way,  by  weight  and  measure,  but  in  a  way  no  less  artificial 
and  discernible.     He  is  always  labouring  to  make  his  lines  flow  with 
a  luscious  sweetness :  Every  body  knows  that  he  succeeds,  but  every 
body,  alas,  knows  how.     He  does  it  by  presenting  words  in  profusion, 
which  are  at  once  dulcet  to  the  ear  and  exciting  to  the  imagination. 
The  method  is  the  only  true  one,  but  he  carries  it  too  far.     One  strong 
proof  that  Shakespeare  was  a  genius  and  a  unique  one,  is  that  his  ex- 
cellence is  not  sustained  and  equal.     Moonlight  and  candlelight  shed  a 
uniform  lustre,  but  who  ever  saw  or  heard  of  a  continuous  flash  of 
lightning?     Our  bard  trifles  and  proses  and  quibbles,  and  whines  (but 
always  without  affectation)  till  something  (whether  accident  or  not  I 
cannot   tell)  strikes   a  spark   into   his   combustible   imagination,  and 
straightway,  he  is  in  a  blaze.     I  think  a  good  rocket  is  a  capital  illus- 
tration of  his  muse  of  fire.    First  we  have  a  premonitory  whiz — then  a 
delicate  but  gorgeous  column  of  brilliant  scintillations,  stretching  away 
into  the  bosom  of  heaven  and  at  last  dying  away  in  a  shower  of  mimic 
stars  and  comets  of  tenfold — of  transcendent  brightness.     "What  then  ? 
"Why  then  comes  darkness  visible,  or  at  best  a  beggarly  gray  twilight. 
But  in  talking  thus  to  myself,  I  forget  what  I  am  about.     I  began  Avith 
Aristophanes,  and  have  been  raving  about  Shakespeare.    All  I  have  to 
say,  however,  about  the  former,  is,  that  he  is  a  perfect  contrast  to  the 
Englishman.     He  is  evidently  a  master  of  the  art  of  versifying,  but  he 
knows  how  to  temper  the  formality  of  systematic  elegance  with  the 
charm  of  native  poetry.     Compared  with  the  Greek  tragedians,  his 


168  ENGLISH    METAPHYSICS.  C1829. 

flights  of  clioral  and  lyrical  inspiration  appear  to  great  advantage.  More 
colierent  and  intelligible  than  ^schylus,  more  vigorous  and  nervous 
and  significant  than  Suphocles,  more  natural  and  spirited  than  Euri- 
pides; he  notwithstanding  excels  them  all  in  the  music  of  his  numbers, 
and  the  Attic  purity  and  terseness  of  his  diction." 

No  one  cau  pursue  these  records  far  Avithout  acknowledg- 
iug  the  astonishing  industry  and  versatility  of  the  stripling 
scholar.  And  then  the  effrontery  with  which  he  marches  up 
to  a  new  language  with  w^hich  perhaps  iew  of  his  seniors  are 
at  all  acquainted,  is  fairly  startling.  Plis  taste  in  letters,  too, 
is  peculiar  certainly,  but  also  at  once  robust  and  refined. 

"Feb.  17. — The  historical  style  of  the  Arabs  is  very  curious.  It 
varies  indeed,  in  different  cases.  Some  of  their  histories  are  florid, 
inflated,  and  verbose.  Others,  and,  I  suspect,  the  great  majority,  are 
hasty,  confused  and  crude  enumerations  of  heterogeneous  facts.  I  was 
amused  in  looking  over  some  of  the  historical  facts  in  De  Sacy,  to 
observe  the  exquisite  taste  exhibited  in  the  arrangement  and  enumera- 
tion, of  events ;  e.  g.  Makrizi  says,  speaking  of  Hakem,  the  Imaum  of 
the  Fatemists,  'He  commanded  that  all  dogs  should  be  killed,  in  con- 
sequence of  which  a  multitude  were  put  to  death.  He  founded  a  col- 
lege called  the  "  House  of  Wisdom,"  to  which  he  transferred  the  royal 
library.  He  was  very  cruel  to  his  running  footmen ;  and  a  number  of 
them  he  put  to  death.'  "What  a  circumflective  climax,  pour  ainsi 
dire  ?    Dead  dogs — colleges — libraries — running  footmen  !  " 

His  notions  ahout  tlie  literature  of  English  metaphysics 
are  fresh  and  unusual,  but  not  ignorant. 

"Read  the  5th  and  6th  chapters  of  Brown's  Lectures  on  the  philoso- 
phy of  the  human  mind.  The  first  four  I  read  last  summer,  and  was 
then  disgusted  with  the  book.  I  know  the  reason ;  for  reading  Stew- 
art's Philosophy  just  before,  I  had  been  drawn  off  from  that  elegant 
writer's  statements  to  his  style,  which,  in  my  opinion,  merits  well  to 
be  regarded  as  a  model  of  purity,  elegance,  and  perspicuity.  When  I 
took  up  Brown,  I  judged  him  rather  rhetorically  than  philosophically ; 
and  finding  his  sentences  (though  full  of  meaning)  to  be  long,  involved, 
sometimes  obscure,  and  often  awkward,  I  grew  tired  of  him.  On  this 
second  trial  I  view  him  with  other  eyes.  I  can  recognize  at  once,  the 
fire  of  genius  and  strength  of  intellect.     I  should  imagine  that  the 


^T.19.]  BROWN'S    LECTURES.  169 

lectures  were  posthumous,  and  published  as  he  pronounced  them.  A 
^'ood  delivery  might  have  made  them  captivating,  and  perhaps  they 
were  so.*  On  paper  they  are  not  so  well,  in  point  of  style.  There  are 
too  many  parenthetical  expressions,  and  some  excessively  intelligibU 
explanations  of  his  meaning,  which,  however  useful  and  necessary  in 
the  lecture-room,  or  when  orally  delivered,  the  author's  task  would 
have  curtailed  in  revising  for  the  press.  As  to  matter,  though  met- 
aphysics is  a  terra  incognita  to  me,  I  can  readily  perceive  he  shows 
power  and  skill  in  drawing  nice  but  strong  distinctions  and  detecting 
latent  fallacies." 

The  next  day  he  writes  thus  of  Brown  : 

"  He  is  a  wonderful  man,  it  must  be  owned.  For  length  of  sen- 
tences and  fulness  of  illustration— rather,  of  explanation— he  is  remark- 
able. He  holds  up  an  idea  in  all  imaginable  points  of  view,  and  never 
seems  satisfied  till  he  has  exhausted  all  explanatory  ideas  and  ex- 
jiressions.  But  he  never  loses  nor  forgets  himself;  and,  what  above 
all  pleases  me,  he  never  cants,  i.  e.  he  never  uses  phrases  just  because 
other  philosophers  have  used  them,  though  they  may  mean  any  thing 
or  nothing  quoad  hoc.  As  to  his  doctrine  of  Cause  and  Effect,  it 
sounds  well  and  seems  true ;  but  I  am  not  satisfied.  He  seems  to  deny, 
though  not  directly,  that  we  can  conceive  of  anj  j^oicer  or  causation, 
except  immediate  invariable  antecedence.  Now  I  certainly  can  con- 
ceive of  a  power  wliich  has  never  yet  been  exercised,  and  which,  per- 
haps, never  will  be. 

"  I  adraii-e  Brown's  ease  and  vivacity,  especially  as  it  exists  in  com- 
bination with  so  much  depth  and  penetration.  There  is  no  scholastic 
stiffness,  nor  repulsive  technicality  about  the  annunciation  of  his  most 
important  doctrines.  And  what  other  metaphysician  since  the  world 
began  would  have  quoted  Gulliver  and  Martinus  Scriblerus?  This 
marks  the  man  of  taste,  judgment,  and  independent  spirit.  An  inferior 
writer  would  have  been  afraid  of  lowering  his  subject  by  citing  such 
authorities.  The  true  philospher  takes  a  just  idea  of  a  striking  illustra- 
tion, even  from  the  mouth  of  a  buffoon." 

I  find  him  next  engaged  with  Dante.     About  the  middle 

*  Everybody  is  of  course  familiar  now  with  the  enthusiasm  they  awakened 
at  the  time,  and  with  the  fact  that  they  were  commonly  dashed  off  iu  a  heat, 
the  night  before. 
« 


170  DANTE    AND    SPENSER. 

of  Februai-y  he  was  occupied  reading  the  Purgatorio,     Here 
are  some  of  his  remarks  in  the  Avay  of  comment : 

"Feb.  19.— This  part  of  the  Divina  Commedia  begins  with  a  met- 
aphor in  which  the  poem  is  represented  as  a  ship  and  the  subject  as 
the  sea  upon  which  it  sails.  I  felt  a  good  deal  relieved  on  finding  that 
he  calls  the  argument  of  this  second  part  miglior  acqua  in  comparison 
with  the  preceding  one.  I  feel  now  more  than  I  did  when  actually 
reading  the  Inferno,  that  the  poetry  of  Dante,  like  all  truly  original 
composition,  produces  an  criginal^-l  mean,  peculiar  and  unique  impres- 
sion on  the  mind.  His  conceptions  of  Hell,  revolting  as  some  of  them 
appeared  (I  mean  poetically  revolting  to  the  taste  and  judgment)  have 
left  their  traces  on  my  memory  and  fancy  more  strongly  than  the 
refined  but  less  substantial  and  tangible  creations  of  Milton's  genius. 
The  Purgatorio  opens  where  the  Inferno  ended,  at  the  exit  of  the  poet 
from  the  infernal  regions.  I  must  confess  that  I  have  no  precise  idea 
respecting  the  locality  of  the  aperture ;  though  Dante  described  it,  or 
intended  to  describe  it,  with  becoming  accuracy.  For,  of  all  poets, 
past  and  present,  he  is  the  most  trigonometrical  that  I  have  ever  met 
with." 

To  show  still  further  his  versatility,  I  give  another  record 
made  on  the  same  day  : 

"Eead  the  4th  Canto  of  the  Faery  Queen.  I  cannot  but  admire, 
more  and  more,  Spenser's  wonderful  descriptive  talent.  His  pictures 
of  the  six  passions,  in  this  canto,  e^eed  in  vividness  and  truth  any 
descrijition  that  I  have  ever  read,  without  exception.  I  begin  now  to 
suspect  that  Spenser's  forte  was  in  describing  loathsome  objects,  and  he 
certainly  does  it  with  a  master  hand.  I  feel  his  excellence  the  more 
on  comparison  with  Dante.  I  may,  through  ignorance,  do  the  Italian 
bard  injustice,  but  it  does  appear  to  me  that  he  was  deficient  in  a  talent 
which  Spenser  possesses  in  a  singular  degree— the  talent  for  discrim- 
inating and  appropriate  description.  How  striking  is  the  adaptation 
of  the  six  beasts  to  the  character  of  their  respective  riders  themselves. 
A  few  characteristic  traits  and  circumstances  are  selected  as  the  prom- 
inent features  of  each  portrait,  and  are  exhibited  in  strong  relief,  with- 
out the  aid  of  vague  generalities  and  cant  terms.  I  can  actually  see 
Sloth  'still  drowned  in  sleep  and  most  of  his  days  dead,'  nodding  along 
upon  his  ass ;— Gluttony,  sweating  and  vomiting  upon  his  swine;— 
Lechery,  suffering  the  reproachful  pain  of  that  foul  evil,  '  that  rots 


^T.  19.] 


SCOTT'S    NAPOLEON.  H^ 


tlie  marrow  and  consumes  the  brain ; '—Avarice,  counting  o'er  liia 
pelf;  and,  above  all,  Envy,  with  a  snake  in  his  bosom  and  a  toad  be- 
tween his  teeth,  'the  poison  running  all  about  bis  jaw,'  weeping  that 
cause  of  weeping  one  he  had ;  but  when  he  hears  of  harm,  waxing 
wondrous  glad.  I  forgot  Anger.  That  picture  too  is  very  fine,  esne- 
cially  the  redeeming  and  afflictive  circumstance  thrown  into  the  de- 
scription. The  poet  goes  as  far  as  nature  goes  and  no  further.  He 
does  not  unite  a  fierce  and  irritable,  with  a  culd-blooded  and  deliberate 
malignity  (traits  seldom,  if  ever,  actually  found  in  combination),  but 
with  exquisite  truth  and  knowledge  of  the  heart,  after  telhng  us  that 
'of  his  hands  he  had  no  government,  ne  cared  for  blood  in  his  avenge- 
ment,'  adds,  that  '  when  the  furious  fit  was  overpast,  his  cruel  facts  he 
often  would  repent.' " 

"Feb.  20.  Read  Isaiah  54,  and  Genesis  43  in  Hebrew.  At  the 
Philological  Hall,  read  the  3d  and  4th  cantos  of  Pur;:atorio ;  also  ex- 
amined Kennicott's  Hebrew  Bible  and  Wetstein's  Greek  Testament. 
I  wish  they  were  both  upon  my  table.  [The  books  fmm  this  library 
could  not  be  taken  away.]  The  foi-mer  is  a  noble  work.  After  read- 
ing the  Hebrew  Bible  with  the  points,  I  find  it  much  more  agreeable  to 
read  without  tiiem.  In  the  historical  parts  I  can  supply  most  of  the 
points  which  affect  the  etymology,  and  the  whole  seems  much  more 
neat  and  simple  without  such  a  multiplicity  of  marks. 

"  At  home  again  ;  wrote  the  25tli  exercise  in  Josse's  Spanisli  gram- 
mar. Finished  the  2d  chapter  of  Levizac's  Grammaire  Francaise. 
Read  the  first  chapter  of  Voltaire's  Histoire  de  I'Empire  de  Russie  sous 
Pierre  le  Grand.  Fini.-hed  the  2.1  chapter  of  Home.  Finished  the 
extracts  from  the  books  of  the  Druses.  Read  the  33d  chapter  of 
Scott's  Napoleon.  Notwithstanding  the  literary  faultiness  of  this 
book,  there  is  much  that  is  valuable  in  it.  The  nature  of  the  subject 
makes  it  inti  resting,  malgre  lui,  and  the  good  sense  and  acute  observa- 
tion of  the  author,  make  it  frequently  instructive.  His  reflections, 
l)articularly  those  derived  incidentally  from  individual  facts,  are  often 
worthy  vi  preservation.  No  attributes  can  contribute  more  lo  the  pop- 
ularity of  a  new  government  than  an  appearance  of  conscious  strength 
combined  with  clemency ;  since  the  spirit  of  opposition,  despairing  of 
success  but  not  of  personal  safety,  gradually  sinks  into  acquiescence. 
As  a  specimen  of  style,  it  does  Walter  Scott  no  honour.  His  phrase- 
ology is  often  rendered  vulgar  by  excessive  straining  after  classical 
simplicity  and  colloquial  ease.  He  is  sometimes  ungra'nmatioal  and 
frequently  inelegant.  But  nothing  disgusts  me  more,  than  the  frequency 
and  stiff'ness  of  his  similes  and  illustrations,  which,  however  well  they 


172  SCOTT's   style.  H82i). 

migM  appear  in  an  epic  poem,  or  even  in  a  higher  species  of  romance, 
are  too  recherche  and  affected  for  a  work  like  this.  In  a  word,  they 
are  too  good.  I  observe,  too,  a  disposition  similar  to  that  of  Brown,  to 
borrow  illustration  from  works  of  burlesque  humour.  But  oh,  how 
far  different  the  modus  operandi !  There  is  no  work  of  a  historical 
description,  which  exhibits  such  a  multitude  of  striking,  ingenious,  but 
unreasonable  ilhi  strati  on  s,  as  this  of  Scott's-alvvays  excepting  Tom 
Moore's  Life  of  Sheridan,  which  may  be  regarded  a^  a  perfect  model 
of  the  far-fetched,  pretty  style,  and  John  Q.  Adams's  Ebony  and  Topaz 
toast,  which,  sonorous  as  it  was,  is  a  sealed  book,  I  believe,  even  unto 
this  day.  My  impression,  on  the  whole,  is  that  Scott  wrote  mainly  m 
the  liope  of  I'eward  ;  which  accounts  for  the  crudeness  and  rudeness  of 
the  composition;  unwisely  availing  himself,  however,  of  the  oppor- 
tunity to  surfeit  the  public  with  a  profusion  of  good  snyings,  which  if 
retained  in  his  commonplace  book  might  have  eked  out  a  thousand 
dialogues  in  a  hundred  new  Waverleys  to  come." 

"  Feb.  23.  Read  ten  sections  in  the  first  book  of  '  Cicero's  Aca- 
demical Questions.'-My  dabblings  in  the  modern  and  oriental  langua- 
ges must  have  vitiated  my  tnste  most  lamentably ;  for  I  protest  that 
This  Ciceronian  Latin  is  to  my  eyes,  C'lrs  and  understanding  the  most 
lumbering,  clumsy,  formal  style  imaginable.  Every  thing  seems  elabor- 
ate and  artificial ;  the  terms  and  expressions  that  are  meant  to  be 
most  colloquial  and  familiar,  are  so  studied  and  distorted,  and  the 
inversions  are  so  wilful,  wanton,  and  grotesque,  that  I  have  no  patience 
with  the  thing  at  all.  How  is  it,  and  why  is  it  that  the  Latin  verse  of 
Virgil,  and  especially  of  Horace,  is  much  more  natural  and  easy,  and 
consequently  so  much  nearer  the  language  of  common  life,  than  the 
Latin  prose  of  Cicero?  Why,  because  neither  Horace  nor  Virgil  was 
a  conceited,  affected,  pedantic,  pompous,  egotistical,  verbose,  jack-of- 
all-trades." 

He  had  now  become  sufficiently  familiar  witli  the  Hebrew 
to  be  able  to  distinguish  and  appreciate  the  styles  of  the  dif- 
ferent Bible  writers.  His  observations  on  this  head  will  be 
found  to  possess  a  fascinating  and  even  popular  interest : 

«  March  4.  Read  in  Hebrew  the  3d  chapters  of  Exodus  and  Jere- 
miah. I  can  now  perceive  distinctly  the  diversity  of  style  in  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures.  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah  are  as  unlike  as  any  two 
classical  or  modern  poets.  The  genius  of  the  former  is  characterized 
by  vigour,  elevation  and  impetuosity.     He  deals  much  in  animated  ex- 


Mr.  mi  PERSIAN    NEW    TESTAMENT.  173 

hortation  and  severe  invective.  Jeremiah  on  the  other  hand  is  calmer 
and  more  equable.  There  seems  to  be  a  vein  of  raelanchnlj  running 
through  his  composition.  One  thing  is  common  to  them  both,  as  it  is 
indeed  to  all  oriental  writers  ;  a  figurative  mode  of  expression.  Even 
in  this,  however,  they  are  diiierent.  Isaiah's  metaphors  are  lively  and 
animated  ;  tliose  of  Jeremiah  more  subdued :  both  are  graphic  and  im- 
pressive. I  prefer  the  Pentateuch  to  any  other  bool^,  as  a  genuine 
specimen  of  primitive,  unsophisticated  simplicity  of  style.  There  ia 
nothing  puerile  on  the  one  hand,  nor  inflated  on  the  other.  Tlie 
exodus  of  the  Israelites  from  Egypt  is  one  of  the  finest  subjects  in  the 
world  for  an  epic  poem." 

"April  18.  Read  in  Hebrew,  Exodus  and  Jeremiah  xxxv.  Looked 
through  Jorton's  Life  of  Erasmus. — Rezeau  Brown*  returned  to-day 
from  New  Haven,  after  an  absence  of  ten  days.  He  brings  as  curiosi- 
ties two  Arabic  letters  written  in  Syria,  and  brought  over  by  Mr. 
Brewer  as  waste  paper.  They  are  apparently  addressed  to  a  Mv.  Bird. 
I  am  surprised  to  find  the  hand  so  much  like  my  own.  With  a  little 
practice,  and  a  good  pen,  I  could  equal  it — I  think.  He  has  also  brought 
Henry  Martyn's  Persian  Testament,  borrowed  from  Professor  Gibbs  of 
Yale.  I  have  long  wished  to  see  tliis  book,  and  am  delighted  to  obtain 
it.  I  have  no  printed  Persian  books,  and  should  prefer  a  version  of  the 
Bible ;  because  with  my  familiarity  with  its  contents,  and,  in  some 
measure,  with  the  original,  I  can  gather  more  instruction  from  it  than 
from  any  other  book.  The  Polyglots,  it  is  true,  contain  Persian  ver- 
sions ;  but  their  purity  and  correctness,  are,  to  say  the  least,  equivocal. 
Now  Martyn's  version  has  been  made  within  the  last  twenty  years, 
and  in  circumstances  Avhich  afford  good  ground  for  the  presumption 
that  it  is  a  good  one.  1st.  Martyn  was  a  man  of  genius  and  a  scholar ; 
an  upright  man  and  devoted  to  his  work.  2d.  He  had  previously  fin- 
ished a  version  with  great  labour  which  was  thought  too  Arabic  (liis 
assistant  having  been  an  Arab)  whereupon  he  instantly  resolved  to  re- 
commence the  task.  From  this  circumstance  I  infer,  1st,  that  his 
whole  soul  was  in  the  thing,  which  ensures  fidelity  and  accui*acy ;  2d, 
that  although  his  first  translation  was  imperfect,  it  must  have  qualified 
him  for  the  second,  in  a  very  great  degree ;  3d,  this  version  was  pre- 
pared fit  Shiraz  which  has  been  called  'the  Athens  of  Persia,'  where 
the  purest  Persian  is  spoken, — and  with  the  ass'stance  of  an  intelligent, 
refined  and  educated  native ;  4th,  it  was  read  before  the  Shah,  who 
signified  his  approbation  of  its  execution.     It  has  also  been  approved 

*  His  bosom  friend,  of  whom  ■we  shall  know  more  presently. 


1*74  GREEK   WRITERS.  [1820. 

by  many  of  tlio  Persian  literati.  The  first  edition  of  this  translation 
-was  printed  at  St.  Petersburg,  soon  after  Martyn's  death.  This  im- 
pression, I  have  se?n  it  somewhere  mentioned,  abounded  in  errors  of 
the  press  which  rendered  it  not  only  i)artly  unintelligible,  but  in  some 
cases  even  blasphemons.  Even  this  edition  I  should  have  been  pleased 
to  see,  though  it  would  not  have  answered  all  my  ends.  I  am  pleased 
to  find,  however,  that  the  one  before  me  is  a  Calcutta  edition  of  later 
date.  Persian  literature  is  so  zealously  and  thoroughly  pursued  at  the 
metropolis  of  British  India,  and  the  latter  has  given  to  the  world  so 
many  valuable  impressions  of  oriental  works,  that  I  feel  little  doubt 
that  this  book,  though  by  no  means  elegant,  is  perR-ctly  correct.  It  is 
an  octavo  of  741  pages,  with  the  following  title-page  in  English  :  'The 
New  Testament  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ ;  Translited  from 
the  original  Greek  into  Persian,  at  Siiiraz,  by  the  Kev.  Henry  Martyn, 
A.  B.  Late  Fellow  of  St.  John's  College,  and  chaplain  on  the  Bengal 
Establishment ;  with  the  assistance  of  Meerza  Sueyed  Uiee  (Mirza  Seid 
All)  of  Sheeraz,  Calcutta:  Printed  by  P.  Pereira,  at  tlie  Ilindoostanee 
Press  for  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society  in  the  year  1816.'  The 
leaves  arc  uncut,  and  Prof.  Gibbs  did  not  recollect  tliat  the  book  was 
in  his  library.     It  is  probably  the  only  copy  in  America." 

The  continuation  of  the  jonrnal  will  afford  the  reader  an 
agreeable  change  of  topics.  The  extraordinary  character  of 
these  youthful  records  must  acquit  them  of  the  charge  of 
monotony. 

"April  27.  Tills  is  my  Greek  week  ;  and  I  have  begnn  to-day  at 
the  foundation,  reviewing  Moore's  grammar  through  and  through, 
and  reading  A^alpy's  Delectus  Sententiarum  Grajcarum,  an  excellent 
book  for  beginners.  It  is  not  only  perfectly  intelligible,  but  contains  a 
chosen  selection  of  golden  sentences.  Some  of  the  sayings  of  the  old 
philosophers  are  wonderfully  striking.  As  I  extend  my  acquaintance 
with  the  classic  writers  I  am  surprised  to  find  so  much  acuteness  and 
Avit,  as  well  as  wisdom,  in  their  sayings.  "We  are  apt  (I  mean  the  igno- 
rant and  partially  informed)  to  think  them  admirable  only  by  com- 
pjirison — a  sort  of  silly  naivete  ns  their  chief  characteristic ;  at  least  this 
has  been  my  own  case.  When  I  think  of  the  Greek  writers  whom  I 
have  not  read,  I  think  of  them— but  no  matter,  I  am  every  day  more 
and  more  disabused.  The  little  book  above  mentioned  I  have  read 
through  to-day." 

"  April  29.     I  have  finished  to-day  the  fifty  chapters  of  Neilson'a 


^T.20.]  LETTER    FROM    HIS    BROTHER.  l75 

Greek  Exercises,  and  am  sensible  of  Laving  derived  great  benefit  from 
the  perusal.  The  Latin  sentences  I  have  passed  over,  as  also  tl^e  sup- 
plemental exercises  on  the  dialects  and  poetry,  because  I  intend,  at 
present,  to  confine  myself  to  -prose  and  to  Attic  prose.  I  shall  take  up 
the  book  again  hereafter  and  go  through  with  it.  I  have  also  revised 
again  to-day,  Moore's  rules  for  the  formation  of  the  tenses.  I  am  more 
and  more  convinced,  every  day,  that  this  grammar  is  the  best  for  ele- 
mentary instruction  that  was  ever  written.  It  does  not  twaddle  like 
the  German  books,  about  the  original  forms  and  progressive  changes 
of  the  etymology,  but  gives  rules  for  deducing  the  parts  of  the  language 
as  they  are." 

"  May  4.  Eead  in  Greek  about  five  hundred  lines  in  the  first  book 
of  the  Oyropfedia.  My  object  is  to  recover  and  extend  my  acquaintance 
with  the  forms  of  tlie  Greek  Grammar.  For  tbis  purpose  I  run  over 
the  tenses  of  every  verb  on  its  first  appearance,  and  often  afterwards. 
This  requires  a  frequent  recurrence  to  the  lexicon." 

About  tbis  time  be  received  tbe  following  letter  from  bis 
brotber  James.  Tbe  date  on  tbe  outside  is  May  5.  His 
brother  sends  bim  Botta,*  and  bad  previously  sent  tbe  Greek 
Prayer-Book  concerning  wbicb  we  sball  presently  find  bim 
writing  to  Mr.  Hall.  Tbe  letter  contains  so  many  allusions 
tbat  it  would  be  bard  to  sum  tbem  up  in  a  sentence. 

"Hoping  tbat  William  will  call  again  I  venture  upon  a  few  lines. 
I  send  you  Botta,  which  will  be  exactly  in  place  after  Scott.  [Scott's 
Napoleon  which  lie  was  reading].  I  think  you  will  admire  it,  especially 
as  it  is  not  marred  by  the  absurdity  of  fabricated  speeches.  The  Greek 
prayer-book  I  also  sent.  I  imagine  it  is  made  for  the  Greek  Catholics 
of  the  islands  near  Venice.  See  Carter's  travels.  Also,  a  letter  of 
John  Hall's  wbich  contains  some  notices  which  may  interest  you.  John 
is  an  excellent  correspondent  in  all  such,  matters.  He  spares  no  pains 
in  answering  every  question  I  send  him,  even  wben  he  has  to  turn  over 
whole  volumes  in  the  library.  As  to  the  Eeview,  all  I  know  is  this  : 
Walsh  called  at  Littell's  and  said  that  he  thought  the  whole  edition 
would  sell,  and  that  a  very  favourable  review  of  it  would  be  in  the 
next  American  Quarterly  Eeview.  I  very  highly  approve  of  your  devo- 
tion to  the  Greek,  and  of  your  ardour  in  the  pursuit,  as  well  as  the  mode 
of  critical  study  which  you  have  adopted.    You  would  probably  find  all 

*  I  presume,  his  "Floria  d'ltalia,"  etc. 


1Y6  SCOTT"  S   NAPOLEON.  a829. 

Xenophon's  works  interesting,  and  then  might  be  prepared  to  under- 
take Plato.  '  Das  pou  sto '  is  attributed  to  Archimedes,  as  '  Richard  ia 
himself,'—'  So  much  for  Buckingham,'  are  to  Shakspeare,  and  '  a  sweet 
morsel  under  the  tongue,'  is  to  the  Bible,  ^ho  invented  the  sayings  I 
bno-w  not.  I  have  found  the  origin  of  Byron's  '  hell  of  waters,'  the  ex- 
pression which  he  applies  to  the  cascade  of  Yellino  (Childe  Harold,  iv., 
69).  "When  the  German  poet  Lenz  visited  the  cataract  of  the  Rhine  at 
Schaffhausen,  he  smote  his  thigh,  (a  classical  gesture  as  per  Homer,) 
and  cried  '  Hier  ist  wasser-holle.'  Stolberg's  Travels,  I.,  85.  Next  to 
Mitford's  Greece  will  stand  Halsey  on  antediluviani^m,  for  chasteness 
and  harmony  of  language.  I  have  sent  for  an  Italian  Les-Buch  on  the 
Hamiltonian  plan,  this  being  the  nearest  approach  I  can  make  to  a  liv- 
ing teacher ;  thus  I  hope  to  learn  the  vexatious  niceties  which  puzzle 
one  so  much  in  a  new  language." 

I  again  resume  my  extracts  from  the  journal : 

"  May  6.  Read  in  Hebrew,  Numbers  1,  and  Ezekiel  13.— Read  in 
Greek  and  Persian,  Matt.  16.  Finished  the  first  book  of  the  KCpov- 
rratSeU,  and  read  the  whole  over.  Finished  the  second  volume  of  Scott's 
Life  of  Bonaparte.  On  page  18  there  are  two  attempts  at  illustrative 
allusion,  so  to  speak,  which  is  his  favourite  method  in  this  work.  One 
of  these  is  pretty  good ;  it  is  about  vengeance  and  dragon's  teeth.  The 
other  is  horrible;  it  is  in  these  words:  ' Every  obligation  according 
to  the  making  of  the  civil  law,  is  made  void  in  the  same  manner  in 
which  it  is  made  binding  ;  as  ArtJiegal,  the  emhUmatic  champion  of 
jtistice  ill  S2}enser''s  allegory,  decrees  as  law,  that  what  the  sea  has 
brought  the  sea  may  resume.'  I  can  scarcely  believe  that  a  man  of 
taste  and  genius  could  be  guilty  of  such  absurdity.  Appealing  to  a 
character  in  an  allegorical  poem  for  proof  of  a  maxim  in  law,  and 
that,  not  in  the  way  of  a  direct  quotation,  but  with  all  the  formality 
of  a  pleader  citing  an  adjudged  case.  Here  is  a  match  for  it :  '  Every 
thing  projected  from  the  earth  will,  by  the  law  of  gravitation  return  to 
it  again  ' ;  as  the  little  ragged  boy  who  cleans  my  boots  says,  when  he 
plays  sly-high,  'What  goes  up  must  come  down ;  let  every  man  take 
care  of  his  crown  ! '  " 

"  May  14.  Read  the  8th  and  last  book  of  the  Cyropsedia.  I  have 
read  this  book  with  great  satisfaction.  My  principal  object  has  been 
to  recover  and  extend  my  knowledge  of  the  Greek  etymology,  but  my 
interest  in  the  subject  and  admiration  of  the  style  diverted  my  atten- 
tion in  a  great  degree  from  mere  grammatical  forms.  Xenophon  is 
one  of  those  writers  whose  personal  character  seems  to  be  exhibited 


-<Et.  20.]  ESTIMATE    OF    XENOPHON.  177 

in  cill  tlieir  compositions.  Tlirougliout  this  book  I  have  conceived  an 
idea  of  the  author  as  a  man  particularly  amiable.  There  is  a  suavity 
of  temper  which  pervades  and  characterizes  the  whole  work  that  is 
very  charming.  No  harsh  or  intemperate  terms  are  used,  even  in  his 
censures  of  vice ;  nor  is  there  any  thing  biting  or  sarcastic  in  his 
humour.  He  is  indeed  more  like  Addison  than  any  modern  writer 
wliom  I  know.  As  to  his  style,  I  am  struck  with  its  transparent  per- 
spicuity and  dignified  simplicity.  By-the-bye,  the  words  simple*  and 
simplicity  are  very  equivocal  in  English.  They  have  become,  by 
usage,  almost  contemptuous,  a  character  which  does  not  belong  to  the 
primitives  in  Latin.  We  are  apt,  therefore,  to  attach  to  the  expression 
simple  style  an  idea  of  something  stale,  flat  and  unprofitable.  But  the 
genuine  simplicity  of  classic  writers  is  not  the  simplicity  of  simpletons. 
It  is  not  tlie  childish  naivete  of  unsophisticated  ignorance.  It  is  the 
simplicity  of  men  who  had  ornament  at  command,  and  exhaustless 
sources  of  rhetorical  embellishment,  whose  taste  forbade  an  undue  use 
of  them.  In  every  page  Xenophon  shows  himself  to  be  familiar  with 
the  highest  learning  that  was  known  in  the  times  in  which  he  lived ; 
as  well  as  endowed  with  elevated  intellectual  powers.  His  simplicity 
is  therefore  the  result  of  an  exquisite  refinement  which  entitles  him  to 
the  epithet  which  has  been  given  him,  ArriKojraroj.t  This  book,  which 
I  have  read  as  a  romance,  without  making  any  research  pro.  or  con.  in 
relation  to  its  character,  deserves  the  liighest  admiration.  The  purity 
of  moral  principles,  Avhich  it  formally  inculcates,  and  what  is  still  more 
important,  the  perfectly  unexceptionable  character  of  the  work  itself, 
astonish  me.  I  cannot  help  feeling  some  amazement  at  the  wonderful 
superiority  of  the  best  heathen  writers  over  the  infidel  authors  of 
modern  times.  That  the  former,  in  an  age  of  gross  superstition  and 
idolatry,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  blackest  abominations,  should  have 
breathed  a  spirit  so  much  purer  than  that  of  men  born  in  an  enlight- 
ened age,  reared  in  a  state  of  society,  hostile,  at  least,  to  external  vice, 
and  with  all  the  advantages  of  Christianity,  is  truly  wonderfuh  What 
a  figure  does  Voltaire  make  by  the  side  of  Xenophon!  This  charming 
writer  delights  me  also  by  his  delicate  wit,  and  his  nice  discernment 
of  character." 

In  May  the  Directors  of  the  Seminary  held  their  semi- 

*  There  are  some  fine  remarks  to  the  same  purport  in  the  Greyson  Letters, 
f  This  is  directly  in  the  teeth  of  the  strange  assertions  of  Macaulay  in  his' 
Essay  on  History. 


178  IIEAIIING    SERMONS.  n829 

annual  meeting.  At  this  time  he  heard  several  distinguished 
preachers.  A  strong  impression  was  made  upon  him  by  Dr 
William  Nevins,  of  Baltimore.  The  record  of  iact  and  feel- 
ing is  interesting  : 

"May  17.  Morning  sermon  by  William  Nevins  of  tlie  First  Churcli, 
Baltimore.  'What  is  a  man  advantaged  if  he  gain  the  whole  world 
and  lose  himself?'  A  fine  specimen  of  studied  oratory.  The  mode 
of  uttering  every  word  seemed  to  he  preconcerted  ;  yet,  the  preacher 
had  so  much  tact,  taste,  judgment,  and,  above  all,  unaflected  earnest- 
ness and  tenderness  of  feeling  that  he  was  truly  eloquent.  As  to  the 
matter,  the  plan  of  the  sermon  was  ingenious  and  to  me  noble.  Instead 
of  explaining  the  quesfon  in  the  text  as  denoting  an  absolute  negation, 
he  undertook  to  answer  it  by  setting  forth  the  advantages  of  sin  in  all 
their  strength  and  breadth.  This  was,  of  course,  a  very  hard  thing  to 
do  well.  The  general  strain  of  the  discourse  was  necessarily  half 
ironical,  and  it  was  necessary,  here  and  there,  to  throw  in  a  solitary 
caution  in  order  to  prevent  the  fascinations  of  iniquity  from  having 
more  effect  than  the  countervailing  benefits  of  holiness,  which  were 
only  exhiluted  by  implication.  And  this  the  preacher  managed  won- 
derfully welL" 

On  the  evcDing  of  the  same  day,  in  contrast  with  the 
former,  he  heard  a  sermon  from  another  preacher  of  some  dis- 
tinction whom  he  thus  describes  : 

"  He  seems  to  be  a  sincere  honest  man,  but  is  one  of  the  new 
school  of  preai^hers,  who  place  more  dependence  on  the  way  in  which 
they  say  a  thing,  than  on  the  intrinsic  weight  of  the  thing  itself.  He 
seemed  to  be  always  making  use  of  stage  tricks  for  the  production 
of  eftect,  an  artifice  rendered  more  apparent  and  ridiculous  by  the 
homely  simplicity  of  his  imiyromsatiom  in  point  of  style.  Thus  ho 
tried  to  startle  the  assembly  by  interspersing  divers  observations  be- 
tween the  verses  of  the  introductory  hymn.  He  even  tallied  about  the 
philosophy  of  the  mind,  in  this  appropriate  and  decorous  connexion. 
Then  in  his  sermon  he  placed  great  dependence  on  the  mystical  repeti- 
tion of  the  same  thing  thrice,  thus:  'Will  you  tell  a  lie?  Will  you 
tell  a  lie?  Will  you  tell  a  lie?'  accompanied  with  an  equal  number 
of  hard  slaps  upon  the  Bible.  He  also  thought  proper  to  display  some 
specimens  of  weeping  on  a  grand  scale,  so  obviously  forced,  if  not 
feigned,  that  they  did  more  harm  than  good.     How  unfortunate  that 


Ml.  20.]  JOSEPH    SANDFORD.  179 

a  man  apparently  sincere  and  unquestionably  zealous  sliould  resort  tc 
such  poor  trickery  to  bolster  up  the  weakness  of  the  gospel !  His  text 
was,  'Is  there  no  balm  in  Gilead? '  The  introduction  consisted  of  a 
question  in  the  rule  of  three,  the  answer  required  being  the  relative 
number  of  souls  lost  and  saved  since  the  beginning  of  the  world.  It 
was  as  regularly  stated  and  worked  out  as  it  could  have  been  by  Pike." 

On  the  18th  he  heard  a  sermon  preached  before  the  Direc- 
tors, and  thus  notices  it : 

"  May  18th.  In  the  evening,  semi-annual  sermon  before  the  Direc- 
tors of  the  Seminary  by  Joseph  Sandford,  of  the  Arch  Street  Presby- 
terian Church,  Philadelphia.  Nothing  original  in  the  conceptions  or 
new  in  the  mode  of  expression  ;  but  the  most  finished  taste  and  sound 
judgment  in  the  selection  and  arrangement  of  the  materials.  The 
delivery  was  fine.  I  had  heard  of  Sandford's  pulpit  eloquence,  but 
supposed  him  to  be  an  oily,  measured,  studied  speaker.  On  the  con- 
trary, tliere  is  no  appearance  of  artifice  in  liis  manner.  He  has  a  noble 
voice  and  commanding  figure.  The  unimpassioned  parts  of  his  dis- 
course were  pronounced  in  a  subdued  tone,  with  great  dignity  and 
distinctness ;  the  animated  passages,  with  great  richness  of  intonation 
and  admirable  spirit.  He  cited  and  applied  to  America  the  Scriptural 
allegory  of  the  cedars  of  Lebanon.  This  part  of  his  sermon,  could  not, 
I  think,  have  been  delivered  better.  Text:  'And  while  Paul  tarried 
at  Athens  his  spirit  was  stirred  within  him.'  " 

"  May  30.  Read  in  Hebrew,  Numbers  25-26  and  Ezekiel  36-37. 
Eead  in  Greek  the  first  book  of  Xenophon's  Anahasis.  I  can  easily 
perceive  that  this  is  not  such  a  book  as  the  Cyropsedia.  It  is  evidently 
written  with  less  care  and  less  attention  to  rhetorical  elegance.  From 
the  abruptness  of  some  of  the  transitions,  and  the  baldness  of  some  of 
the  narratives,  I  should  think  it  was  a  transcript  of  the  author's  memo- 
randum book.  Still  it  has  all  the  excellences  of  the  Xenophontic  style. 
And  the  very  circumstances  which  I  have  here  mentioned  render  it 
the  best  Greek  hook  for  beginners,  as  Professor  Porson  used  to  say  it 
was.  Read  in  French  the  second  and  third  books  of  Voltaire's  Charles 
XII.     Read  in  Persian  and  Greek  Matt.  XXVII. 

In  the  absence  of  other  data  relative  to  this  period,  except 
those  which  are  furnished  by  the  diary,  and  a  hint  here  and 
there  in  letters,  it  v/ill  doubtless  be  agreeable  to  the  reader 
to  be  put  in  possession  of  the  full  particulars  which  have  been 


180  RECOLLECTIONS    OF    Dll.    RICE.  [1829. 

kindly  communicated  by  Dr.  John  II.  Rice.  The  description 
which  this  gentleman  gives  of  Mr.  Alexander's  habits  at  this 
time,  will  answer  in  some  degree  as  a  flowing  outline  sketch 
of  his  habits  when  making  visits  to  the  city  at  a  later  day. 
The  minuti83  of  the  pictures  are  not  the  same.  Indeed  his 
plans  and  occupations  during  these  visits  were  as  different  at 
different  times  as  one  can  well  conceive.  Sometimes  he  had 
taken  his  carpet-bag  in  his  hand  and  gone  on  to  preach  a  ser- 
mon for  one  of  the  city  ministers,  by  special  request.  Some- 
times he  had  arrived  in  town  with  the  absorbing  purpose  of 
making  a  commentary  before  he  left  it.  On  such  occasions  he 
kept  himself  very  close.  Sometimes  again,  he  went  merely  to 
disport  himself  amidst  the  fantastic  excitements  of  the  crowded 
streets  ;  to  make  trial  of  the  various  hotels  ;  to  step  into  res- 
taurants and  cafes  ;  to  move  noiselessly  and  unobserved  in  the 
throngs  of  men ;  to  see  the  signs  and  listen  to  the  street-cries ; 
to  refresh  his  eyes  with  the  spectacle  of  the  flashing  shop- 
windows  ;  to  gaze  upon  bannered  pageants  and  military  pro- 
cessions ;  to  lose  himself  in  strange  places  and  strange  scenes ; 
to  avoid  the  officious  notice  to  which  he  was  sometimes  sub- 
jected at  Princeton  ;  and  to  read  in  the  many-leaved  volume 
•of  human  nature,  which  in  the  city  always  lay  open  for  his 
inspection. 

But  I  will  not  detain  the  reader  from  the  reminiscences 
of  Dr.  Rice. 

"  111  1829,"  he  says,  "  my  father  moved  from  Petersburg,  Virginia, 
to  New  York  city.  During  our  residence  tliere  Addison  made  us  fre- 
quent visits,  which  were  usually  extended  from  two  days  to  a  week. 
He  was  at  that  time  diligently  engaged  in  the  study  of  the  Frencli 
language,  in  which  he  afterward  became  a  proficient.  I  had  enjoyed 
unusually  favourable  opportunities  for  learning  to  speak  French,  and 
Addison  seemed  to  think  that  he  could  gain  something  by  conversing 
with  me.  As  I  had  nothing  to  do  at  the  time,  and  was  not  going  to 
~  school,  we  spent  almost  every  day  in  wandering  over  the  city  together, 
going  to  the  least  attractive  and  most  obscure  portions  of  it,  and  observ- 
ing the  manners  and  habits  of  the  poor  and  vicious  classes.  We  fre- 
quently walked  through  the  Five  Points  and  the  adjacent  purlieus,  and 


^T.  20.  J 


VISIT    TO    NEW    YORK.  181 


saw  a  great  deal  of  the  street-life  oftlie  destitute  and  abandoned.  Yo4 
perliajrs  have  remarked  that  his  local  acquaintance  with  the  city  of 
New  York  was  such  as  hardly  any  one  ever  attains  who  has  not  been 
born  and  brought  up  there.  Much  of  his  knowledge  of  the  various 
phases  of  human  nature,  which  seemed  so  wonderful  in  one  who  was 
generally  regarded  as  a  man  of  the  study  and  of  books,  was  probably 
picked  np  in  these  and  similar  rambles  through  New  York,  and  other 
great  cities  in  both  hemispheres.  Though  very  short-sighted,  yet  by 
the  aid  of  glasses  he  could  see  more  than  most  persons  whose  vision  is 
perfect.  Our  intercourse  was  carried  on  entirely  in  Trench,  neither 
of'us  ever  speaking  English,  except  to  discuss  some  question  of  French 
idiom  or  pronunciation.  His  observation  was  exceedingly  quick,  and 
his  memory  the  most  extraordinary  I  ever  knew,  unless  it  be  that  of 
his  brother  the  Hon.  Wm.  C.  Alexander,  now  of  New  York.  I  recol- 
lect that  once,  as  we  were  walking  near  the  Five  Points,  he  called  my 
attention  to  a  sign  over  the  door  of  one  of  the  most  dilapidated  houses, 
the  floor  of  which  was  below  the  level  of  the  sidewalk.  The  sign  read, 
'  P.  Brady's  school.'  Upon  looking  in  we  could  see  no  sign  of  school 
of  any  kind :  the  front  room  w:«  one  of  the  lowest  of  low  grog-shops. 
That  school  seemed  to  make  a  great  impression  on  his  mind,  and  ho 
referred  to  it  in  my  presence  years  afterwards. 

"  You  know  how  much  he  delighted  in  the  solitude  of  a  great  city ; 
where  he  could  see,  yet  not  be  seen.  While  my  Mher's  fimily  resided 
in  New  York,  he  felt  free  to  come  and  stay  with  us.  He  stayed  in  my 
room,  and  we  spent  a  good  portion  of  every  night,  after  we  had  retired, 
in  talking  over  the  adventures  and  rambles  of  the  day.  His  conversa- 
tion at  that  time  was  characterized  by  the  same  sprightliness,  unafFect- 
edness,  and  exuberant  flow  of  humour.  I  never  could  perceive  that  he 
intentionally  undertook  to  teach  me  anything,  but  you  know  he  was 
the  most  skilful  of  instructors,  and  I  doubt  not  that  he  made  meff-ace- 
able  impressions  on  my  mind  at  that  time,  and  in  a  good  measure  gave 
direction  to  my  thinking  ;  so  that  I  am  to  this  day  reaping  the  benefit 
of  our  familiar  intercourse.  I  continued  to  see  him  thus  occasionally 
at  New  York  and  during  visits  which  I  made  to  his  father's  house  in 
Princeton,  until  he  sailed  for  Europe." 


CHAPTER  V. 

Me.  Alexander's  only  intimate  friend  at  this  period,  ani 
the  only  bosom  friend  he  ever  had,  was  Kezeau  BroAvn,*  a  s'on 
of  the  Rev.  Isaac  V.  Brown,  of  Lawrenceville,  a  village  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Princeton.  Durhig  the  course  of  the  year 
1829  the  two  young  men  studied  Hebrew  together.  It  is 
nowhere  asserted,  but  is  not  intrinsically  improbable,  that 
Mr.  Brown  received  the  rudiments,  or  perhaps  the  first  sugges- 
tion, from  Mr.  Alexander,  and  that  afterwards  they  proceeded 
together  in  delightful  and  congenial  co-oj^eration. 

The  character  of  this  lovely  youth  was  in  some  respects 
so  remarkable,  and  his  relation  to  the  subject  of  this  biog- 
raphy so  close  and  tender,  that  no  apology  is  needed  for  the 
insertion  of  what  follows. 

Eezeau  Brown  was  born  September  30,  1808,  at  Lawrenceville, 
Iluntei'don  (now  Mercer)  countj^,  New  Jersey,  and  was  consequently 
about  seventeen  months  older  than  his  Princeton  friend.  Kot  long 
before  Rezeau's  birth,  his  father  had  assumed  the  pastoral  charge  of 
the  Presbyterian  congregation  in  the  little  hamlet,  whicli  is  only  five 
miles  from  Princeton.  A  few  j'ears  after,  though  without  relinquisb- 
ing  his  duties  as  pastor,  he  became  the  head  of  a  flourishing  classical 
school  at  the  same  place. 

Eezeau  entered  a  common  English  school  in  his  native  village  at 
the  age  of  four  years.  His  precocity  was  remarkable,  and  ho  made 
rapid  advances;  being  especially  distinguished  for  his  aptness  in  ac- 


*  A  pretty  extended  memoir  of  Kezeau  Brown  (of  which  I  have  made  free 
use  in  preparing  the  above  account)  will  be  found  in  the  Bib.  Rep.  for  Octo- 
ber, 1834,  from  the  pen  of  the  Rev.  J.  W.  Alexander.  The  accuracy  of  this 
account  is  confirmed  bv  sliort  but  eulogistic  letters  from  the  Rev.  I.  V.  Brown, 
Dr.  Miller,  and  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander. 


Mt.  20.] 


REZEAU    BROWN.  183 


quiring  the  knowledge  of  arithmetic.  He  was  fond  of  study,  but  evet 
nt  tbis  early  period  bad  a  feeble  constitution.  It  was  noticed  that 
(like  Alexander)  he  was  not  much  addicted  to  the  usual  boyish  amuse- 
ments, but  derived  his  "  chief  entertainment  from  intellectual  pursuits." 
"When  it  became  proper  he  was  admitted  to  his  father's  classical  semi- 
nary, where  for  a  number  of  years  he  enjoyed  the  direction  and  judi- 
cious care  of  this  affectionate  parent.  The  facilities  here  afforded  were 
not  wasted  upon  him.  He  was  very  soon  distinguished  in  every  branch 
of  study.  Especially  in  the  various  lines  of  mathematical  pursuit,  he 
displayed  a  quickness  and  a  maturity  of  understanding  which  were 
rare;  passing  through  the  details  of  aritlimetic,  algebra,  geometry,  not 
only  with  ease,  but  with  delight,  in  no  case  requiring  to  be  urged,  and 
in  scarcely  any  to  be  assisted. 

At  this  time  the  greater  part  of  those  who  were  connected  with 
Mr.  Brown's  academy  were  young  men  approaching  to  manhood,  and 
some  of  them  of  adult  age.  Yet  even  these,  we  are  assured,  were 
accustomed  to  look  up  to  Rezeau  for  assistance,  while  he  was  yet  a 
child.*  There  are  those  still  who  rememler  "  the  pleasing  appear- 
ance of  this  promising  boy,  his  symmetrical  form,  his  manly  grace  of 
motion,  and  that  beauty  which  arises  from  the  light  of  intelligence 
playing  upon  features  of  perfect  regularity." 

In  the  autumn  of  1823,  being  then  fifteen,  he  was  admitted  to  the 
Junior  class  in  the  college  of  New  Jersey;  tl.us  being  at  the  same  age 
and  entering  the  same  collegiate  class  with  his  friend  Addison,  who  at 
the  expiration  of  a  year  strictly  followed  his  bright  example.  Addison 
was  at  this  time  at  the  Academy.  During  the  period  of  las  connexion 
with  the  college,  Kezeau  was  much  absorbed  in  the  appropriate  sludies 
of  the  course,  and  like  his  young  compeer,  was  uniformly  in  the  first 
rank  of  distinguished  scholars,  and  received  the  higliest  literary  lionour 
at  the  close,  tbough  a  number  of  his  competitors  were  young  men  more 
advanced  in  years.  There  are  but  few  parliculars  of  his  college  hfe 
that  have  been  preserved,  but  it  is  known  that  his  favourite  studies 
were  the  mathematical  and  physical  sciences,  and  that  "hisdeportii:ent 
was  such  as  to  win  the  regard  of  his  friends  and  teachers."  In  liis 
strong  partiality  toward^  tlie  exact  sciences  he  differed  stiikingly  from 
his  friend.  About  this  time  he  was  so  fortunate  as  to  be  domiciliated 
in  the  family  of  his  uncle,  the  late  Dr.  John  Van  Cleve,  "who  will 
long  be  remembered  in  New  Jersey  as  a  skilful  practitioner  of  medi- 
cine, a  proficient  in  science,  a  citizen  of  probity  and  talent,  and  a 

*  Memoir  in  the  Repercory. 


184  VISITS    NEW    HAVEN.  [1829. 

cluirch  officer  of  wisdom  and  pietj."  Eezoau  "was  employed  by  Dr. 
Van  Cleve,  who  was  at  the  time  delivering  a  course  of  lectures  on 
chemistry,  as  an  assistant  in  his  laboratory.  This  engagement  covered 
the  period  of  two  successive  winters,  and  the  manipulations  to  which 
it  gave  rise  not  only  tended  to  develop  his  taste  for  the  science,  but 
also  helped  to  give  perfection  to  "  that  manual  tact  for  ■which  he  was 
always  distinguished,"  and  to  "  awaken  in  him  a  desire  to  enter  the 
medical  profession." 

The  severity  and  Inng  continuance  of  his  studies  proved  greatly 
prejudicial,  and  subsequently  fatal,  to  his  health,  which  was  always 
extremely  precarious.  His  physicians  accordingly  put  an  interdict 
upon  his  scientific  schemes,  and  encouraged  him  in  a  purpose  to  seek 
mental  and  bodily  improvement  in  a  tour  to  Ohio  and  Kentucky, 
where  he  passed  the  autumn  of  1825,  and  the  following  winter,  in 
active  travel  in  company  with  a  college  friend.  On  his  return,  in  the 
spring  of  182(5,  "  he  was  seized  with  a  violent  affection  of  the  lungs, 
which  reduced  him  to  the  brink  of  tlie  grave." 

In  March,  1826,  having  in  a  measure  recovered  his  health,  he 
proceeded  to  carry  out  his  cherished  purpose  of  becoming  a  physician, 
and  entered  the  office  of  his  uncle.  In  March,  1827,  he  met  with  a 
"  change  in  his  spirit,"  which  gave  a  new  direction  and  a  new  colour 
to  the  remainder  of  his  life.  It  was  to  this  time  that  he  and  others 
were  accustomed  to  date  his  conversion. 

At  the  time  referred  to  there  was  a  much-awakened  feeling  about 
the  soul's  interests,  both  at  Lawrenceville  and  Princeton.  Eezeau  had 
stood  out  with  positive  and  sturdy  defiance.  He  was  opposed  to  the 
good  work  itself,  its  instrumentalities,  and  its  conductors.  At  length 
suddenly  overwhelmed  with  a  sense  of  God's  mercy,  he  sank  to  the 
earth.  He  was  admitted  soon  after  to  the  communion  of  the  church 
in  the  little  rural  village  where  he  was  born  ;  to  wit,  in  June,  1827. 

The  following  winter  he  passed  in  New  Haven,  his  main  induce- 
ment being  a  wish  to  attend  the  lectures  of  Prof  Silliman,  a  gentleman 
from  whom  he  received  much  kind  attention,  and  for  whom  he  ever 
afterwards  entertained  an  atfectionate  i-espect.  He  frequented  the 
lectures  of  the  medical  department,  and  pari'ticularly  the  course  in 
chemistry  and  mineralogy.  "At  the  same  time,  the  example  and  ai(L 
of  Professor  Gibbs  strongly  incited  him  towards  the  pursuit  of  the 
Oriental  languages."  It  may  be  that  his  Princeton  friend  had  already 
somewhat  stimulated  his  taste  for  these  unaccustomed  studies,  though 
on  this  point  there  is  no  certainty.  He  also  went  through  a  course 
of  gymnastics,  which  in  his  case,  if  in  any,  was  absolutely  essential, 


^T.20.]  SEEKING    THE    MINISTRY.  185 

But  above  all,  during  his  residence  at  New  Haven,  he  "  grew  in  gract 
and  in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ."  Great 
revivals  were  at  this  time  agitating  New  England. 

The  summer  of  1828  was  spent  in  studies  preparatory  to  a  regular 
course  iu  theology,  especially  of  the  original  Scriptures.  In  the  spring 
of  1828  he  received  and  accepted  the  appointment  of  tutor  in  the  col- 
lege of  New  Jersey;  which  srcuation  he  held  two  years  and  a  half. 
His  progress  in  religious  things  was  now  becoming  more  and  more 
marked. 

In  the  spring  of  1831  Mr.  BroAvn  renounced  his  literary  employ- 
ments in  Nassau  Hall,  "under  an  ever-deepening  conviction  that  he 
ought  to  enter  without  delay  upon  the  work  of  the  ministry."  He  had 
been  for  a  year  or  two  engaged  in  theological  studies,  and  his  name 
was  now  enrolled  among  the  young  men  of  the  Theological  Seminary 
at  Princeton.  He  revolved  in  his  mind  the  plan  of  going  as  a  mission- 
ary to  the  heatlien  ;  but  the  state  of  his  health  was  an  insurmountable 
impediment.  'His  health  was  even  then  radically  impaired,  and  his 
spare  frame,  and  mild  but  bloodless  countenance,  were  signals  of  dis- 
tress by  which  nature  seemed  to  Avarn  him  from  any  farther  seclusion.' 

As  a  college  officer  he  was  "conscientious,  faithful,  and  accepta- 
ble." He  was  often  known  to  "assist  iu  various  social  meetings  in  the 
vicinity  of  Princeton:  in  one  of  these  his  prayers  and  exhortations, 
and  private  admonitions,  were  made  instrumental  to  the  awakening 
of  souls." 

The  cause  of  Sunday  schools  was  very  dear  to  him,  and  "  among 
other  important  services,  he  prepared  for  tlie  American  Sunday  School 
Union  the  Memoirs  of  Augustus  Hermann  Francke^  which  has  proved 
to  be  one  of  the  most  popular  of  useful  works."  * 

In  the  month  of  April,  1831,  Mr.  Brown  w^as  licensed  to  preach 
by  the  Presbytery  of  New  Brunswick  as  a  probationer  for  the  gospel 
ministry.  Soon  after  this  event  a  great  awakening  of  religion  began 
to  manifest  itself  in  the  county  of  Somerset,  and  not  less  than  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  persons  were  thought  to  be  converted.  The 
zealous  and  unflagging  labours  of  Mr.  Brown  were  largely  instrumen- 
tal in  the  hands  of  Providence  in  the  production  of  that  gracious 
result.  In  the  montli  of  October  of  the  fame  year,  he  received  an 
appointment  from  the  General  Assembly's  Board  of  Missions,  to  preach 

*  The  German  work  of  which  this  was  little  more  than  an  English  abridg- 
ment, was  reviewed  by  Mr.  Alexander  in  one  of  the  early  numbers  of  the  Re- 
pertory.—See  Bib.  Rep.,  1830,  p.  408. 


186  IN    PHILADELPHIA. 


ri829 


the  gospel  in  "Virginia.  The  scene  of  his  labours  was  the  villnge  of 
Morgantown,  in  Monongalia  county.  He  greatly  endeartd  himself  to 
that  whole  community,  and  slied  the  fi'agrance  of  his  piety  into  the 
most  secluded  parts  of  the  territory  covered  by  his  ministrations. 

In  June,  1832,  he  returned  from  the  theatre  of  liis  painful  toils 
in  Virginia,  to  his  father's  house.  Tlie  bleak  winters  of  the  mountain 
country  had  been  too  much  fur  him.  He  was  in  as  delicate  a  condition 
of  body  as  at  almost  any  former  period.  "  Shortly  after  his  return,  ho 
again  connected  himself  with  the  Theological  Seminary  in  Princeton, 
and  sat  down  to  study  with  an  intensity  of  application  "  which  gave 
well-foundtd  alarm  to  all  his  friends.  He  busied  himself  in  all  kinds 
of  researches.  His  health  again  gave  way.  He  refused  a  number  of 
flattering  invitations,  and  among  the  rest  a  professorship  of  chemistry 
in  a  southern  college. 

Mr.  Brown  pursued  the  regular  course  of  study  until  the  summer 
of  1832,  and  after  preaching  a  few  weeks  with  much  acceptance  in  the 
city  of  Trenton,  he  was  then  prevailed  upon  by  the  solicitations  of  the 
Eev.  James  "W.  Alexander  (who  was  at  the  time  the  editor  of  the 
"Presbyterian,"  a  religious  journal  published  in  Philadelphia),  to  assist 
him  in  that  work.  That  winter  was  a  season  of  deep  sorrow  for  the 
young  editoi*,  who  was  himself  in  dreadful  health,  and  whose  distant 
home  was  in  Trenton.  Those  were  the  days  of  the  old  coaches,  when 
the  public  vehicles  in  use  were  very  slow  and  uncertain ;  making  trav- 
elling no  easy  matter  in  cold  weather,  and  renderiog  it  almost  impossi- 
ble for  one  to  reside  at  a  distance  and  transact  business  in  the  city. 
It  was  under  these  circumstances  that  he  had  recourse  to  his  atFection- 
ate  and  tried  friend,  Pezeau  Brown,  whose  willingness  proved  equal 
to  the  emergency.  "He  repaired  to  Philadelphia,  and  for  a  number 
of  months  persevered  in  the  faitliful  and  assiduous  performance  of  the 
duties  which  he  had  assumed.  The  friend  whom  he  came  to  aid  could 
never  forget  the  generous  ardour  with  which  he  wore  himself  down  in 
this  employment ;  nor  the  pious  principle  by  which  he  seemed  to  be 
actuated.  Even  those  minute  drudgeries  of  the  editorial  life  which 
are  almost  mechanical,  seemed  to  be  conducted  by  Mr.  Brown  with  a 
direct  view  to  the  glory  of  Christ." 

No  Lord's  day  passed  in  which  Mr.  Brown  did  not  preach  at  least 
once.  He  was  universally  respected  and  belovetl,  and  visibly  improved 
as  a  public  speaker.  "In  spite  of  bodily  infirmity  Mr.  BroWa  continued 
to  study,  to  write,  and  even  to  preach.  Towards  the  end  of  March, 
1833,  he  was  seized  with  catarrh,  and  while  under  its  pressure  con- 
ducted two  public  services  on  the  Lord's  day.     In  the  interval  of 


Mt.  20.J 


FAILING    HEALTH.  187 


services,  he  was  observed  to  lie  upon  a  sofa,  pallid  and  exhausted.  The 
next  day  a  hectic  flush  mantled  his  cheek,  and  his  pulse  was  alarm- 
ingly accelerated.  There  was  no  time  to  be  lost,  and  he  hastened  to 
his  father's  house.  The  pulmonary  disorder  was  evidently  seated  and 
confirmed.  It  was  no  small  aggravation  of  his  solicitude  that  he  had 
matured  a  plan  for  a  voyage  to  Europe,  in  company  with  an  early  and 
most  intimate  friend."  There  can  be  little  doubt  that  this  friend  was 
no  other  than  the  subject  of  the  present  memoir.  "  For  such  a  vi^it  he 
was  eminently  prepared  by  his  course  of  study,  his  avidity  in  pursuit 
of  knowledge,  and  his  acquaintance  with  the  French  and  German  lan- 
guages. His  object  was  to  travel  through  the  most  interesting  liter- 
ary fields  of  Europe,  and  to  repair  to  the  chief  universities  of  Germany, 
to  acquire  the  languages,  and  to  complete  his  familiarity  with  biblical 
and  classical  antiquities,  Oriental  letters,  and  the  natural  sciences. 
There  was  every  reason  to  believe  that  on  his  return  he  would  have 
received  a  professorsliip  in  one  of  our  most  distinguished  colleges.  His 
passport  was  already  obtained,  his  cumpanion  was  awaiting  his  recov- 
ery, and  letters  of  recommendation  were  furnished.  "In  some  of  these 
letters,  kindly  furnished  by  Professors  in  Yale  College,  he  is  charac- 
terized as  "a  young  man  of  extensive  scientific  and  literary  attain- 
ments, well  skilled  in  the  Hebrew  language,  and  otherwise  learned." 
But  Providence  was  opening  his  way  to  "  a  better  country,  even  a 
heavenly." 

His  symptoms  from  this  time  forward  grew  gradually  worse.  He 
became  weak  and  emaciated;  "  his  visage  assumed  the  hue  of  death," 
and  no  one  could  fail  to  recognize  in  him  the  victim  of  pulmonary 
consumption.  All  remedies  failed;  and  he  was  evidently  drawing 
near  his  end.  "  He  was  generally  exempt  from  acute  pain,  and  com- 
plained chiefly  of  a  lassitude  which  was  almost  insupportable."  He 
was  fully  prepared  to  \■^J  aside  the  frail  earthly  tabernacle.  All  his 
hopes  were  fixed  on  Christ  and  heaven. 

In  the  month  of  July,  he  set  out  in  company  with  a  younger 
brother,  for  the  Eed  Sulphur  Springs  of  Virginia,  which  have  been 
supposed  to  possess  a  specific  virtue  in  such  cases.  Just  before  his 
departure  an  intimate  acquaintance,  with  whom  he  cherished  a  con- 
fidential intercourse  from  childhood,  embraced  a  last  effort  of  drawing 
from  him  a  statement  of  his  religious  views.  Eezeau  Brown  was  much 
interested,  and  though  he  lay  panting  for  breath  upon  the  sofa,  entered 
into  a  free  conversation.  His  friend  addressed  him  thus :  "  Tell  me 
frankly,  Eezeau,  what  is  the  prospect  which  you  entertain  of  recov- 
ery?"     He  answered  much  as  follows  : 


188  HIS   DEATH.  ri829. 

'"I  liave  no  expectation  of  recovery.  I  am  fully  acquainted  with  the 
nature  of  my  disease,  and  aware  that  I  am  a  dying  man.  Sometimes  an  illu- 
sive hope  plays  about  me;  but  my  prevalent  judgment  is,  that  I  am  not  long 
for  this  world.' 

"  '  And  now,  my  dear  R.,  what  effect  has  this  expectation  on  your  feelings? 
Do  you  regard  death  with  terror?' 

"'"Not  at  all,'  he  replied;  'I  am  relieved  from  all  fear,  and  entertain  a 
calm  hope  of  heaven.'  He  then  proceeded,  in  words  not  now  remembered,  to 
give  a  clear  and  satisfoctory  account  of  his  trust  in  Chiist,  and  his  resignation 
to  the  will  of  God.  There  was  no  rapture,  nor  any  strong  excitement  of  feel- 
ing; indeed  this  seemed,  in  his  ease,  to  be  precluded  by  the  sedative  and  be- 
numbing influence  of  the  disease ;  but  every  word  indicated  a  serene  waiting 
till  his  change  should  come.' 

"  He  Ccame  back  from  the  Springs  without  benefit.  This  was  on 
the  4tb  of  September;  and  though  he  had  talked  delightfully  and 
peacefully  during  the  homeward  journey,  he  was  now  too  ill  to  speak. 
He  declined  the  visits  of  any  friends,  except  two,  with  each  of  whom 
he  conversed  a  few  moments." 

Who  can  doubt  that  these  were  the  brothers  James  and 
Addison  Alexander ;  who  were  the  two  friends  of  his  bosom, 
and  who  clung  to  him  in  mournful  apprehension  that  they 
should  be  soon  called  upon  to  receive  his  last  adieux? 

"  To  a  brother  who  inquired  after  his  spiritual  frame,  two  days 
before  his  departure,  he  replied  :  '  I  have  experienced  some  seasons  of 
fluctuation  and  depression,  but  my  prevailing  state  is  one  of  establislied 
confidence  and  liope.'  There  was  no  visible  indication  of  the  change 
until  a  short  time  before  he  fell  asleep  in  Jesus.  His  departure  vras 
then  without  a  struggle  or  a  groan." 

The  funeral  was  largely  attended  by  the  people  of  the 
neighbourhood  and  a  collection  of  persons  from  the  literary 
institutions  of  Princeton.  The  discourse  was  delivered  by 
the  Kev.  J.  W.  Alexander,  from  Rev.  xxii.  3-5.  Much  and 
tender  feeling  is  said  to  have  been  exhibited  on  this  occasion. 
There  was  no  one  who  knew  him  that  did  not  love  and  admire, 
and  at  the  same  time  honour,  Rezeau  Brown. 

In  concluding  the  sketch  of  his  life,  his  friend  and  biographer 
adds,  among  others,  the  following  interesting  particulars  : 


^T.  20.] 


TRAITS    OF    CHARACTER.  189 


"  It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  say  that  with  regard  to  personal 
appearance,  Mr.  Brown  possessed  every  advantage.  Though  slender, 
he  was  above  the  common  height,  and  had  the  appearance  of  greater 
strength  than  he  really  possessed.  His  whole  exterior  was  marked  by 
graceful  dignity;  and  his  calm  and  somewhat  pensive  countenance,  in 
which  regularity  of  feature  was  joined  with  an  expression  of  intel- 
ligence and  gentleness,  was  highly  prepossessing  of  his  manners ;  it  is 
enough  to  say  that  he  was  in  every  sense  of  the  teim  a  Christian  gen- 
tleman." 

A  survivor,  confirming  every  part  of  this  statement,  in- 
forms me  tliat  Rezeau  Brown  had  black  hair  and  very  dark 
eyes,  and  before  his  health  became  hopelessly  bad,  a  clear, 
delicate,  rosy  complexion,  of  the  kind  which  often  suggests 
genius,  and  in  his  case  painfully  betokened  an  early  death. 
The  same  person  says  that  he  had  a  sweet  face,  and  was  one 
of  the  most  generous  and  one  of  the  best-hearted  of  men. 

"His  intellectual  traits  have  already  been  exhibited  to  some  extent. 
Quick  and  discursive  rather  tlian  profound  or  commanding,  bis  mind 
attempted  almost  every  department  of  literature  and  science.  Indeed, 
such  was  bis  inquisitiveness  with  regard  to  all  useful  knowledge,  that 
we  may  doubt  whether  bis  reigning  fault  Avas  not  the  diffusion  of  his 
powers  over  too  wide  a  field.  Languages  both  ancient  and  modern, 
belles-lettres,  criticism,  chemistry,  physics,  anatomy  and  physiology 
were  bis  favourite  pursuits.  In  the  acquisition  of  these  he  manifested 
a  readiness  which  was  astonishing.  The  versatility  of  his  genius 
made  every  subject  soon  familiar ;  and  the  tenacity  of  bis  memory 
rendered  these  stores  available.  This  was  strikingly  exemplified  in 
bis  examination  for  licensure  before  the  Presbytery  of  ISTew-Brunswick; 
on  which  occasion  those  who  were  present  were  astonished  at  the  com- 
pass and  precision  of  bis  knowledge,  and  the  promptness  and  per- 
tinency of  his  replies  on  every  subject. 

"  As  a  preacher  he  was  hindered  in  some  degree  by  constitutional 
frailty  from  becoming  eloquent.  Yet  it  is  not  here  meant  that  he  was 
not  both  acceptable  and  impressive.  Indeed,  his  improvement  in  pul- 
pit exercises  was  rapid  and  constant,  even  until  his  latest  public  per- 
formances. And  there  was  in  all  his  addresses  a  solemn  sincerity,  and 
sometimes  a  natural  pathos,  which  endeared  his  m.inistrations  to  all 
who  enjoyed  them. 

"His   adversaria  and  common-place  books   attest  the  care  with 


190  LINES    ON    HIS    DEATH.  [1829. 

whicli  he  made  collections  for  future  labour?.     Epitomes,  criticisms, 
abstracts  and  reflections  form  the  greater  part  of  tlic-e  manuscripts. 

"But  it  is  to  hid  character  as  a  Ciiri^tiaii,  dedicating  all  his  talents 
and  acquirements  to  the  service  of  Chri.^t,  that  we  turn  witli  most 
satisfaction.  *  *  Of  the  spirit  and  character  of  his  preaching,  as 
truly  as  of  any  man's  that  I  have  ever  heard,  I  think  the  descriplion 
of  the  Apostle  Paul's  preaching  to  the  Corinthians  may  be  sued:  'For 
I  determined  to  know  notling  among  you,  save  Jesus  Christ  and  him 
crucified!'  Ilis  labours  Avere  iucessant — too  great  for  his  debilitated 
state  of  health.  It  is  well  known  that  a  desire  to  do  good,  and  a  love 
for  his  Master's  work,  would  not  allow  him  to  enjoy  the  relaxation 
which  was  necessary.  A  respectable  number  were  added  to  the  Church 
daring  his  six  months'  labour,  and  many — even  the  most  lawless  and 
thoughtless — were  occasionally  made  to  feel  and  reflect  under  his  dis- 
courses." 

It  was  impossible  that  Addison  Alexander  should  not 
be  most  painfully  affected  by  the  death  of  bis  nearest  and 
best  friend.  He  was  in  Italy  when  tbe  sad  event  occurred  ; 
but  five  months  after,  at  Berlin,  in  a  moment  of  restless 
an4  characteristic  longing  for  change,  and  a  strong  desire 
for  borne,  "or  ever  be  was  aware,"  be  seems  to  have  been 
overwhelmed  by  a  sudden  rush  of  recollections,  and  at  once 
poured  out  bis  whole  soul  in  tbe  following  pathetic  poem, 
which  it  may  be  well  to  say,  was  immediately  suggested 
by  a  conversation  in  which  be  bad  just  been  engaged  with 
some  friend  on  tbe  closing  scene  of  Scbleiermacber.  It  was 
written  with  great  rapidity,  in  bis  ordinary  journab  Tbe 
handwriting,  by  its  irregularity  and  fiery  speed,  shows  tbe 
presence  of  some  vivid  emotion. 

"  Tbe  plan  was  laid.     The  hour  was  nigb. 

Both  were  resolved  to  brave 
The  tempest's  terrors  and  to  try 

The  swiftness  of  the  wave. 
To-day  where  art  thou?  where  am  I? 
Alone,  beneath  a  foreign  sky, 

And  thou  art  in  thy  grave  ! 
While  I  careered  before  the  gale, 

And  the  auspicious  blast 


iKT.20.]  THEIR    CHARACTER.  101 

Filled  the  deep  bosom  of  the  sail, 

And  bowed  the  sturdy  mast ; 
Thy  pallid  cheek  became  more  pale, 
Thy  secret  springs  began  to  fail, 

Thy  life  was  ebbing  fast. 
While  I,  througli  Latium's  blasted  plain 

Approached  the  walls  of  Rome, 
Where  o'er  a  thousand  spires  and  vanes 

The  antichrist's  proud  dome 
Like  an  imperial  giant  reigns  ; 
Disease  had  well-nigh  loosed  the  chains, 

Which  kept  thee  from  thy  home. 
And  while  I  hastened  to  explore 

That  world  so  new  to  me, 
That  grave  of  empires  now  no  more. 

How  fared  it  then  with  thee? 
Ah !  thy  captivity  was  o'er. 
Death  had  unbarred  thy  dungeon  door 

And  set  thy  spirit  free! 

There  is  as  much  sonorous  passion  in  this  vei'se  as  in  any- 
thing he  has  written.  The  gates  of  his  soul  were  not  often 
thus  lifted  ;  but  when  they  were,  the  torrent  that  came  forth 
was  at  flood-tide,  and  bore  hira  impetuously  onward,  till  the 
gush  of  feeling  had  spent  itself.  He  was  not  known  to  revert 
very  often  to  the  decease  of  this  amiable  and  'attractive  being, 
but  there  is  every  reasonable  certainty  that  he  continued  to 
hold  his  image  in  his  heart,  and  that  for  a  time  it  exerted  a 
quickening  influence  upon  his  life. 

Such  was  "the  manner  of  man"  that  the  young  scholar 
grappled  to  his  soul  with  hooks  of  steel,  in  the  scholastic 
retirement  of  Edgehill.  Brown,  or  "Rezeau"  (as  he  called 
him),  was  not  only  the  sharer  in  his  literary  raptures,  but  also 
in  joys  and  sorrows  which  he  imparted  to  no  other  outside 
of  his  own  family.* 

*  As  Mr.  Alexander  commonly  burnt  his  letters,  I  have  succeeded  in  dis- 
covering one  only  of  Rezeau  Brown's.  It  possesses  a  melancholy  interest,  now 
that  he  is  gone,  and  has  been  for  years  forgotten. 

"  My  Dear  Friend, 

"  I  am  sorry  that  I  am  unable  to  be  punctual  to  our  appointed  time  for 


192  ABOUT   THE    GEOGRAPHY.  [1829. 

A  tew  words  in  the  journal  for  June,  1829,  show  the  stout 
scholar  busy  upon  a  book  of  sacred  geography,  which  he  and 
his  brother  James  afterwards  published  through  the  American 
Sunday  School  Union. 

"June  25.  I  have  undertaken  to  prepare  a  book  of  sacred  geogra- 
phy for  the  American  S.  S.  Union,  and  am  now  abridging  EosenmuUer's 
Alterthemskunde. 

He  had  prepared  about  half  when  he  became  "disgusted" 
with  the  work  and  placed  his  MS.  in  the  hands  of  his  brother 
James  to  finish.  The  following  letter  from  his  coadjutor  bears 
upon  the  subject : 

'' September  %  1829. 
"  Caeissime, 

"  I  wrote  to  Porter  according  to  promise  and  informed  bim  that  I  was 
about  completing  your  geography.  On  looking  over  the  ground  I  find 
that  I  have  a  hard  path  to  travel— fur  instance,  the  ethno-genealogico- 
geograpbico-mythico  representations  about  the  early  settlers.  Is  it 
possible  to  concrete  or  abstract  Rosenmiiller's  discourse  into  any  thing 
tolerable?  I  beg  you,  notwithstanding  the  disgust  you  have  acquired 
for  the  labour,  to  achieve  Vimjyossible,  and,  without  delay,  make  out  an 
abstract  of  Plwnicia,  and  such  other  parts  as  you  have  in  tlie  second 
volume.  N.  B.  I  have  put  the  references  into  parentheses,  for  your 
brackets  will  disfigure  the  book  exceedingly,  and  I  find  that  small  let- 
lers  look  the  best :  e.  g.  (Josh,  xliii ;  10,  11.  Ilab.  Ixxxviii.  7,  9).  Set 
about  this,  and  we  may  hope  to  have  the  whole  thing  accomplished  this 
month.  Make  yourself  a  paper  book  and  leave  an  inch  blank  at  the 
fold  of  the  sheet.  Your  MS.  is  almost  intangible  (ut  ita  dicam),  one 
must  handle  it  as  tenderly  as  a  scroll  of  Herculaneum. 

I  have  got  all  done  (errors  excepted)  except  Band  I.  Theil  T.  and 
Die  libUsche  west,  in  the  end  of  the  green  one.  I  have  carefully  verified 
all  the  references,  many  of  which,  either  from  typographical  errors  or 
different  division  of  chapter  or  verse,  are  irrelevant.     I  have  taken  a 

reading  together.  The  sickness  of  my  mother  called  me  to  Lawrence  on  Sat- 
urday evening,  and  I  think  of  going  again  to-night. 

"Nothing  but  a  duty  of  such  a  kind— or  one  equally  important— would 
induce  me  to  be  absent  from  these  exercises.  Yours, 

"  Monday  evening.  "•  "• 


^T,  20.] 


DAILY    STUDY.  193 


good  deal  from  Mansford,  who,  by-the-way,  is  wrong  wherever  he  is 
original.  EosenmilUer  strangely  says  (upon  Tarsus)  that  Gamaliel  had 
a  school  there.  Paul's  words  are  :  "  brought  up  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel 
in  this  city."  *  By  the  first  opportunity  I  will  send  my  MS.  as  far  as 
done.  I  bave  numbered  the  folios  consecutively  alter  yours.  Leave 
what  you  may  write  unpaged.  ct  j_  ^_  ^i 

The  advice  here  given  was  taken,  and  the  "book  appeared 
as  the  joint  work  of  the  two  brothers. f 

So  far  as  I  am  aware  this  little  book  was  the  pioneer  of  its 
class  in  the  country.  Other  and  fnller  works  bave  since  ap- 
peared ;  but  probably  none  so  compendious,  and  few  more 
carefully  built  up  upon  ascertained  facts. 

"  Sept.  2.  Eead  in  Job,  3i-36  chapters.  Eead  in  German  the  fifth 
(and  last)  act  of  Schiller's  Wallenstein.  This  play,  though  a  very  fine 
one,  is  too  long.  Schiller  had  not  in  perfection  the  faculty  mentioned  by 
Pope  'of  rejecting  bis  own  thongbts.' J  His  plots,  too,  are  somewhat 
obscure.  Tbe  characters  in  this  play  are  not  so  strongly  marked  as  in 
Don  Carlos,  nor  tbe  tragic  interest  so  deep  and  overwhelming.  I  rank 
it  therefore  below  that  notable  tragedy  ia  the  scale  of  merit,  but,  at 
the  same  time,  infinitely  above  the  common  run  of  modern  dramas. 
Eead  in  Spanish  'La  Oonquista  de  Mejico  IV  :  17-20.'  Eead  in  English 
tbe  remainder  of  tbe  'Essay  on  Criticism,'  '  Tbe  Eape  of  the  Lock,'  and 
the  'Elegy  to  the  Memory  of  an  Unfortunate  Lady ; '  also  a  few  chapters 
in  Denbam  and  Clappertou's  '  Travels  in  Africa.'  Eead  in  Latin  half  of 
Schultens's  translation  of  Extracts  from  the  Hamasa.  Eead  in  Hebrew 
with  E.  Brown,  2  Samuel,  7-9.  Eeceived  a  note  from  J.  W.  A.  with 
his  MS.  of  the  Sacred  Geography. 

*  See  a  full  account  of  this  matter  in  Conybeare  and  Ilowson. 

f  In  a  letter  dated  September  14,  1829,  bis  brother  James  thus  refers  to 
the  joint  literary  task  in  which  they  had  been  engaged: 

"  Addison  has  consigned  to  me  his  papers  and  notes  upon  Sacred  Geogra- 
phy, and  I  have  been  engaged  in  finishing  the  book  [for  the  A.  S.  S.  U.],  so 
that  we  shall  have  it  between  us.  The  labour  has  been  very  irksome.  I  spent 
twelve  hours  last  week  verifying  the  texts  of  Scripture  referred  to,  by  looking 
for  all  of  them.  The  mere  geographical  part  is  very  interesting.  Altogether 
it  is  discouraging  to  find  how  little  is  really  known  of  the  site  of  many  ancient 
places." — FamiUar  Letters,  vol  I.,  p.  134. 

X  Oddly  enough,  Goethe  somewhere  attributes  to  Schiller  this  very  power. 
9 


194  POPE. 


[1829. 


"  Sept.  3.  Read  in  Hebrew  Job,  27-28  :  in  German,  '  The  Sorrows 
of  "Wertber':  about  forty  p;igcs.  Goetbe  has  in  eminent  degree  tlio 
quality  w hi cb  I  tbongbt  was  wanting  in  bis  compeer  Scbiller.  Tbougb 
minute  in  bis  descriptions  and  details,  all  seems  compaft  and  con- 
densed ;  there  arc  no  loose  ends — no  purpurii  panni.  He  bas  also 
tbe  enviable  power  of  describing  simple  familiar  tbings  witbout  the 
least  tincture  of  mawkish  aftectation.  Eead  in  Pope's  works :  '  Sappbo 
to  Pbaon,'  'Eloisa  to  Abelard,'  and  'Tbe  Temple  of  Fame.'  In 
Eloisa  to  Abelard  there  are  abundant  specimens  of  rich  and  polished 
diction  ;  but  what  particularly  charms  me  is  this  exquisite  paragraph, 
especially  the  last  couplet,  which  I  think  inimitably  beautiful : 

"  For  thee,  the  Fates,  severely  kind,  ordjin, 
A  cool  suspense  from  pleasure  and  from  pain  ; 
Thy  life  a  long,  dead  calm  of  fixed  repose, 
No  pulse  that  riots,  and  no  blood  that  glows ; 
Still  as  the  sea,  e'er  winds  were  taught  to  blow. 
Or  moving  spirits  bade  the  waters  flow  ; 
Soft  as  the  slumbers  of  a  saint  forgiven, 
And  mild  as  opening  gleams  of  promised  heaven."  * 

"Eead  also  Denham  and  Clappertou. — In  Hebrew,  2  Sam.  chapa. 
10-12,  with  E.  Brown. — Finished  Schultens's  Extracts  from  the  Ham- 
asa.''"' 

"  Sept.  4.  Eead  in  Hebrew,  Job,  39-40.  In  German,  tbe  begin- 
ning of  the  chapter  on  Phcenicia  in  Eosenmiiller's  Altertbumskunde, 
Eead  in  Pope's  works :  '  January  and  Ma}^,'  and  '  The  AVife  of  Bath.' 
I  cannot  ,belp  feeling  contempt  for  a  great  genius  who  would  select 
such  passages  for  imitation  as  these  obscene  absurdities  of  Chaucer. 
The  gi'ossness  is  considerably  refined,  but  enough  remains  to  make 
them  disgusting.  J.  "\V.  A.  came  with  the  remainder  of  the  Geogra- 
phy.    Eead  and  abridged  Eosenmiiller's  chapter  on  Phoenicia. 

''  Sept.  15.  Eead  in  Hebrew  1  Kings,  5-6.  Eevised  and  corrected 
Sacred  Geography  (in  part).  Eead  in  Spanish  El  Fray  Gerundio. 
Eead  in  Hebrew  with  E.  Brown,  1  Chron.  16-19.  Eead  the  Dunciad. 
I  have  lately  read  over  all  Pope's  poems,  except  bis  Homer.  He  has 
far  more  wit  than  I  supposed,  but  very  little  splendour  or  elevation  of 
genius,  it  appears  to  me.  He  seems  perfectly  cold  and  heartless  too. 
Johnson's  remark  is  just  that  Pope  does  not  seem  to  have  composed 
with   ease.      His   rhymes   are   often   imperfect   and   bis   epithets   ill- 

*  Lines  2.50-25.5. 


^T.  20.]  BIBLICAL    REPERTORY.  195 

chosen.  All  his  •writings  nre  elaborated  Trith  much  pain  and  difficulty 
He  uses  upon  elevated  subjects  more  colloquial  language  than  a  poet  of 
tbese  times  would.  Finally,  like  Swift,  he  is  evidently  fund  of  obscene 
images." 

Mr.  Alexander  Lad  about  this  time  more  serious  employ- 
ment for  his  pen  than  scribbling  random  paragraphs  for  the 
Patriot  and  the  Emporium,  or  writing  verses  and  essays  for 
Dr.  Snowden's  magazine.  He  now  appears  for  the  first  time 
as  a  contributor  to  the  pages  of  the  Biblical  Repertory,  Avhich 
has  since,  and  largely  through  his  influence,  become  well- 
known,  and  which  was  afterwards  to  be  adorned  by  some 
of  the  maturest  results  of  his  scholarship  and  genius. 

His  brother,  writing  to  Dr.  Hall  from  his  room  in  the  col- 
lege,' where  he  was  then  tutor  of  mathematics,  thus  refers  to 
the  projected  publication.  The  letter  is  dated  September  20, 
1828,  just  about  the  time  that  Mr.  Alexander  was  admitted  to 
the  Junior  class. 

"  You  liave  here  another  prospectus  of  another  Princeton  work, 
v.'hich  I  trust  will  prove  honourable  to  us,  and  useful  to  the  cause."* 

This  plan  was  fully  and  successfully  carried  out,  and  re- 
sulted in  the  appearance  of  the  Biblical  Repertory^  which, 
begun  in  1825,  is  still  continued  under  the  charge  of  its  origi- 
nal editor. 

If  my  memory  serves  me,  the  first  volume  was  entirely 
filled  by  the  Rev.  Charles  Hodge  and  the  Rev.  J.  W.  Alex- 
ander. This  I  was  told  once  by  the  latter.  The  second  vol- 
ume, besides  a  number  of  repi'inls  irom  foreign  source's,  con- 
tained translations  Irom  the  pen  of  the  editor  Mr.  Hodge, 
Prof.  Patton,  President  James  Marsh  (then  Professor  at 
Hampden  Sidney),  and  others.  The  first  appearance  of  Mr. 
Alexander  in  the  pages  of  the  Repertory  was  in  1827,  in  an 
article  translated  from  John  Alphonso  Turretin,  entitled, 
"  Refutation  of  tlie  Hypothesis  of  the  Papists  in  Relation  to 
the  Interpretation  of  the  Scriptures."  f     This  article  at  once  ^ 

*  Familiar  Letters,  Vol.  I.,  p.  G5.  f  See  Bib.  Rep.,  1827,  p.  275. 


196  THE    REPERTORY.  [1829. 

excited  notice,  and  was  attributed  in  Boston  to  Dr.  Archibald 
Alexander.  Tliis  was  immediately  followed  by  a  translation 
from  Justin  the  Martyr,  entitled  "  Exhortation  to  the  Greeks." 
The  style  of  this  article  is  exceedingly  mature,  and  the  render- 
incr  of  the  Greek  idiom  not  only  of  the  Christian  Father  but 
of"the  classical  authors  to  whom  he  copiously  refers,  exceed- 
ingly happy.  The  diction  is  pure  and  terse,  and  the  language 
for  the  most  part  Saxon,  or  remarkably  strong  and  idio- 
matic English.  While  he  availed  himself  freely  of  the 
helps  at  hand  in  interpreting  Homer,  the  translations  from 
less  familiar  writers  seem  to  be  his  own.  I  may  cite  by  way 
of  example  the  words  of  Orpheus  to  Musaeus  and  his  other 
children  (p.  341),  commencing, 

^Se'y^ojuai  ols  2«'/xt?  iari,  'ivpas  S'  i-n'CiiecT^f  ^ifirikoi. 
UavTii  op-^i  •   (TV  S'  uKove  (paeac})6pov  (Kyove  /x/ji'tjs-, 

of  which  he  gives  a  literal  and  yet  si)iritcd  and  nervous  ver- 


sion 


The  Repertory  was  at  this  time  temporarily  in  the  hands 
of  Professor  Fatten,  who  performed  the  duties  of  editor  in  the 
absence  of  Mr.  Hodge  in  Europe.  Mr.  Alexander  does  not 
appear  to  have  contributed  any  thing  in  1828.  In  1829  the 
Biblical  Repertory,  which  had  been  up  to  that  time  little 
more  than  a  series  of  reprints  and  translations,  was  given  up 

*  I  will  speak  to  those  to  whom  it  is  allowed.  Let  the  uninitiated  be  ex- 
cluded- Listen  thou,  Musaeus,  child  of  tlie  shininp;  moon,  while  I  utter  the 
truth  W)r  let  that  which  has  before  been  infused  into  thy  breast,  deprive  thee 
of  thy  precious  life.  Behold  the  Divine  Word,  and  give  thyself  wholly  to  it, 
orderin-  aright  the  intelligent  receptacle  of  thy  heart.  Come  up  hither,  and 
contemplate°the  sole  King  of  the  universe.  He  is  one.  He  is  self-existent. 
He  alone  created  all  things.  Though  good  himself,  he  gives  evils  to  his  crea- 
ture^ bloody  wars,  and  lamentable  sorrows,  and  besides  him  there  is  no  su- 
preme kin-  I  cannot  behold  him ;  for  clouds  are  round  about  him,  and  the 
mortal  pupils  of  mortal  eyes  arc  un.ble  to  look  upon  the  ruler  of  the  universe. 
He  is  cstjvblished  upon  the  brazen  heavens.  He  sits  upon  a  golden  throne  and 
treads  with  his  feet  upon  the  earth,  and  stretches  out  his  right  hand  to  all  the 
ends  of  the  ocean.  Then  the  lofty  mountains  tremble,  the  rivers,  and  the 
depths  of  the  hoary  sea. 


Mr,  20.] 


CHANGE    OF    PLAN.  197 


by  Mr.  Hodge  its  founder  iuto  tbe  hands  of  "  a-n  association 
of  gentlemen,"  to  be  published  as  a  quarterly  Review.* 

The  change  in  the  form  and  aims  of  the  Journal  took  place 
as  was  contemplated  in  the  new  prospectus,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  year  1830.  With  1830  also  commences  the  present 
numbering  of  the  volumes.  The  periodical  from  this  time 
until  1837  bears  the  title  of  "Biblical  Repertory  and  Theo- 
logical Review,"  and  may  be  considered  as  embracing  in  its 
plan  the  whole  range  of  theological  and  religious  subjects. 
The  ninth  volume,  which  Avas  issued  in  1837,  is  the  first  of  the 
whole  collection  which  bears  the  title  Biblical  Repertory  and 
Princeton  Review.  It  had  already  fallen  under  "  the  direc- 
tion" of  the  coterie  of  Presbyterian  clergymen  and  literary 
gentlemen  of  Princeton  and  its  environs,  as  early  as  the  begin- 
ning of  1829.  Mr.  Patton  seems  to  have  been  the  most  active 
spirit  of  the  new  management,  though  the  Professors  of  the 
Seminary  and  College,  and  such  men  as  the  Rev.  Mr.  Yeoraans, 
Professor  Marsh,  Professor  Bush,  the  Rev.  (now  Doctor)  R. 
J.  Breckinridge,  to  say  nothing  of  a  host  of  others,  lent  val- 
uable assistance.  Mr.  Hodge  returned  from  Europe,  where  he 
had  been  pursuing  a  course  of  study  at  the  German  universi- 
ties, in  1828,  and  delivered  his  introductory  lecture  to  his  class 
in  the  Seminary  on  the  seventh  of  November  of  that  year. 
He  began  by  saying : 

"In  entering  anew  upon  my  duties  in  this  institution,  I  feel  con 
strained  to  acknowledge  the  goodness  of  God,  by  which  I  have  been 
so  kindly  preserved,  and  restored  to  the  field  of  labour  to  which  he 
lias  called  me.  As  it  was  a  desire  to  become  more  useful  to  you,  that 
led  me  to  leave  for  so  protracted  a  period,  my  friends  and  country,  my 
heart  lias  been  continually  turned  towards  this  institution;  and  it 
frequently  occurred  to  me,  that  should  I  live  to  return  to  my  native 
land,  I  would  endeavour  to  impress  upon  your  minds  the  practical 
truths  which  the  circumstances  of  foreign  states  and  countries  had 
deeply  impressed  upon  my  own.  It  is  true  the  vividness  of  these  im- 
pressions has  faded  away,  but  the  convictions  in  which  they  resulted 
remain."  .... 

*  See  advertisement  to  the  fourth  volume. 


198  ITS   WRITERS.  D829. 

It  is  no  ck)ubfc  to  the  personal  influence  of  Mr.  Hodge  that 
the  Repertory  is  indebted  for  the  original  labours  of  Professor 
Tholuck,  by  which  its  columns  were  abovit  this  time  occasion- 
ally enriched. 

From  the  date  of  his  return  from  Europe  Mr.  Hodge  again 
gave  much  time  to  the  Review,  and  after  the  removal  of  Mr. 
Patton  from  Princeton  became  once  more  its  sole  editor,  and 
has  continued  to  this  day  to  bo  one  of  its  chief  writers  and  its 
sustaining  and  animating  spirit. 

Some  of  the  very  best  things  ever  written  by  Dr.  Archibald 
Alexander  and  Dr.  Miller,  were  written  in  the  first  instance 
for  this  publication.  The  same  may  be  said  of  that  brilliant 
genius  and  lamented  clergyman,  Prof  Albert  B.  Dod,  of  the 
College  of  New  Jersey.  The  brothers  James  and  Addison 
Alexander  also  continued  their  connection  with  the  periodical, 
and  now  began  to  write  original  articles.  In  after  years,  as 
long  as  they  lived,  they  were  still  accustomed  from  time  to 
time  to  make  use  of  "  the  Repertory "  as  the  chosen  vehicle 
of  their  learned  and  graceful  disquisitions  upon  a\\  subjects 
Avhich  were  suited  to  the  pages  of  such  a  Journal.  In  1838, 
we  learn  from  his  own  diary,  Mr.  Alexander  became  for  a  short 
time  one  of  the  editors,  and  wrote  more  copiously  than  ever. 
A  number  of  these  articles  were  afterwards  republished,  Avith 
strong  eulogy,  in  the  pages  of  an  eclectic  quarterly  which 
made  its  api)earance  periodically  in  Scotland.  The  volume 
for  1829  contained,  besides  Professor  Hodge's  Introductory 
Lecture,  and  a  number  of  valuable  criticisms  and  disserta- 
tions, a  biographical  sketch  of  Erasmus,  drawn  mainly  from 
sources  furnished  by  Adolph  Milller  in  his  "  Leben  des  Eras- 
mus von  Rotterdam,"  &c.  This  life-like  portrait  of  the  great 
scholar  of  the  Reformation  has  been  attributed  to  the  sub- 
ject of  this  memoir,  and  is  claimed  by  him  in  a  catalogue  of 
his  own  articles  which  he  made  years  after.  *     The  only  articles 

*  Th'S  is  possibly  a  mistake,  as  Mr.  Alexander  said  he  was  uncertain  about 
some  of  the  articles  on  his  own  list  of  his  own  contributions,  and  as  in  his 
brother's  copy  this  article  ou  Erasmus  bears  the  characteristic  signature,  in 
pencil,  "  By  J.  W.  Alexander."     It  is  possible  that  both  had  a  hand  in  it. 


^T.  20.] 


THE    DRUSES.  199 


certainly  contributed  to  this  volume  by  Addison  (as  he  was 
and  still  is,  fondly  called  by  the  various  members  of  his 
father's  family)  were  the  translations  from  the  Latin  of  Flatt 
on  the  Deity  of  Christ,  and  an  elaborate  effort  entitled  "  The 
History  and  Religious  Opinions  of  the  Druses."  Of  these  ar- 
ticles the  former  was  in  reality  one,  but  was  divided  into  two 
])arts  which  appeared  at  different  times,  the  first  part  consti- 
tuting the  leading  treatise  of  the  volume.  This  performance 
does  not  fail  to  show  the  same  acquaintance  with  the  technical 
terms  of  the  seventeenth  century  which  had  led  the  literati 
of  Boston  to  attribute  the  translation  of  Alphonso  Turretin, 
which  came  out  the  year  before,  to  the  father;  never  once 
suspecting  that  the  article  in  question  was  by  his  precocious 
son.  These  able  reproductions  of  the  theological  Latin  writers 
of  the  post-Reformation  period  may,  however,  be  safely  set. 
down  to  the  guiding  influence  of  Dr.  Alexander,  who  had 
more  to  do  than  any  one  else  in  giving  shape  and  direction  to 
his  son's  studies,  and  who,  as  is  well  known,  was  himself  a 
devoted  admirer  of  the  old  vellum  quartos  and  folios  of  the 
ao-e  immediately  succeeding  the  times  of  Erasmus  and  Luther. 
But  in  his  second  article  for  the  year  1829,  Mr.  Alexander 
must  have  broken  away  from  all  restraints,  however  wise  and 
gentle,  and  followed  the  bent  of  his  own  strong  inclinations 
and  enthusiastic  genius.  The  essay  on  "  the  Druses  "  is  one 
of  the  most  singular  and  startling  demonstrations,  among  the 
many  that  he  has  left  us,  of  his  learning  and  capacity.  The 
theme  was  one  which  exactly  suited  him.  It  was  strange, 
mysterious,  difficult,  romantic ;  calling  for  all  the  hidden  re- 
sources of  his  historical  and  linguistic  attainments ;  as  well  as 
for  all  the  acumen  of  his  intellect,  and  delicacy  of  his  critical 
judgment ;  and  bringing  into  play  not  only  his  powers  of 
reason  and  analysis,  but  his  impassioned  energy,  his  tal- 
ent for  rapid  and  graphic  description,  and  his  talent,  no 
less  surprising  in  one  who  was  still  scarcely  out  of  his  teens, 
for  the  mere  construction  of  a  sentence.  The  aim  of  the 
article  is  to  arrive,  if  possible,  at  an  approximate  solu- 
tion of  the  vexed  questions  touching  the  origin  and  early 


200  EXTKACTS.  ti829. 

history  of  this  mysterious  fraternity  or  sect  of  the  3foicah- 
hidiin  of  Mount  Libanus.  The  treatise  is  mainly  historical 
and  critical,  but  it  is  marked  by  broad  outline  views,  and 
vigorous  generalizations,  together  with  a  marvellous  acquain- 
tance with  the  repositories  of  oriental  learning,  and  with  eve- 
ry thing  relating  to  the  oriental  people,  and  particularly  the 
Arabs  ;  as  well  as  by  masterly  sketches  of  character,  and  live- 
ly and  engaging  but  condensed  narrative.  As  a  specimen  of 
his  narrative  style,  there  are  perhaps  some  who  will  be  pleased 
to  have  their  attention  directed  to  the  following  extract : 

"  The  notorious  prince  just  mentioned  (H.ikem  Biamrillah)  was  tlio 
fifth  Fatimite  sovereign  after  Obeidallali,  and  the  third  who  reigned  in 
Egypt.  IIo  ascended  the  throne,  A.  11.  386,  at  a  very  early  age ;  and 
after  some  years  of  fickle  and  inactive  government,  began  to  exhibit 
symptoms  of  the  wildest  madness,  combined  with  tlie  most  extrava- 
gant impiety.  His  official  acts  at  this  period  of  liis  reign,  as  recorded 
by  Makrizi,  are  pitiable  specimens  of  mingled  folly,  insanity,  and  wick- 
edness. In  one  of  hia  edicts  he  commanded  all  the  dogs  of  Cairo  to  be 
massacred ;  in  another  he  forbids  the  women  of  the  city  to  leave  tlieir 
homes  on  any  pretext  or  at  any  time.  On  one  day  he  required  that 
the  names  of  the  first  three  klialifs  sliould  be  cursed  at  public  worsliip, 
and  on  the  next  revoked  the  order.  In  one  decree  he  would  regulate 
with  minuteness  and  precision  the  distinctive  dress  to  be  worn  by 
Jews  and  Christians,  and  before  the  cliange  could  well  he  made,  would 
issue  another  altering  the  fashion  and  requiring  strict  obedience  upon 
pain  of  death.  As  his  malady  increased,  he  grew  restless,  and  passed 
whole  nights  in  pompons  marches  through  the  streets  of  Cairo,  requir- 
ing the  bazars  to  be  kept  open  and  the  shops  to  be  illuminated.  With 
an  intellect  thus  crazed,  and  under  the  influence  of  the  wild  specula- 
tions of  the  wildest  shiahs,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  unhappy  mon- 
arch became  a  tool  in  the  hands  of  ambitious  and  fanatical  impostors, 
who  availed  themselves  of  his  insanity,  to  forward  tlieir  oAvn  schemes 
of  proselytism  or  aggrandizement."  * 

So  far  as  I  am  able  to  ascertain,  he  wrote  no  more  for  the 
Repertory  that  year. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  know  precisely  when  Mr,  Alex- 

*  Bib.  Rep.  1829,  p.  218. 


^T.20.]  STUDY    OF    ARABIC.  201 

ander  commenced  the  study  of  Arabic.  It  was  probably 
even  before  he  had  mastered  the  Hebrew  grammar  prepared 
for  him  by  his  father,  that  is  when  he  was  a  very  little  boy. 
He  says  himself  it  was  when  he  was  nine  or  ten  years  old.* 
I  have  a  strong-  impression  that  he  found  an  old  Arabic  gram- 
mar on  a  shelf  in  "  the  study,"  or  else  in  the  litter  of  the  attic 
room  already  spoken  of,  and  that  he  had  familiarized  himself 
to  some  extent  with  its  outlandish  characters,  and,  I,  think 
gone  through  it  from  cover  to  cover,  beibre  any  member  of 
the  family  knew  that  he  was  acquainted  with  a  single  ortho- 
grapic  sign.  My  impression  is  that  I  Avas  told  so  by  a  near 
relative,  many  years  ago.  He  speaks  himself  of  his  "  early  and 
almost  unnatural  proclivity  to  oriental  studies  "  as  belonging 
to  the  period  of  his  "  boyish  dreams,"  and  says  that  he  con. 
tinned  his  laboui's  in  this  strange  field,  after  his  college  course, 
at  which  time  he  "  read  the  whole  of  the  Koran  in  Arabic,  and 
the  Old  Testament  in  Hebrew."  His  brother  James,  in  a  let- 
ter to  Dr.  Hall  dated  April  4,  1828,  announces  that  Addison 
had  then  just  completed  the  Koran  in  Arabic,  and  speaks  of 
it  as  a  work  which  few  had  as  yet  attempted  in  America. 
Soon  after  learning  Arabic,  he  took  up  Persian,  Syriac  and 
Chaldee,  but  exactly  at  what  time  or  in  what  order  I  cannot 

tell. 

The  journal  sheds  abundant  light  on  these  later  studies. 

His  first  entry  so  far  as  is  known  was  on  the  first  of  January 
of  that  year,  on  which  day,  as  we  have  seen,  his  portion  of 
Arabic  was  the  19th  sura  al  Koran.  The  same  day  he  read 
also  the  l9th  chapter  of  Exodus  in  Hebrew,  and  the  day  fol- 
lowing, the  20th  chapter  of  Exodus  in  Hebrew  and  the  16th 

*  Dr.  John  S.  Hart  has  substantially  confirmed  this  statement,  in  a  letter  to 
the  writer  of  these  pages.  He  saj'S,  "  The  department  of  linowledge  which  ho 
early  selected  was  that  of  language,  and  it  was  as  a  linguist  that  he  was  chiefly 
known.  While  reading  Arabic  with  him,  I  questioned  him  once  as  to  the 
origin  of  his  familiarity  with  that  copious  tongue.  He  told  me  he  began  the 
study  privately,  of  his  own  accord,  when  he  was  but  ten  years  old,  having 
found  accidentally  an  old  copy  of  the  Arabic  grammar  on  one  of  the  top  shelves 
of  his  father's  library.  He  seemed  as  familiar  with  the  Asiatic  tongues  as  with 
Latin  or  Greek." 

9* 


202  AN    OLD    TRADITION.  [1829. 

Ode  of  Hafiz  in  Persian  ;  and  this  in  addition  to  allotted  work 
in  Italian,  Latin,  Gorman,  Greek,  French  and  h^panish.  These 
records  would  seem  to  imply  some  previous  acquaintance  with 
the  Arabic  and  Persian.  There  can  he  no  doubt  that  he  was 
somewhat  versed  in  both  of  these  languages  from  a  very  early 
period  of  his  boyhood. 

There  is  a  tradition  still  current  among  the  old  students 
of  Princeton  Seminary  that  somewhere  about  the  year  1821  a 
prize  was  awarded  to  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  for  the  best 
essay  on  Arabic  literature,  and  that  the  fact  was  published  in 
the  newspapers.  The  story  runs,  that  alluding  to  the  matter, 
as  v/as  his  wont  when  any  thing  interested  him,  at  the  dinner- 
table,  Dr.  Alexander  expressed  unbounded  astonishment  that 
such  an  error  should  have  been  committed,  as  it  w^as  well 
known  that  he  possessed  no  special  acquaintance  with  the 
lano-uan-e  ;  whereupon  to  the  surprise  of  all  present  Addison, 
then  a  boy  of  twelve,  and  who  was  not  supposed  to  have 
studied  Arabic,  admitted  Avith  some  confusion  that  he  had 
written  the  article  in  question,  and  had  signed  it  A.  Alex- 
ander, never  dreaming  that  he  should  get  the  prize.  I  only 
mention  this  story  to  contradict  it.  There  is  certainly  not  a 
word  of  truth  in  it :  it  bears  its  own  refutation  on  its  face  ; 
though  in  different  forms  it  has  obtained  much  currency,  and 
has  been  repeated  in  my  hearing  by  a  number  of  highly  re- 
spectable clergymen.  The  young  scholar  would  hardly  have 
assumed  his  father's  name  in  print,  or  even  his  favourite  initial. 
Besides  this,  the  facts  if  true  would  have  been  treasured  in  the 
family.*     The  whole  thing  probably  grew  out  of  a  mistake  of 

*  Since  willing  the  above  I  have  received  the  following  account  of  the  mat- 
ter from  his  oldest  surviving  brother.  A  comparison  of  these  statements  with 
those  of  Dr.  Beach  Jones  will  probably  bring  out  the  full  truth  relative  to  the 
report  in  question  : 

"  The  ground  of  the  rumour  about  the  prize  es.^ay  was  doubtless  this. 
A  translation  from  the  Latin  made  by  him  was  published  in  the  Repertory,  then 
conducted  by  Prof.  Fatten  during  the  absence  of  Prof.  Hodge  in  Europe.  A 
Boston  Magazine  in  speaking  of  this  translation  attributed  it  to  Dr.  Archibald 
Alexander,  not  supposing  it  likely  to  be  the  production  of  a  youth  still  in  his 


^T.20.]  STUDY    OF    ARABIC.  203 

Mr.  Kobert  Walsh  with  rcgai'd  to  the  authorship  of  an  article 
in  the  American  Quarterly  Review  on  the  subject  of  Persian 
literature,  which  Avill  be  explained  presently.  This  article 
was  written  by  the  son,  though  at  a  somewhat  later  period, 
and  was  attributed  by  Mr.  Walsh  to  the  father.  It  is  quite 
certain,  however,  that  Addison  was  somewhat  acquainted 
with  Arabic  literature  at  twelve  years  of  age ;  perhaps  better 
acquainted  with  it  than  many  who  were  at  that  time  regarded 
as  learned  men.  It  is  absolutely  certain  that  he  had  studied 
both  Arabic  and  Persian  to  some  degree,  and  probably  also 
Chaldee  and  Syriae,  before  he  entered  college. 

An  intimate  friend  says,  in  an  editorial  notice  of  his  death 
in  the  Central-Presbyterian,  "From  his  childhood  he  exhibited 
the  rarest  talent.  His  father  removed  to  Princeton  in  1812, 
and  evincing  even  at  that  early  age  great  fondness  for  study, 
he  was  allowed  to  take  his  own  course.  From  ten  to  twelve  he 
commenced  the  study  of  the  Arabic,  and  before  fourteen  years 
of  age  had  read  the  Koran."  Dr.  Moore  has  good  authority 
for  these  statements,  *  though,  as  we  have  seen,  Addison  did 
not  complete  the  Koran  until  he  was  nineteen.  The  alleged 
date  of  his  commencement  of  the  study  is  doubtless  sufficiently 
exact.  Mr.  Alexander's  own  expression  is  "nine  or  ten." 
Dr.  Moore  is  of  the  impression  that  he  commenced  the  study 
of  Persian  very  soon  afterwards,  and  in  this  opinion  I  agree 
with  him.  Indeed  he  must  have  done  so,  if  we  are  to  account 
upon  any  intelligible  hypothesis  for  the  commonest  entries  in 
his  diary. 

It  is  a  sad  commentary  upon  the  evanescence  of  fame  that 

minority.  The  article  may  be  found  in  one  of  the  numbers  of  the  Repertory 
for  1827." 

It  is  a  translation  from  the  younger  Turretin,  and  will  be  found  in  the  vol- 
ume of  the  Biblical  Repertory  for  that  year,  p.  ITS.  The  writer  was  at  that 
time  eighteen  years  old. 

*  Dr.  Hall  in  the  Funeral  Sermon.  Dr.  Hall  writes  that  he  cannot  vouch 
for  the  minute  accuracy  of  these  statements,  having  merely  spoken  to  the  best 
of  his  recollection  on  these  and  similar  points. 


204  ROBERT    WALSH.  [1829 

the  name  of  such  a  man  as  the  editor  of  the  Pliiladelphia  Ga- 
zette and  American  Quarterly  should  now  be  strange  to 
many  who  think  themselves  versed  in  the  literature  of  the 
day.  Mr.  Kobert  Walsh  may  be  said  to  have  been  at  one 
time  the  prince  of  elegant  letters  in  this  country.  He  was  the 
pioneer  of  that  robust  American  scholarship  which  has  since 
made  itself  felt  to  the  extremities  of  Europe.  His  great 
work  in  defence  of  America  against  England*  is  one  of  the 
most  vigorous  and  cogent  arguments  that  has  ever  been  pen- 
ned. He  was  a  close  student  and  happy  imitator  of  the 
Latin  classics.  His  knowledge  of  current  literature  in  the 
various  languages  of  the  Continent  was  amazing.  His  English 
style  seems  to  have  been  influenced  by  that  of  Canning,  for 
whose  talents  as  a  writer  he  entertained  an  extravagant  ad- 
miration. It  has  been  said  of  Macaulay  that  he  is  almost  the 
only  master  of  modern  English  who  has  left  no  sentence  that 
cannot  be  strictly  parsed.  The  same  high  praise  is  perhaps 
due  to  Mr.  Walsh.f  He  was  in  his  generation  honoured  by 
the  crowned  sovereigns  of  France,  and  performed  his  part  in 
the  cultivated  society  of  the  French  capitol  with  grace  and 
dio-nity,  and  with  a  singular  measure  of  aftable  tact  and  savoir 
/aire.  He  was  the  Maecenas  I  of  tasteful  art  in  every  form,  in 
an  age  that  did  not  lack  its  Maros.     He  encouraged  every 

*  The  title-page  now  before  me  runs  as  follows  : 

"An  Appeal  from  the  Judgments  of  Great  Britain  respecting  the  United 
States  of  America.  Part  First.  Containing  an  Historical  Outline  of  their  Merits 
and  Wrongs  as  Colonies ;  and  Strictures  upon  the  Calumnies  of  the  British 
Writers.     By  Robert  Walsh,  Jr. 

'Quod  quisque  fecit,  patitur:  autorem  scelua 
Repetit,  suoqae  premitur  exemplo  nocens.— ^ewec. 

"  Second  Edition :  Philadelphia,  puljlished  by  Mitchell,  Ames  &  White 
William  Brown,  Printer,  1819," 

f  Mr.  Walsh  is  described  by  Dr.  Hall  as  being  a  man  below  the  medium 
height,  with  sandy  hair  and  a  dignified,  intellectual  face.     He  wore  spectacles. 

\  "Sunt  Mreccnatcs,  non  deerunt,  Flacci  Maroncs."— i/ar/k/,  8.  56. 


^T.  20.]  OPINIONS    OF    HIM.  205 

honourable  aspirant,  and  many  a  modest  young  man  owed  his 
success  in  life  to  this  generous  protection.  Mr.  "Walsh  was 
not  slow  to  perceive  merit ;  and  was  one  of  the  first  to  give  a 
helping  hand  to  the  two  sons  of  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander,  who 
were  then  just  struggling  into  print.  His  letters  to  the  elder 
of  these  youths  are  full  of  kindness  and  wise  counsel.  There 
is  an  admirable  and  aflTectionate  account  of  him  in  the  pages 
of  the  Princeton  Magazine,*  which  is  the  work  of  his  friend 
Dr.  Hall  of  Trenton. 

There  are  numerous  allusions  to  the  great  litterateur,  in  the 
Familiar  Letters  to  Dr.  Hall.  Writing  from  Trenton,  May  4, 
1829,  his  correspondent  says: 

"  I  entei'tain  lively  anticipations  with  regard  to  the  results  of  your 
introduction  to  the  modern  Johnson.  There  are  few  meu  ia  the  coun- 
try whose  acquaintance  would  be  a  greater  prize.  May  you  have  many 
profitable  and  pleasant  hours  in  his  conversazioni.  I  hope  that  you 
will  come  forth  from  the  den  of  lions,  unscathed  as  Daniel." 

Again,  April  17,  1835,  he  says: 

"  I  shall  miss  Walsh  very  much  if  he  goes  abroad,  for  his  pithy 
paragraphs  have  become  a  necessary  condiment." 

On  another  occasion  he  points  out  a  single  error  in  Walsh's 
English,  viz.,  the  saying  "I  doubt  <Aa^,"  for  "  I  doubt  whether^ 
(Vol.  I.  p.  246.)  On  still  another  occasion,  writing  from 
Princeton,  he  says  : 

"  I  would  subscribe  two  prices  for  a  bona  fide  old-time  Walshian 
gazette.     I  owe  something  to  that  man. 

"  '  But  why  then  publish  ?    Granville  the  polite 

And  knowing  Wahh  would  tell  me  I  could  write.'  " — Pope. 

Writing  from  Charlotte  Court-House,  Oct.  27,  1840,  soon 
after  a  visit  to  the  University  of  Virginia,  he  says : 

*  Princeton  Magazine,  p.  361.  The  single  volume  of  this  periodical  has 
been  long  out  of  print. 


206  WALSH    IN    PARIS.  [1829. 

"Their  professors  do  more,  especially  in  the  way  of  lecture,  than 
any  I  know.  Bonnycastle  is  a  wonderful  man  for  genius  and  learning. 
Tucker  is  a  man  of  elegant  EngUsh  gontlemanliood ;  just  like  Walsh  in 
the  cast  of  his  mind,  and  his  talk." 

Still  again  lie  writes  to  Dr.  Hall: 

"  One  of  the  few  things  I  can  read  is  Walsh's  Letters  to  the  National 
Intelligencer." 

And  on  Jan.  6,  1843: 

"Walsh  writes  with  as  much  vigour  and  pith  as  ever  for  the  National 
Intelligencer.  He  gave  Baird  a  grand /m  dejoie  in  his  last.  His  health 
is  quite  good." 

And  in  1844  he  writes,  still  in  the  same  strain  : 

"  I  rejoice  that  Walsh  has  the  Consulship.  *  *  I  never  tire  of  his 
«n«,  which  are  copious  during  the  vacation  of  Congress." 

And  in  1846  : 

"  Walsh's  letters  in  the  National  Intelligencer  are  equal  to  his  test 
days." 

On  the  30th  of  June,  18.51,  we  have  the  following  interest- 
ing entry  in  the  epistolary  journal  kept  hy  the  older  brother 
when  he  was  in  Paris  : 

"Mr.  Walsh  has  gone  out  to  St.  Germain-en-Laze.  He  sent  me  a 
most  warm  and  characteristic  letter,  mistaldng  me  for  Addison,  and 
went  to  the  Director  of  the  National  (once  Eoyal)  Library,  and  re- 
quested that  I  might  le  introduced  to  the  principal  Orientalists  of 
Parish  * 

It  was  with  unalloyed  pleasure  that  the  vigorous  and  kind- 
hearted  old  man  looked  back  years  after  upon  the  start  of 
these  young  writers,  whom  he  had  helped  on  to  fame. 

It  was  doubtless  with  a  certain  sense  of  satisfaction  that 
Mr.  Alexander  found  that  his  venturous  efforts  in  unaccus- 

*  The  Italics  are  mine 


.Ex.  20.]  RECOLLECTIONS    OF   DR.    JONES.  207 

tomed  fields  of  literature  were  not  slighted  by  the  famous 
Philadelphia  critic,  but  were  inserted  among  the  essays  of 
well-known  scholars,  and  suffered  to  make  their  way  in  the 
world,  under  the  most  favourable  auspices.  Little  did  he 
know,  however,  what  a  sensation  he  had  created  in  the  higher 
circles  of  American  criticism.  A  thrill  of  surprise  would  no 
doubt  have  shot  through  his  heart,  if  he  had  been  informed 
of  the  tenns  in  which  the  terrible  and  fastidious  Mr.  Walsh 
was  speaking  of  his  contributions,  and  especially  those  on 
Oriental  studies  and  literature.  No  further  evidence  is  needed 
of  Mr.  Alexander's  great  proficiency  at  this  time  in  Arabic 
and  Persian,  and  indeed  the  Oriental  languages  in  general, 
than  will  result  from  a  simple  perusal  of  his  very  earliest 
printed  articles  on  these  subjects.  These  efforts  werg  univer- 
sally admired  for  the  "reach  of  scholarship  "  they  displayed 
and  their  comprehensive  yet  easy  mastery  of  the  topics  han- 
dled. Astonishment  was  expressed  that  so  much  genius  and 
learning  had  lain  so  long  perdu  and  almost  unsuspected.  The 
reminiscences  which  immediately  follow  are  from  the  pen  of 
Dr.  S.  B.  Jones  of  Bridgeton,  jST.  J.  Referring  to  the  subject 
of  this  biographic  ouiline,  he  says  : 

"  My  earliest  acqiiaiutance  with  the  fame  of  this  illustrious  man. 
dates  back  as  far  as  tlie  year  1831.  In  the  fall  of  that  year  I  removed 
to  Princeton ;  where  I  resided  for  four  years.  Young  as  Mr.  Alexander 
was  -when  I  went  to  Princeton"  [twenty-two  years  old],  "lie  had  even 
then  acquired  the  reputation  of  a  prodigy  in  scholarship,  and  especially 
in  bis  acquaintance  with  Oriental  languages  and  literature." 

Among  the  articles  furnished  by  him  for  the  American 
Quarterly  Review,  edited  by  Mr.  Walsh  of  Philadelphia,  was 
one  on  the  Persian  Language  or  Literature.*  The  number  of 
the  Review  containing  this  article  the  writer  of  the  recollec- 

*  "Mr.  Alexander  reviewed  Mohammedan  History  in  the  American  Quar- 
terly Review,  March  1830,  and  the  Gulistan  of  Sadi,  and  Anthou's  Horace,  in 
September  1830." — Forty  Years'  Familiar  Letters  of  J.  W.  Alexander,  D.  D. 
Yol.  L,  p.  185. 

The  article  on  the  Gulistan  may  be  the  one  referred  to  by  Pr.  Jones.     If 


208  AN   INCIDENT.  ri829. 

tions  I  am  now  using  has  luifortnnately  lost:  but  lie  weil  re- 
members reading  it  with  wonder  and  admiration  ;  and  was  in- 
duced to  peruse  it  by  the  following  incident,  which  goes  to 
show  the  maturity  of  Mr.  Alexander's  views,  as  well  as  the 
extent  of  his  erudition,  at  a  very  early  age. 

Mr.  Walsh  was  professedly  a  Romanist,  but  of  a  Ration- 
alistic type.     It  i&  Dr.  Jones's  judgment  that  as  such  he  could 
have  little  affinity  for  so  decided  a  Protestant  and  so  prom- 
inent a  Calvinistic  divine  as  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander ;  while 
for  various  reasons  he  was  inclined  to  depreciate  and  stand 
aloof  from  Presbyterians.     I  give  the  rest  in  his  own  words  : 
"Upon    one    occasion,    after    expressing    to    a    friend    dis- 
paraging  opinions  of  the  Presbyterian  clergy,  he  remarked 
that   there  was   one   Presbyterian   minister  with  whom  he 
would  like  to  be  personally  acquainted;  and  this  was  Dr. 
Alexander  of  Princeton.     Somewhat  surprised  that  Dr.  Alex- 
ander should  possess  attractions  for  one  of  such  opposite  views 
and  tastes  as  Robert  Walsh,  the  friend  enquired  his  reasons  ; 
when  Mr.  Walsh  replied,  that  '  he  was  so  rare  and  eminent  an 
Orientalist.'     Knowing    that    Dr.  Alexander    was    not  pre- 
eminent in  this  department,  tbe  friend  informed  him  that  he 
must  have  confounded  Dr.  Alexander's  son  with  his  father ; 
that  the  younger  Alexander  was  familiar  with  several  Oriental 
languages  with  which  the  father  had  no  acquaintance.     Mr. 
Walsh,  however,  questioned  the  correctness  of  his  friend's 
opinion,  on  the  ground  that  the  article,  or  articles,  sent  to  his 
Review  evinced  a  maturity  of  mind  and  a  thoroughness  and 
reach  of  scholarship  which  clearly  indicated  that  they  had 
been  written  by  an  old  rather  than  by  a  young  scholar."  * 
The  letter  I  am  now  to  give,  from  Mr.  Alexander  to  Mr. 

not,  all  trace  of  it  is  now  lost.  The  Doctor  has  since  informed  me  that  my 
conjecture  as  to  the  missing  number  is  correct,  and  that  the  only  gap  in  the 
series  is  for  September  1830 ;  •which  seems  to  put  the  question  at  rest.  If 
there  were  another  link  necessary  to  the  chain  of  demonstration  it  is  furnished 
by  Dr.  Hart  of  Trenton,  who  has  seen  the  article  on  "  Gnlistan  and  S;idi "  in 
the  Philadelphia  Library,  and  says  it  is  in  the  number  in  question. 

*  One  of  Mr.  Alexander's  brothers  writes  :  "  I  know  nothing  of  the  article 


^T.20.]  CONTRIBUTIONS.  209 

Hall,  refers  to  another  contribution  from  the  pen  of  the  for- 
mer, and  which  I  take  to  be  the  same  which  is  mentioned  in 
the  Familiar  Letters  under  title  of  "  Mohammedan  History."  f 
Mr.  Walsh  was  evidently  much  pleased  with  it. 

"  Deae  Sir, 

"  I  have  just  received  your  obliging  letter  dated  yesterday,  for  which 
accept  my  thanks.  I  am  heartily  cliagrined  and  sorry,  that  my  evil 
fortune  should  have  led  me  to  write  upon  a  subject  any  how  allied  to 
that  selected  by  an  abler  writer,  and  then  to  aggravate  the  evil  by 
adopting  the  same  text.     It  will  certainly  look  very  strange  to  have 

to  which  you  refer.  «  *  *  From  the  first  establishment  of  the  American 
Quarterly  Review,  my  brothers  James  and  Addison  were  regular  contributors, 
and  the  articles  forwarded  by  them  were  varied  aud  numerous.  They  had  at 
an  earlier  day  contributed  ardcles  to  the  columns  of  the  National  Gazette,  a 
paper  established  and  edited  by  Mr.  Walsh.  I  imagine  that  the  desire  of  Mr. 
Walsh  to  meet  Dr.  Alexander,  was  not  caused  particularly  by  the  article  to 
which  you  allude.  Mr.  Walsh  spent  his  life  in  a  state  of  bewilderment  on  this 
subject,  always  confounding  the  father  with  the  sons.  He  would  write  to  my 
father  on  the  subject  of  articles  furnished  by  my  brothers,  and  sometimes  sent 
him  a  cheque  in  payment  for  articles  written  by  them.  There  is  no  person 
living  who  is  fully  informed  on  the  subject  of  these  early  contributions  except 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Hall  of  Trenton.  Dr.  Hall  then  resided  in  Philadelphia,  and  I  am 
under  the  impression  that  all  articles  passed  through  his  hands  on  their  way  to 
Mr.  Walsh.  The  subject  of  Persian  Literature  was  a  favourite  one  with  Addi- 
son. I  think  that  long  before  the  establishment  of  the  American  Quarterly  he 
furnished  an  article  on  the  subject  to  the  Philadelphia  Monthly  Magazine,  a 
periodical  published  and  edited  by  Dr.  J.  C.  Snowden  in  1827  or  '28.  This  was 
hnmediately  after  his  graduation.  A  series  of  Persian  Proverbs  and  an  article 
on  the  Persian  Language  were  also  written  by  him  and  published  in  the  Prince- 
ton Magazine." 

The  article  in  the  Princeton  Magazine  on  the  Persian  Language  not  only 
gives  a  sketch  of  its  grammatical  peculiarities  but  also  of  its  relations  to  the 
Semitic  and  the  Indo-European  Group.  The  article  is  short,  and  so  far  as 
the  nature  of  the  subject  would  admit,  eminently  popular.  The  other  contribu- 
tion to  the  Princeton  Magazine  is  nothing  but  a  string  of  translated  proverbs. 

Dr.  Hall  thus  alludes  to  the  point,  in  a  letter  dated  March  27,  1867 :  "  You 
refer  to  his  connexion  with  Mr.  Walsh  and  the  American  Quarterly  (not  North 
American)  Review.  I  do  not  think  this  went  beyond  his  furnishing  a  few 
articles.     I  know  that  Walsh  was  always  confounding  the  three  Alexanders." 

•}•  Vid.  sup. 


210  LETTEll    TO    DR.    HALL.  [1829. 

two  nominal  reviews  of  the  same  work  in  a  single  number.  I  have 
even  felt  some  disposition  to  withdraw  my  article  ;  but  if  the  editor  is 
content  to  have  such  a  duplicate,  I  suppose  I  miglit  as  well  agree  to  it. 
The  English  of  the  titles  is  as  follows  : 

1.  Thousand  and  One  Nights,  in  Arabic,  &c.  Edited  by  Dr.  M. 
Habicht. 

2.  Thousand  and  One  Nights,  translated  in  full  by  M.  Ilabicht, 
von  der  Ilagen,  and  K.  Schall. 

The  running  title  might  be  '  Rise  and  Progress  of  the  Khalifat.' 

"With  respect  to  the  sheets,  I  entrust  them  cheerfully  to  your  iu- 
spection  if  you  will  undei-take  the  task. 

I  must  beg  to  have  two  notes  inserted,  which  are  wanting  in  the 
ilS.  I  cannot  designate  the  proper  place  of  either,  but  leave  that  to 
your  judgment.  The  first  relates  to  the  opinion  expressed  of  the 
character  of  the  Koran,  and  is  in  these  words.  'It  may  be  asked  how 
this  view  of  the  case  is  to  be  reconciled  with  the  enthusiastic  admira- 
tion of  the  Koran  as  a  literary  composition,  which  prevails  among  Mo- 
hammedans. The  answer  is,  that  its  merit,  in  their  eyes,  or  rather  in 
their  ears,  is  altogether  metrical  and  musical.  To  use  the  words  of  a 
distinguished  orientalist :  '  Sa  superiorite  consiste  moins  dans  I'invention 
et  dans  les  images,  que  dans  le  charme  inexprimable  de  la  diction,  dans 
I'admirable  harmonic  du  rythme,  et  dans  le  retour  des  rimes  redoublees, 
qui  produisent  un  si  grand  effet  sur  une  oreille  arabe.'  (Von  Ham- 
mer.) The  writer,  whom  we  quote,  cites  this,  indeed,  as  a  proof  of 
genius.     To  ns  it  is  just  the  contrary ;  but  we  cannot  enlarge. 

The  other  has  reference  to  the  remarks  upon  the  Arabic  historians. 
There  are  no  doubt  some  exceptions  to  this  sweeping  censure  of  these, 
Abulfeda  and  Abulfaraj  are  among  the  most  respectable. 

I  cannot  conclude  without  again  lamenting  my  ill  luck  in  seizing 
upon  the  Arabian  Nights  as  a  victim,  at  the  same  time  with  another 
Clitic.  It  has  frightened  me  effectually  out  of  all  the  oriental  articles 
which  I  had  projected.  The  ground  is  pre-occupied  and  I  relinquish 
it.     Excuse  my  detaining  you  so  long  upon  so  slight  a  subject. 

Yours,  respectfully, 

J.  Addison  Alexander. 
Princeton,  K  /.,  Oct.  14,  1829." 

The  two  1)1011101-8  wrote  a  few  articles  for  the  National 
Gazette  under  the  same  signature,  that  of  "  Didymus."  *    It  is 

*  Dr.  Uall  referriug  to  the  articles  of  "  Didymus  "  in  the  Gazette,  of  which 


Mt.W.2  .  ARTICLE    ON    COFFEE.  211 

likely  enough  these  articles  were  remembered  by  the  editor  as 
those  of  their, father.  One  of  these  essays  is  before  nie  now, 
and  is  entitled  "  Coffee."  *  It  appeared  in  the  number  of  the 
paper  which  was  issued  on  the  31st  of  October  1829,  and  is 
complimented,  together  with  another  of  the  series  styled 
'  Plautus,'  in  one  of  Mr.  Walsh's  pithy  editorial  paragraphs, 
in  the  words  following,  to  wit : 

"  We  thank  the  author  of  the  curious  commun'cation  on  Coffee, 
which  we  ourselves  honour  the  most  among  the  berries.  It  is  the 
'slow  poisoa'  that  vivified  Voltaire's  wit  until  the  age  of  ninety,  and 
would  have  inspireil  Lord  Byron  longer  and  better  tlian  his  favourite 
spirit  of  the  juniper.  We  can  never  pardon  those  who  degrade  the 
sovereign  grain  by  giving  its  name  to  a  powder  of  rye.  TIjc  excellent 
essay  on  Plautvs,  with  the  same  signature  as  that,  of  the  article  on 
Coffee,  shall  appear  next  week." 

tliis  one  on  Coffee  was  one,  testifies  that  the  two  brothers  wrote  under  the 
same  sign;iture.  The  article  on  Coffee,  however,  I  am  assured  by  another 
gentleman  was  by  the  elder  brother.     The  former  says : 

"  Your  father  and  uncle  undertook  to  write  for  the  National  Gazette  of 
Philadelphia  (Mr.  Walsh's)  both  under  that  signature.  I  do  not  remember 
whether  it  went  further  than  this  on  '  Coffee,'  and  two  by  your  father ;  one  on 
'  Plautus ' — which,  with  some  other  of  his  (James's)  articles  in  the  Gazette,  &c., 
I  find  copies  of." 

*  The  Coffee  article  is  a  lively  recital  of  the  causes  leading  to  the  condemna- 
tion of  this  beverage  in  the  Koran,  and  winds  up  with  an  old  Sheikh's  expres- 
sion of  wonder  that  it  should  be  possible  '  to  extract  from  a  husk  such  an 
exquisite  drink  with  the  odour  of  musk  and  the  colour  of  ink." 


CHAPTER  YI. 

In  the  month  of  November  1829,  Prof.  Robert  Patton 
opened  a  high-school  in  Princeton,  and  Addison  Alexander, 
then  a  youth  of  nineteen,  became  the  teacher  of  Latin,  Modern 
and  Ancient  History,  Ancient  Geography  and  Composition. 
As  no  man,  with  one  exception,  had  more  influence  than  Mr. 
Patton  in  moulding  his  intellectuarcharacter,  a  notice  of  that 
gentleman  will  not  be  out  of  place  here. 

Robert  Bridges  Patton,  the  man  to  whom  Mr.  Alexander 
was  so  deeply  indebted  in  his  philological  studies,  Avas  the  son 
of  a  gentleman  who  had  been  at  one  time  the  post-master  of 
Philadelphia.  He  studied  law  with  Alexander  James  Dallas, 
and  afterwards  (in  1814)  entered  Middlebury  College.  He  was 
graduated  at  Yale  in  181V.  Soon  after  his  graduation  he  was 
appointed  tutor  at  Middlebury.  In  1818  he  sailed  for  Europe, 
and  spent  some  time  at  the  German  Universities,  and  on  his 
return  was  appointed  Professor  at  Middlebury.  In  1825  .he 
received  the  appointment  of  Professor  of  Languages  in  the 
College  of  New  Jersey,  a  position  he  held  till  1829,  when  he 
resigned  and  set  up  the  Edgehill  School.  This  school  was 
most  successful,  and  he  abandoned  it  when  in  its  most  suc- 
cessful state.  After  leaving  Edgehill  he  became  an  enthusiast 
in  Natural  History  and  especially  Ornithology,  and  soon  after 
an  equally  great  enthusiast  in  Anatomy.  While  at  Edgehill 
he  put  forth  an  edition  of  Donnegan's  Greek  Lexicon,  in  the 
preparation  of  which  the  principal  burden  of  the  work  fell 
to  the  share  of  his  gifted  associate,  Addison  Alexander.  In 
1833  Mr.  Patton  sailed  for  Europe,  and  returned  in  1834  in 
the  ship  with  Mr.  Alexander.  On  his  return  he  was  appointed 
Greek  professor  in  the  University  of  New  York.     He  was  un- 


^T.  20.]  BECOMES    A    TEACHER.  213 

doubtedly  a  learned  man,  though  his  learning  was  confined 
mainly  to  the  ancient  and  modern  languages  and  natural 
history. 

In  regard  to  Mr.  Alexander's  connection  with  the  prepara- 
tion of  a  new  edition  of  Donnegan's  Greek  Lexicon,*  the  Rev. 
S.  B.  Jones,  D.  D.  of  Bridgeton,  N.  J.,  writes : 

"  ITow  well  he  Lad  established  his  reputation  as  a  Grecist  is  proved 
by  the  fact  that  so  distinguished  a  scholar  as  Profe?sor  R,  B.  Patton, 
in  preparing  liis  first  American  edition  of  Donnegan's  Greek  Lexicon, 
sought  the  assistance  of  this  precocious  young  man  ;  of  whom  in  his 
Preface,  dated  June  13th,  1832,  he  thus  speaks :  '  I  have  received  also 
much  valuable  assistance  from  my  esteemed  friend,  Prof.  J.  A.  Alex- 
ander of  Nassau  Hall ;  and  while  I  make  my  most  grateful  acknowledg- 
ments of  his  ssrvices,  cannot  but  regret  that  much  of  his  assiduous  and 
faithful  labour  was  in  a  measure  lost ;  inasmuch  as  the  second  English 
edition  had  anticipated  to  such  an  extent  the  additional  articles  pre- 
pared for  the  American  edition.'  " 

An  account  of  the  sort  of  work  it  was  which  is  hero  briefly 
alluded  to  will  he  found  in  the  young  professor's  diary  for 
that  period.  German  scholarship  was  ransacked  by  the  as 
yet  unknown  critic  and  made  to  yield  many  valuable  additions 
to  the  improvements  suggested  by  the  American  labourer. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  year  1829,  the  Rev.  Isaac  V.  Brown, 
the  principal  of  a  classical  school  at  Lawrenceville,  N.  J.,  had 
invited  Mr.  Alexander  to  become  the  teacher  of  Greek  in  his 
academy.  This  invitation  he  accepted  conditionally,  but  never 
entered  upon  the  work.  It  nevertheless  stimulated  him  to  lay 
the  foundation  of  that  wonderful  knowledge  of  Greek,  which 
in  connection  with  his  Biblical  studies,  and  especially  the 
study  of  the  New  Testament,  was  the  glory  of  his  life. 

A  gentleman  who  often  walked  the  streets  of  Princeton  in 
those  days,f  thus  writes,  in  a  letter  from  which  a  few  extracts 
are  taken : 

*  See  Donnegan's  Greek  and  English  Lexicon :  Boston,  HiUiard,  Gray  & 
Co, ;  New  York,  G.  &  C.  Carvill  &  Co. 

f  The  Rev.  J.  B.  Adger,  D.D.,  now  a  professor  in  Columbia  Seminary,  S.  C, 
but  then  a  student  at  Princeton. 


214  THE    EAST.  C1829. 

"I  had  no  personal  aoqniiintance  with  Mr.  Alexander  except  of  the 
slightest  kind.  But  I  well  remember  the  reverence  I  liad  for  him  as  a 
great  scholar  even  when  he  was  a  young  man,  and  I  was  a  boush  stu- 
dent at  riinceton  Sem:nary  in  1829-S3.  He  was  at  that  time  I  be- 
lieve not  even  a  pr<  fessor  of  religion,  but  we  all  knew  th;it  he  was 
skilled  in  the  Oriental  tongues,  and  a  thorough  Biblical  critic.  How 
often  have  I  gazed  in  admiration  at  the  mysterious  recluse  who  once  in 
a  couple  of  months  perhaps  crossed  my  track  as  at  long  intervals  ho 
took  his  unaccustomed  walk.  They  said  of  him  that  he  was  full  of  fun 
among  children,  but  neither  men  nof  boys,  so  far  as  I  know,  could 
approach  him.  And  I  bc-lieve  he  had  hardly  any  lady  acquaintances. 
He  was  deep  in  love  with  books,  and  his  communion  was  with  the 
mighty  dead  and  in  outlandish  tongues.  The  church  in  these  days  has 
had  few  such  lights  as  Addison  Alexander." 

But  fortunately  on  some  of  these  points  wc  have  a  better 
witness  than  has  yet  been  brought  to  the  stand,  and  the  only 
one  who  could  speak  with  absolute  decision— I  mean  Mr. 
Alexander  himself.  I  here  insert  out  of  chronological  order 
a  letter  to  his  brother  James,  which  covers  in  a  general  way 
all  this  ground,  and  darts  a  strong  and  steady  light  into 
the  past  and  into  the  future.  It  certainly  makes  the  period 
of  which  I  am  now  treating,  brightly  luminous.  This  letter, 
to  change  the  figure,  is  indeed  the  master  key  to  the  writer's 
intellectual  history.  It  derives  a  peculiar  interest  from  the 
fact  that  it  was  written  on  the  completion  of  his  half-century, 
and  only  a  few  months  before  his  brother's  death.  From  it 
we  gather,  what  we  should  not  otherwise  have  known,  that 
he  really  thought  at  one  t'.me  of  emvdating  Lane  and  Burck- 
hardt,  and  becoming  a  denizen  of  the  East  ("not  New-Eng- 
land but  cn^sn,"  perhaps)  in  the  garb  of  a  turbaned  sheikh, 
and  that  he  was  originally  impelled  to  form  this  purpose  not 
from  any  fervour  of  piety,  but  simply  and  solely  to  study  the 
languages  and  become  acquainted  with  the  scenery  and  man- 
ners. The  joke  about  his  fear  lest  the  Moslems  should  be 
Christianized  before  he  got  there,  will  be  enjoyed  with  a 
relish  impossible  in  other  cases,  by  those  who  were  thor. 
oughly  acquainted    with  the   writer,  and   can   remember  his 


^T.20.]  EARLY    DREAMS.  215 

quick,  lialf-bashful  utterance  at  such  times,  and  the  quizzical 
gleam  of  his  eye.  He  informed  one  of  his  connections  subse- 
quently that  he  had  at  one  time  intended  going  to  one  of  thece 
countries  as  a  missionary,  and  was  only  deterred  from  doing 
so  by  the  strenuous  exertions  of  one  of  his  most  valued  friends. 
This  must  have  been  at  a  somewhat  later  period,  for  he  says 
that  he  was  not  actuated  at  this  time  by  any  zeal  for  souls. 
Whether  his  usefulness  in  the  Church  would  or  would  not 
have  been  impaired  by  such  a  step,  it  is  impossible  for  man  to 
determine  ;  he  himself  did  not  undertake  to  decide.  If  he 
had  gone  to  Constantinople,  or  India,  or  Persia,  it  is  hardly 
a  frivolous  thought  that  the  fame  of  such  Orientalists  as  Sir 
William  Jones  and  Eli  Smith  might  have  been  equalled — pos- 
siblj^  eclipsed  ;  or  if  he  had  ventured  to  penetrate,  like  Burck- 
hardt,  in  disguise  into  the  strong  fastnesses  of  Idumea,  or  like 
Carsten  Niebuhr  and  Palgrave  to  plunge  into  the  depths  of 
the  Arabian  Desert,  it  would  not  be  difficult  to  believe  that 
with  his  store  of  proverbs,  his  rich  acquaintance  with  the 
Koran,  his  knowledge  of  Eastern  history  and  geography,  his 
early  sympathy  with  the  Mussulman's  tastes  and  feelings,  his 
strong  imagination,  and  his  glowing  eloquence,  he  might  have 
shaken  the  souls  of  the  sons  of  Esau  or  thrilled  the  wild  heart 
of  the  Bedouin,  v/itli  emotions  to  which  they  had  before  been 
strangers.  Who  knows  how  many  poor  Mohammedans  he 
might  not  have  succeeded  in  turning  from  the  crescent  to  the 
cross,  and  in  bringing  them  to  a  better  and  more  perfect  know- 
ledge of  him  whom  they  already  honour  under  the  title  of 
"  Issa  Ben  Mariam  "  ?  But  it  is  idle  to  speculate  about  such 
things.  The  past  is  irrevocable,  and  few  would  in  this  in- 
stance wish  it  recalled.  The  sorrow  of  the  romantic  youth 
Avhen  he  turned  away  from  this  dream  (for  whether  to  be 
lamented  or  not,  it  was  nothing  but  a  dream),  was  as  short- 
lived as  that  of  his  namesake  when  his  advisers  restrained  him 
from  crossing  the  Ganges,  and  pushing  his  victories  into  the 
heart  of  India.  There  were  more  smiling  fields  to  be  entered 
and  other  memorable  trophies  to  be  won.  The  joy  of  new 
and  successful  achievements  in   a   very  different   quarter  of 


216  STUDY   OF    GREEK.  ti829. 

the  hemisphere  soon  obliterated  every  trace  of  despondency 
from  his  mind,  if  any  such  remained,  with  regard  to  the  burst- 
ing of  this  bubble. 

It  should  seem,  however,  from  this  letter  that  notwith- 
standing his  lingering  admiration  for  the  literatures  of  the 
East,  our  student  at  the  time  to  which  it  mainly  refers  had 
already  given  himself,  heart  and  soul,  to  the  study  of  that 
noble  language  which  has  embalmed  forever  the  thoughts  of 
Homer,  and  Herodotus,  and  Xenophon.  This  was  owing  in 
part  to  the  influence  of  Professor  Patton  and  of  the  Edgehill 
school,  with  which  Mr.  Alexander  Avas  now  connected,  and 
perhaps  still  more  to  the  more  thorough  acquaintance  with 
Greek  which  he  obtained  in  preparing  himself  to  be  a  teacher 
of  that  language  in  Mr.  I.  V.  Brown's  school,  a  position  how- 
ever which  he  never  filled;  as  well  as  to  other  causes  which 
are  detailed  in  the  letter. 

The  Greek  grammar  and  lexicon  now  became  his  constant 
companions;  and  a  translation  of  parts  of  Passow  for  the  new 
edition  of  Donnegan,  greatly  improved  his  previous  acquamt- 
ance  with  the  vocabulary  and  idiom.   This  change  of  tastes  was 
not  suspected  by  his  friends  generally,  and  yet,  when  he  was 
appointed  tutor  in  the  Seminary  (as  he  tells  us  himself)  he 
"  had  already  left  his  first  love  for  a  second,"  and  reproached 
himself  for  not  making  this  fact  known  to  the  Board.     Hence, 
as  he  thinks,  he  "  began  his  course  with  a  divided  heart,"  and 
though  he  liked  the  Hebrew,  he  greatly  prei'erred  the  Greek,  and 
in  pSvate  devoted  to  it  a  large  part  of  his  time  and  strength. 
Few  will  agree  with  him  in  supposing  that  he  did  wrong  thus 
to  follow  the  strong  bent  of  his  genius  and  feelings,  or  that 
the  hours  taken  from  the  Oriental  languages  which  he  had 
already  mastered,  were  misapplied.     If  this  be  idleness,  or 
"unfaithfulness  to  official  obligations,"  would  that  we  had 
more  of  it !     There  is  singular  modesty  and  an  inimitable 
7ia:ivet'6  in  these  surprising  confessions.     In  the  remarkable 
autobiographical  document  which  is  now  to  be  spread  before 
the  reader,  the  writer  lays  his  whole  heart  bare  to  the  inquisi- 
tive and  impartial  eye  of  his  sick  brother.     The  opening  words 


/Et.20.] 


EEMARKABLE    LETTER.  217 


speak  volumes  as  to  the  close  and  affectionate  intimacy  tliat 
subsisted  then,  as  always,  between  the  two,  and  the  very 
peculiar  and  beautiful  relation  in  which  they  stood  the  one 
towards  the  other — as  elder  and  younger — as  adviser  and  ad- 
vised. Here  is  a  man  at  whose  word,  when  that  word  was 
stern,  the  classes  trembled,  and  for  whose  emphatic  voice  his 
colleagues  eagerly  waited,  bending  "with  gentleness  and  dig- 
nity to  the  judgment  of  a  meek  and  sorrowful  spirit  who  yet 
did  not  hesitate  to  give  candid  opinions  and  express  peremp- 
tory convictions.  They  were  pleasant  in  their  lives,  attd  in 
their  death  they  were  not  far  divided.  There  is  much  more 
in  the  letter,  all  of  which  I  leave  to  speak  for  itself. 

May  5,  1859. 
My  deae  Brother  : 

"  Though  I  never  should  have  made  the  recent  move  without  your 
strong  concurrence  and  advise,  and  though  I  have  consulted  you  at 
every  step,  I  feel  that  I  have  not  yet  pat  you  iu  complete  possession 
of  ray  views  and  feeling?,  aud,  more  particularly,  of  my  rensona  for 
adhering  to  a  forui  and  title  not  entirely  in  accordance  with  your  bet- 
ter taste  and  judgment.  This  I  cannot  do  without  being  a  little  auto- 
biographical ;  to  which  I  am  the  less  averse  because  this  is  a  critical 
juncture  in  my  histoiw,  not  only  on  account  of  the  proposed  change  in 
my  position,  but  because  I  have  just  finished  my  half  century.  I  need 
not  remind  you  of  my  early  and  almost  unnatural  proclivity  to  Orient  il 
studies;  but  it  may  be  news,  even  to  you,  that,  under  the  potent  spell 
of  Scheherazade  and  Sir  William  Jones,  it  was  ray  cherished  wish  for 
several  years  to  settle  in  the  East,— not  New  England  but  c-i;?n— and 
so  far  from  having  any  missionary  zeal,  that  I  was  really  afi  aid  the 
Moslems  would  be  Christianized  before  I  could  get  at  them.  This  boyish 
dream  was  early  broken  and  succeeded  by  a  no  less  passionate  desire 
to  be  a  lawyer ;  but  my  Oriental  studies  were  continued  after  ray  col- 
lege course,  at  which  time  I  read  the  whole  of  the  Koran  in  Arabic  and 
the  Old  Testament  in  Hebrew.  It  is  nevertheless  true  that  I  had 
begun  already  to  be  weaned  from  Anatolic  to  Hellenic  studies.  The 
exciting  cause  of  this  change  was  the  influence  of  Patton — first  as 
a  teacher,  chiefly  by  his  making  me  acquainted  with  the  German 
form  of  classical  philology ;  then  by  means  of  his  Society  [the  Philo- 
logical Society]  and  library ;  and  l:'^^y,  by  association  with  him  at 
Edgehill.  This  influence,  however,  wo'uld  have  had  no  permanent 
10 


218  GREEK    GllAMMAIl.  Hsua. 

cfiect,  if  I  had  not  been  led  to  lay  tlie  foundation  of  my  Greek  more 
firmly  than  it  had  been  laid  by  S  ilrnon  Strong,  Horace  Pratt,  or  Robert 
Baird.  '^Yhatever  accurate  Greek  scholarship  I  have  is  three  years 
subsequent  iti  date  to  my  graduation,  and  owes  its  origin  to  my 
having  undertaken  to  teach  the  language  in  Brown's  scliool,  for 
which  I  endeavoured  to  prepare  myself  by  thoroughly  mastering 
Moore's  admirable  grammar,  which  contains  the  germ  of  all  the  late 
improvements.  This  I  almost  learned  by  heart  in  Latin,  going  over  it 
a  thousand  times  as  I  walked  up  and  down  in  the  old  garden,  whei-e  I 
am  often  now  reminded  of  that  toilsome  but  delightful  process.  Ilav- 
ing  got  the  grammar  fairly  in  possession,  I  read  every  word  of  the 
Anabasis  and  Cyropaidia  for  the  purpose  of  grammatical  analysis,  and, 
having  done  this,  for  the  first  time  felt  that  I  was  a  Greek  scholar,  even 
of  the  humblest  rank.  All  this  labour  seemed  then  to  be  thrown  away ; 
as  I  did  not  go  to  Brown's  but  to  Patton's,  and  not  as  Greek  but  Latin 
teacher  !  This  was  more  than  made  good,  however,  by  my  lexicogra- 
phical labours,  in  translating  parts  of  Passow',  for  the  new  edition  of 
Donuegan  ;  and  although  in  this  case  too,  my  hard  work  answered  no 
immediate  purpose,  its  value  was  inestimable  to  my  own  improvement, 
as  I  found  when  I  began  the  next  year  to  teach  Greek  at  College. 
One  eifect  of  all  this,  never  known  to  others,  was,  that  when  I  was  ap- 
pointed tutor  in  the  Seminary,  I  had  already  left  my  first  love  for  a 
second  ;  so  that  when  I  heard  of  John  Breckinridge's  saying,  in  the 
Board,  as  an  apology  for  moving  me,  that  I  was  not  a  classical,  but  an 
Oriental  scholar,  my  conscience  smote  me  as  a  literary  hypocrite,  for  let- 
ting the  mistake  continue.  Thus  I  began  my  course  with  a  divided 
heart,  and  though  I  never  disliked  teaching  Hebrew,  but  preferred  it 
much  to  all  my  other  Seminary  duties,  I  still  spent  much  time  upon 
Greek  in  private ;  not  without  a  secret  feeling  of  unfaithfulness  to  my  of 
ficial  obligations.  It  was  this,  together  with  my  strong  distaste  for  pro- 
phetical studies,  and  tlie  crushing  load  of  authorship  which  Dr.  Hodge 
had  laid  upon  me  from  the  first,  that  made  me  catcli  with  a  sort  of  ea- 
ger desperation  at  the  first  suggestion  of  a  change  in  iny  professorsbij) 
(in  1845)  a3  promising  to  free  me  from  a  very  heavy  burden,  not  so 
much  of  labour,  as  of  responsibility,  and  to  bring  rao  somewhat  nearer 
to  the  studies  which  I  really  preferred.  A  great  stride  was  taken  iu 
(he  same  direction  when  I  was  unexpectedly,  and  as  I  now  see  provi- 
dentially, compelled  to  study  and  expound  the  historical  books  of  the 
New  Testament;  the  most  delightful  labour  of  my  life,  and  the  direct 
source  of  my  latest  and  best  publications.  I  still  felt,  however,  that 
my  studies  were  not  classical;  and  cherished  my  old,  childish  prejudice 


^T.20.]  HELLENISTIC    STUDIES,  219 

against  the  Biblical  Greek,  £is  something  illiterate  and  imgrammatical, 
a  mere  corruption  and  abuse  of  the  first  language  in  the  world.     My 
earliest  glimpse  of  the  modern  German  doctrine  on  this  subject  was  af- 
forded by  Schaff 's  admirable  chapter  in  his  history,  containing  little  of 
his  own  except  the  clear  and  captivating  mode  of  presentation,  but  col- 
lectin:;-  the  best  thoughts  of  the  best  writers,  in  relation  to  the  claims  of 
the  Hellenistic  dialect,  as  a  co-ordinate  branch  of  tlie  Hellenic  tree,  with 
a  distinctive  independent  character,  and  no  small  merits  of  its  own. 
Frcm  that  time  (about  ten  years  since)  these  have  been  ray  favourite 
studies;  none  the  less  because  connected  upon  one  side  with  the  vast 
domain  of  classical  philology,  and  on  the  other,  with  the  sacred  field 
of  Biblical  learning.     My  interest  in  the  language  soon  extended  to  the 
literature  of  the  Hellenistic  Jews,  inspired  and  uninspired,  as  a  distinct 
and  «  ell-defined  department  of  ancient  learning.     It  is  this  that  I  have 
always  had  before  my  mind,  as  my  proposed  field  of  study  and  instruc- 
tion in  my  many  sc'.iemes  and  eftorts  to  attain  my  true  position.     It  i^ 
not  merely  the  New  Testament  literature,  strictly  so  called,  that  I  wish 
to  cultivate— though  that  does  lie  at  the  foundation,  and  gives  character 
to  all  the  rest ;  but  I  covet  the  privilege  of  making  excursions,  without 
any  violation  of  official  duty,  into  the  adjacent  fields  of  Hellenistic 
learning,  having  still  in  view  as  my  supreme  end,  tlie  defence  and  il 
lustraaon  of  the  Bible,  but  at  the  same  time  opening  a  new  field  for 
literary  culture  in  this  country,  and  thus  gaining  for  myself  a  more 
original  position  than  that  of  smiply  sharing  Green's  professorship. 
I  wish  it  to  be  fully  understood,  if  the  proposed  change  should  be 
carried  out,  that  while  the  New  Testament   department  will   have 
greater  justice  done  it  than  was  possible  at  any  former  period,  it  will 
have  something  new  connected  with  it ;  which  can  only  be  suggested  by 
a  new  name,  the  novelty  of  which  is  therefore  an  advantage,  if  it  be 
not  otherwise  objectionable,  which  I  cannot  see  to  be  the  case.     The 
more  I  reflect  upon  it,  therefore,  the  more  clearly  I  perceive  that  no 
description  could  more  perfectly  express  what  I  have  earned  out  for 
myself,  than  that  of  '  Hellenistic  and  New  Testament  Literature." 

Afl:ectionately  yours, 
J.  A.  A. 

It  was  while  at  Mr.  Patton's  school  that  Mr.  Alexander's 
mind  first  became  deeply  impressed  with  religious  things,  and 
that  he  was  led,  as  he  and  others  believed,  to  put  his  trust  in 
a  cnicified  Saviour.  Indeed  the  change  in  his  feermgs  and 
purposes  v/as,  in  his  own  judgment  and  in  the  judgment  of  bis 


220  PURITY    OF   LIFE.  [1829. 

father,  directly   owing  to  his  first  removal  from  his  father's 
house,  to  which  he  was  attached  with  a  passionate  devotion. 

Of  his  exercises  previous  to  conversion  there  are  no 
trustworthy  memorials.  It  was  hardly  to  be  expected  that 
one  whose  advantages  had  been  so  extraordinary,  should 
not  have  embraced  the  truth  intellectually  at  a  very  early 
period,  and  this  presumption  is  rendered  almost  a  certainty 
by  his  own  subsequent  allusions,  as  well  as  by  a  multi- 
tude of  collateral  proofs,  of  slender  weight  if  estimated  sepa- 
rately, but  of  convincing  force  when  put  together  and  ex? 
amined  in  combination.  He  was  remarkable  when  young  for 
his  punctilious  morality  and  outward  respect  for  the  great 
subjects  of  the  gospel.  It  will  be  remembered  that  all  the 
friends  of  his  boyhood  testify  to  his  singularly  exemplary 
character,  and  pronounce  him  one  of  the  purest  and  most  re- 
putable youths  with  whom  they  were  ever  acquainted.  But 
it  will  be  seen  from  the  diary  to  which  the  reader  is  now  to 
be  introduced,  that  Mr.  Alexander  himself  confessed  and  be- 
Availed  his  utter  sinfulness,  and  saw  no  hope  of  salvation  but 
in  the  merits  and  shed  blood  of  Jesus  Christ.  The  work  of 
restoration  was  gradual,  and  unaccompanied  by  strong  terrors 
or  remorse.  These  solemn  records  possess  a  strange  and 
mournful  interest  from  the  fact  already  mentioned  that  with 
one  or  two  exceptions  they  are  the  only  extant  registers  of  his 
religious  feelings. 

The  only  glimpse,  aside  from  matters  of  reasonable  con- 
jecture, which  I  have  been  able  to  obtain  of  the  precise  state 
of  Mr.  Alexander's  feelings  on  this  subject  before  he  became 
an  avowed  believer  in  Jesus,  is  aftbrded  in  the  obituary 
sketch  by  Dr.  Baird.  The  picture  of  Addison's  reticent  and 
cautious  father  melted  to  tears  over  the  evidences  of  liis  son's 
conversion  is  affecting,  and  the  fact  recorded  of  liim  is  re- 
markable and  stands  alone  in  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander's 
history. 

"While  lie  was  a  student  of  the  Academy,  Addison  was  a  punctual 
and  serious  attendant  upon  the  religions  services jof  t])e  Institution. 


^T.  20.j  CONVERSION.  221 

Seldom,  if  ever,  was  Le  absent  from  the  daily  opening  and  closing 
prayei',  and  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures.  He  was  always  present  at 
the  Bible  class  on  Sabbath  afternoon,  and  the  season  vf  special  prayer 
on  Thursday  afternoon,  at  the  close  of  the  usual  exercises  of  that  day. 
But  whilst  there  was  much  attention,  respect,  and  even  seriousness, 
there  was  no  special  manifestation  of  deep  interest  in  religion  as  a  per- 
sonal matter.  It  was  not  until  he  liad  finished  his  studies  in  the  Col- 
lege, and  had  become  an  assistant  teacher  in  Professor  Pattou's  Edge- 
hill  School  in  Princeton,  that  his  heart  became  savingly  engaged  in  the 
subject  of  religion.  I  shall  never  forget  an  interview  which  I  had  with 
his  fatlier  about  that  time.  Dr.  Alexander  was  a  man  of  strong  feel- 
ings ;  but  he  also  had'  great  control  over  his  emotions,  and  I  never  knew 
him  to  give  way  to  them  excepting  on  that  occasion.  After  speaking 
of  the  business  respecting  which  I  had  called  to  see  him,  he  remarked 
that  as  I  had  taken  a  great  interest  in  his  sons,  he  had  a  piece  of  intel- 
ligence to  communicate  which  he  was  sure  would  give  me  much  de- 
light. He  then  stated  that  he  was  well  satisfied,  from  a  conversation 
which  he  had  had  with  Addison  the  evening  previous,  that  he  was  a 
converted  man !  This  he  said  in  a  tone  of  voice  which  manifested  the 
deepest  feeling.  Indeed,  for  some  moments  afterwards  he  could  not 
speak,  but  covered  liis  face  with  his  handkercliief,  and  gave  way  to  his 
deep  emotions  of  joy  and  hope.  He  had  a  Iiigh  opinion  of  the  talents 
of  Addison  and  James,  but  he  did  not  think  that  either  of  them  was 
naturally  the  most  gifted  of  his  sons.  On  t'lis  point  I  think  he  was 
right,  distinguished  as  both  unquestionably  were  for  their  great  men- 
tal endowments."* 

But  let  us  recur  to  his  journal.  These  revelations  of  fierce 
and  remarkable  spiritual  conflicts  will  not  greatly  surprise 
the  admirers  of  his  experimental  sermons.  They  are  however 
of  a  nature  so  unusual  that  I  shall  give  them  to  the  reader 
with  but  little  abridgment. 

"  Jan.  1830.  During  the  month  of  January,  besides  attending  to 
ray  duties  in  the  school,  I  have  been  employed  in  assisting  Mr.  Patton 

*  This  statement  needs  great  qualification.  Tiie  father  considered  Addison 
as  on  the  whole  inferior  in  point  of  ability  and  character  to  no  member  of  his 
family,  and  in  many  respects  in  advance  of  every  one  within  the  range  of  his 
acquaintance.  Witness  his  own  words  in  the  letter  to  Mrs.  Graham  which  will 
be  found  on  page. 


222  DIAPvY    OF    EXPElllEKCE.  I1S30. 

to  collect  materials  foi-  his  Greek  lexicon.     My  part  of  the  work  con- 
sists in  translating  from  Passow's  Greek  and  German  dictionary  the 
definitions  of  words  omitted  by  Donnegan.     I  have  also  completed  the 
rough  draught  of  a  review  of  Sadi's  Gulistan  for  the  Arperican  Quar- 
terly Review,  which  I  began  in  December.     I  have  contributed  some 
trifles  to  the  Philadelphia  Morning  Joarnal.     But  in  addition  to  these 
literary  pursuits,  I  have  been  deeply  engaged  in  a  study  new  to  me, 
and  far  more  important  than  all  others— the  study  of  the  Bible  and  my 
own  heart.     I  humbly  trust  that  I  am  not  what  I  was.     I  have  still 
my  old  propensities  to  evil,  but  I  have  also  a  new  will  co-existing  with 
the  old,  and  counteracting  and  controlling  it.*     My  views  respecting 
study  are  now  changed.     Intellectual  enjoyment  has  been  my  idol  bere- 
tofore;  now  my  heart's  desire  is  that  I  may  live  no  longer  to  myself, 
but  in  Him  in  whom  I  have  everlasting  life.    God  grant  that  the  acqui- 
sitions that  I  have  been  allowed  to  make  under  tlie  influence  of  selfish 
motives  may  be  turned  to  good  account  as  instruments  for  the  promo- 
tion of  His  glory.   May  it  not  be  that  my  strong  and  unaccountable  at- 
tachment from'  a  very  early  age  to  unusual  studies,  &c.,  was  intended 
as  a  preparation  for  God's  service  in  some  foreign  land?    Oh !  if  I  were 
tliought  worthy  of  bearing  such  a  message— but  I  desire  to  abstain 
from  all  attempts  to  order  my  own  steps.     I  have  indulged  my  imagi- 
nation formerly  too  much.     It  must  he  mortified.     My  God,  for  such 
I,  even  I,  may  call  thee  in  the  name  of  Christ— my  God,  into  thy  hands 
I  commit  myself!   In  life  or  death,  at  home  or  abroad,  in  peace  and  joy 
or  in  the  dark  valley,  I  design  to  be  thine— thine  with  a  devotedness 
proportioned  to  my  meanness,  misery,  ingratitude,  infirmity  and  utter 
unworthiness  of  favour.     Oh !  deliver  me  from  my  worst  enemy— my- 
self." 

"  Feb.  4.  For  some  days  I  have  been  suflTering  the  pains  of  melan- 
choly—an evil  from  which  I  have  been  heretofore  exempt.  It  has  no 
reference  to  my  religious  views,  which  continue  substantially  un- 
changed ;  but  seems  rather  hypochondriacal  in  its  character,  engender- 
ing dark  apprehensions  of  disease  and  death.  Its  worst  effect  is  tliat  it 
begins  to  establish  an  association  in  my  mind  (I  cannot  conceive  how), 
between  religious  duties  and  these  gloomy  fears.  I  am  sometinn'S 
tempted  to  believe  that  it  is  a  device  of  the  adversary  intended  to  throw 
a  shade  over  the  subject  of  religion,  and  alienate  my  thoughts  from  it. 


*  This  may  indicate  his  opinion  as  to  the  true  meaning  of  Gal.  vi:   17. 


^T.  20.J  COMFORT    IN    THE    BIBLE.  223 

I  was  somewhat  relieved  by  conversing  with  my  father  last  night,*  but 
find  myself  still  under  the  dominion  of  evil  spirits,  especially  as  night 
comes  on.  After  nil,  the  best  explanation  of  it  is  that  it  arises  Iroin 
my  languor  and  neglect  in  the  discharge  of  duty  and  the  cultivation  of 
a  spiritual  temper.  It  is  probably  no  more  than  a  black  vapour  from  the 
-stagnant  pool  of  my  own  corruptions,  eclipsing  the  little  light  which 
had  begun  to  shine  upon  my  soul.  0,  San  of  Eighteousness,  arise  with 
liealing  under  thy  wing?.  When  I  look  back  upon  the  doings  of  a  day 
and  count  over  my  remembered  transgressions  and  deficiencies  (to  say 
nothing  of  t!ie  numberless  off"ences  which  my  blunted  conscience  takes 
no  notice  of)  I  feel  that  I  have  no  right  to  wonder  or  complain  when 
I  find  myself  at  night  wrapped  in  spiritual  darkness. 

"  I  am  reading  the  epistles  of  Peter,  slowly  but  with  great  satisfac- 
tion.    The  nature  of  my  occupations  obliges  me  to  .read  the  Bible  at 
intervals  and  in  very  small  portions  at  a  time.     This,  which  at  first 
troubled  me,  I  find  to  be  an  eminent  advantage.     Instead  of  running 
over  a  whole  chapter  with  divided  attention,  and  without  being  able  to 
retain  any  portion  of  it  accurately  in  the  memory,  I  can  dwell  upon 
one  text  for  half  an  hour  or  more,  and  in  this  way  see  not  only  more 
meaning  and  derive  more  instruction  from  it,  but  give  a  wholesome 
seasoning  to  my  secular  j^ursuits.     Happily  my  business  is  not  of  such 
a  nature  as  to  exclude  all  thoughts  of  other  things.     "While  hearing  a 
boy  parse  a  sentence  in  Latin,  or  copying  the  definition  of  a  Greek 
■word,  I  have  abundant  opportunity  to  turn  the  word  of  life  in  my  mind 
and  apply  it  to  my  conscience.     What  shall  I  render  to  the  Lord  for 
placing  me  in  circumstances  so  propitious  to  my  spiritual  welfare !     I 
look  back  with  shame  to  my  discontented  feelings  on  first  coming  to 
this  place,  and  bless  God  that  my  wish  to  be  released  from  my  engage- 
ment was  not  gratified.     I  am  satisfied  that  ray  removal  from  my 
father's  house,  by  breaking  the  associations  which  had  been  growing 
stronger  and  stronger  for  twenty  years,  and  turning  the  current  of  my 
thoughts  into  new  channels,  was  highly  instrumental  in  directing  my 
attention  to  the  subject  of  religion.     I  expressed  this  idea  to  my  father, 
who  concurred  in  it,  and  observed  that  the  removal  of  a  young  man, 
from  his  father's  house,  is  always  a  critical  event,  producing  powerful 
efi'ects,  good  or  bad,  according  to  the  situation  into  which  he  passes." 
"  Kow  thanks  be  to  God,  a  better  situation,  quoad  hoc,  coidd  not 

*  May  not  this  have  been  the  very  interview  referred  to  by  Dr.  Baird  ?  and 
may  not  the  father  have  counselled  the  son  on  the  subject  of  Satanic  tempta- 
tions? 


224  LIGHT   IN   DARKNESS.  ri830. 

have  been  selected  than  the  one  in  vfhich  I  find  niy?clf.  The  heads 
of  the  family  are  both  exeinplary  Christians  ;  religion  is  treated  by  all 
the  household  with  respect,  and  I  am  wholly  delivered  from  the  com- 
pany of  any  whose  contempt  or  opposition  might  retard  ray  progress. 
Bless  the  Lord,  O  my  soul,  and  forget  not  all  his  benefits. 

"I  have  been  reading  Augustin's  Confessions  as  abridged  inMilner's 
Church  History.  What  a  wonderful  conversion!  Like  most  other 
practical  works  which  I  have  read,  it  contains  something  parallel  to 
my  case.  The  difficulty  which  the  historian  appears  to  look  upon  as 
something  very  singular  (viz.,  of  forming  a  conception  of  tlie  Deity 
as  a  spiritual  substance)  gave  me  no  small  trouble  sometime  since, 
and  is  not  yet  conquered.  Most  of  his  conflicts  too  I  have  felt,  tliongh 
not  in  the  same  circumstances.  The  statement  which  he  makes  in  the 
last  book,  of  his  temptations  through  the  different  senses,  I  miglit 
almost  transcribe  and  make  my  own.  Does  not  this  coincidence  in  the 
experience  and  language  of  men  separated  by  such  intervals  of  space 
and  time,  prove  the  truth  of  their  rehgious  sentiments? 

"I  finished  yesterday  Ellerby's  abridgment  of  Edwards  on  the 
Affections.  I  am  happy  that  I  read  it.  It  put  me  on  my  guard  against 
some  delusions  into  which  I  should  have  been  very  apt  to  fall.  I  am 
reading  slowly  Owen  on  Spiritual  Mindedness.  Large  portions  of  it 
cannot  be  digested  well  at  once ;  but  it  is  evidently  well  worth  the 
perusal. 

"  10  o'clock,  p.  M.  Thank  God !  I  feel  myself  much  relieved  from 
the  irrational  and  sinful  melancholy  which  has  been  oppressing  me.  I 
have  been  enabled,  in  some  measure,  to  obey  the  precept  in  1  Peter 
5.7  (Ps.  55.22).  O  my  God,  KarapTia-ai  a-rrjpi^aL  aOevaxTas.,  ^f/LieXtcotrat ! 
I  am  weak  but  thou  art  strength  itself.  I  do,  Lord !  humbly  cast  my 
burden  upon  thee,  knowing  that  thou  wilt  sustain  me,  for  I  dare  not 
disbelieve  thee. 

"  I  have  no  longer  any  right  to  wonder  at  the  darkness  and  discom- 
fort which  have  lately  troubled  me,  when  I  find  myself  so  prone  to 
yitld  to  every  temptation,  however  feeble. — O  my  Father  who  art  in 
Heaven,  when  shall  I  feel  humbly  grateful  for  the  privilege  of  calling 
thee  my  father?  Oh,  how  canst  thou  who  art  holiness  itself  endure 
the  approaches  of  an  impure  worm  ?  Save  me  from  the  presumptuous 
folly  of  ascribing  it  to  my  own  merits,  and  give  me  a  deeper  and  deeper 
conviction  of  the  truth  that  it  is  only  through  the  iirtercession  of  a 
great  High  Priest  that  I  am  not  spurned  from  thy  footstool ;— Hal- 
lowed be  thy  name;— strike  me,  in  mercy  strike  me  to  the  earth  under 
a  deep  sense  of  thy  holiness  and  majesty;  Oh!  save  me  from  the  bias- 


^T,  20.]  CONFESSIONS.  225 

phemoiis  impiety  of  trifling  with  thy  name. — How  often,  O  Lord,  1 
have  taken  it  in  vain !  How  needless  do  I  utter  it  even  at  this  mo- 
ment !  Keep  me,  0  Lord,  for  I  have  not  even  holiness  enough  to  look 
upon  tliee  with  reverence  !  Oh  !  blast  this  pride  and  insensibility,  not 
with  the  lightnings  of  thy  wrath,  but  with  the  breathings  of  thy  Holy 
Spirit.  Let  me  no  longer  come  into  thy  presence  reeking  with  the 
vanities  of  life,  or  wallowing  in  my  own  native  filthiness,  and  in  such 
a  state  presume  to  take  thy  name,  even  thine  O  God,  upon  my  polluted 
lips!  But  enable  me  to  say  with  my  heart  as  well  as  with  my  lips, 
hallowed  be  thy  name  ! — Thy  kingdom  come !  Oh  enable  me  to  re- 
joice with  joy  unspeakable  at  the  very  thought  that  thy  throne  is  for- 
ever and  ever:  knowing  and  believing  that  the  sceptre  of  thy  kingdom 
is  a  right  sceptre,  and  that  from  eveilasting  to  everlasting  thou  art 
God  !  Oh,  when  shall  thy  kingdom  come  among  the  nations?  When 
shall  our  God  and  Saviour  have  the  heathen  for  his  inheritance  ?  Come, 
Lord  Jesus,  come  quickly  I  Oh,  that  my  eyes  might  see  the  salvation 
of  the  world !  And,  O  Lord,  when  thou  comest  in  thy  kingdom,  re- 
member me^'emeniber  me ! 

"  Feb.  5.  I  have  read  to-day  Avith  great  pleasure  and  benefit  the 
fourih  chapter  and  part  of  the  fifth  in  Owen  on  Spiritual  Mindedness. 
The  perusal  of  it  was  permitted  to  be  instrumental  in  dispelling  some- 
what the  black  cloud  of  selfish  melancholy  which  has  hung  upon  mo 
for  some  days.  Alas,  alas,  I  yielded  this  evening  to  a  temptation  which 
I  vainly  imagined  I  had  gained  power  to  resist.  Who  shall  deliver  mo 
from  the  body  of  this  death  !  A  short  time  since  such  surprises,  by 
making  me  despair  of  my  own  strength  checked  my  progress  toward  a 
life  of  obedience.  But  now  I  thank  God  I  have  learned  two  lessons 
that  before  were  foolishness  to  me;  one  is,  that  my  own  strength  is 
perfect  weakness ;  the  other  that  I  can  do  all  things  through  Christ 
that  strengtheneth  me.  I  arise  from  this  fall  with  new  convictions  of 
my  own  inability  to  think  a  right  thought,  and,  I  trust,  with  renewed 
dependence  upon  God. 

"  Feb.  7.  Read  an  abridgment  of  the  life  of  Henry  Martyn.  I  have 
so  often  read  this  biography  for  its  almost  romantic  interest,  that  I  ex- 
pected to  derive  no  entertainment  from  it.  But  in  this  perusal  my 
attention  was  abstracted  to  the  account  of  his  conversion  ;  and  I  was 
surprised  at  its  remarkable  resemblance  to  my  own.  It  was  equally 
gradual,  without  strong  terrors  or  remorse,  and  seems  to  have  resulted 
as  immediately  from  study  of  the  Scriptures.  The  fragments  also  of 
his  subsequent  experience,  contained  in  extracts  from  his  journal  might 
be  transcribed  here  as  narratives  of  mine ;  I  mean  his  unfavourable 
10* 


226  EXPERIMENTAL   JOURNAL.  [183a 

pictures.  Would  to  God  I  had  liis-raid  far  more  tlian  liis-lovo,  faitli 
devotion,  patience,  deadne^s  to  the  world,  meekness  and  chanty  toward 
all  men  !  But  as  Martyn  himself  says,  '  The  gospel  was  contrived  to 
meet  the  case  of  sinners,  and  no  sins  can  get  beyond  its  redeeming  and 
purifying  power.'  Oh  for  light ;  God  is  ligl.t ;  Oh  for  more  love-God 
is  lo^c;  and  he  that  dwclleth  in  love  dwelleth  in  God  and  God  an 
him.     Oh  let  me  dwell  in  thee  eternally!" 

"  Feb   8      Though  I  awoke  at  an  early  hour  sloth  and  the  severe 
cold  made  me  break  my  resolution  as  to  early  rising  and  devotion. 
Would  to  God  my  senses  had  less  influence  upon  my  spirit !     1"^  otwith- 
standing  this  delinquency,  my  mind  was  graciously  brought  into  a  more 
comfortable  and,  I  hope,  more  spiritual  state  tl.an  it  has  been  for  some 
time,  if  at  all.     The  evils  which  1  have  most  reason  to  complain  of  are 
distrust  in  God's  goodness*  and  a  proneness  to  unbelief.     A  dehghttul 
letter  from  the  dearest  friend  (as  to  community  of  feelings,  sentiments, 
&c  )  that  I  have  on  earth,  stirred  up  my  feelings  not  a  httle.    Six  weeks 
oco  I  should  have  been  annoyed  by  such  a  letter  ;  as  it  is,  I  desire  to 
WessGod  that  I  have  such  a  brother.    I  have  lately  been  oppressed 
with  a  feeling  of  solitariness  arising  from  my  situation  ;  for  I  have  in- 
thnate  communion  with  no  one  in  the  same  house,  a.id  my  occupations 
are  exceedingly  confining.     In  my  anxiety  about  my  own  state,  too  1 
have  forgotten  others.     I  have  unconsciously  regarded  myself  as  the 
only  one  on  earth  who  stood  in  just  such  a  relation  to  God.     In  some 
respects  this  has  been  beneficial.     It  has  enabled  me  to  make  up  my 
mi.  d   and  lay  my  plans,  independently  of  mere  human  considerations, 
"nS  to  regarl  personal  religion  as  an  affair  between  God  and  my  own 
heart      The  views  which  I  have  entertained  and  the  resolutions  I  have 
taken  have  rested  on  the  supposition  that  I  stood  alone ;  I  hope,  there- 
fore that  they  wil  be  less  likely  to  be  moved  by  any  change  in  external 
circumstances.    But  now  that  I  begin  to  feel  some  confidence  that  I  am 
in  the  right  way,  I  find  it  to  be  a  privilege  as  well  as  duty,  to  look  at 
others      Archbishop  Leighton's  observations  on  the  first  sentence  of 
the  Lord's  prayer,  brought  the  duty  to  my  mind  with  new  hveliness 
and  force  ;  and  this  letter  makes  me  feel  the  value  of  the  privilege  ot 
Christian  communion  more  forcibly.  .     .       ^^. 

u  2  P  M  I  have  constantly  new  warnings  against  puttmg  con- 
fidence in  'the  stability  of  my  own  resolutions,  and  the  permanence  of 
my  feelings.     This  morning  I  felt  confident,  resigned  and  spiritual.     At 

*  The  letter  of  his  eldest  brother,  ^^\noh  is  here  referred  to,  is  not  now  in 
existence. 


^T.20.1  EXPEEIMENTAL    JOURNAL.  227 

this  moment,  I  am  not  only  cold  in  my  affections,  and  indistinct  in  mj 
views  of  truth,  but  plagued  by  a  return  of  my  old  feelings  of  false 
shame,  attachment  to  mere  worldly  objects,  &c.  I  thank  God,  how- 
ever, I  am  still  enabled  to  feel  that  it  all  arises  from  the  want  of  faith 
and  watchfulness,  and  to  believe  that  it  is  possible  to  obtain  other 
states  of  mind,  by  unwearied  diligence  combined  with  humble  reliance 
upon  Divine  assistance.  This  remedy  I  am  determined  to  apply ;  fight- 
ing my  w'ay  through  all  difficulties,  aud  waging  war  especially  against 
myself,  as  my  most  treacherous  enemy.  Oh  my  God !  though  thou 
canst  not  but  abhor  the  unbelief  and  corruption  which  produces  these 
vicissitudes,  yet  thou  knowest  that  my  heart's  desire  before  thee  is  to 
love  thee  with  a  fervour,  and  serve  thee  with  a  zeal,  above  and  beyond 
all  that  I  have  yet  imagined  or  designed.  Oh,  aid  me  in  the  struggle 
with  my  own  heart  and  with  sin  ! 

"11  p.  M.  I  am  hourly  made  to  feel  my  weakness.  I  vainly 
imagined  that  my  religious  feelings  were  not  likely  to  be  influenced  by 
outward  circumstances ;  but  on  going  home  to-night  and  finding  my 
father  low-spirited  and  my  mother  unwell,  though  both  spiritually 
well  and  rejoicing  in  my  change,  I  felt  my  spirits  sink  within  me  as  if 
my  prospects  of  eternal  life  depended  upon  them.  When  shall  I  be 
delivered  from  this  bondage  to  mere  natural  affections,  and  mere 
worldly  objects  ?  Lord,  this  struggle  is  too  hard  for  my  unassisted 
strength.  Oh,  fan  my  dying  faith  into  a  flame  with  the  breathings  of 
thy  Spirit !  Oh,  sustain  me  with  the  arms  of  thy  everlasting  love ; 
I  feel  my  own  shortcomings.  In  this  single  day  how  little  have  my 
thoughts  been  with  God;  how  little  have  I  thought  of  His  omnipres- 
ence; how  little  have  I  tried  to  wean  my  affections  from  the  world 
and  fix  them  upon  Christ;  how  little  have  I  been  actuated  in  my  con- 
duct by  a  regard  to  duty  and  a  sincere  desire  to  do  the  will  of  God. 
Lord,  thou  hast  searched  me  and  known  me ;  thou  knowest  ray  down- 
sittings  and  my  uprising;  strengthen  my  weakness;  animate,  excite, 
invigoiate  me!  In  humble  confidence  that  thou  wilt  not  reject  this 
prayer,  I  desire  to  resolve  in  thy  presence  that  I  will  endeavour,  if 
permitted  to  behold  another  day,  to  spend  it  in  a  way  more  agreeable 
to  thee  and  beneficial  to  myself.  "What  a  mercy  is  it  that  our  duty  and 
our  interests  are  so  united.  God  might  justly  have  required  us  to  sub- 
mit to  torments  in  his  service,  but  no— the  very  duties  which  we  ren- 
der, if  performed  aright,  are  sources  of  delight.'" 

"  Feb.  9.  Cold,  languid,  eartiily — O  Lord,  how  long  ?  But  is  it  not 
one  of  my  habitual  sins  to  expect  God's  aid  without  the  use  of  means; 


228  EXPERIMENTAL   JOURNAL.  [1S30. 

and  then  to  complain  of  my  deficiencies,  as  if  they  did  not  spring  from 

my  own  sinfulness  ?  ,      -,      v  1 4.       i  i.,.  +>,« 

"  10  -11  A  little  comforted,  strengthened  and  enlightened  by  the 
latter  part  of  Romans  xiv  ;  but  still  tormented  by  a  dread  of  nd.cule, 
dis'^race,  &c.  My  imagination  works  too  much  ;  one  of  Owen  s  rules 
struck  me  forcibly;  to  take  from  our  most  valuable  time  lor  Gods 
service,  not  palm  the  scraps  and  refuse  on  Ilim. 

"  The  fifth  of  Romans  is  a  glorious  chapter-even  my  blindness 
could  perceive  its  brightness !  O  my  God  apply  thy  Word  to  me  the  chief 
of  sinners.  I  have  obtained  the  first  volume  of  John  Newton  s  works 
and  hope  to  derive  much  advantage  from  it.  He  always  speaks  Irom 
his  heart  and  from  his  own  experience. 

"Who  hath  bewitched  me?  Though  rationally  satisfied  that  this 
world  contains  nothing  commensurate  with  my  capacity  and  desires, 
and  that  if  I  will,  I  may  obtain  a  crown  of  everlasting  life,  I  am  har- 
assed by  constant  disposition  to  fall  back  into  my  old  pursmt  of 
worldly  happiness;  and  even  when  I  feel  no  relish  fortho  beggarly 
elements  around  me,  I  am  equally  devoid  of  taste  for  spiritual  good ;  so 
that  I  am  left  in  a  miserable  state  of  fluctuation  and  dissatisfaction. 

-  11  p  M  rrom  some  cause  I  feel  much  relieved  from  melancholy, 
&c  I  am  thankful  for  the  comfort,  but  distrust  its  source.  I  find  by 
recent  experience  that  when  I  emerge  from  gloom,  xt  is  commonly 
to  run  into  the  opposite  extreme  of  negligence  and  levity.  God 
.rant  that  I  may  soon  be  brought  into  the  golden  mean  of  cheerful 
Obedience  and  unhesitating  confidence  in  His  fidelity  and  goodness ! 

-  Feb  10  To  my  surprise  I  awoke  this  morning  with  an  agreeable 
impression  on  my  mind  of  the  words,  'Though  I  walk  through  the 
valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  &c.'  I  am  struck  with  this  because  I 
Teoin  to  see  that  my  melancholy  feelings  may  be  all  resolved  into  an 
andignified  fear  of  death.  I  take  comfort,  however,  m  the  reflection 
that  my  dread  is  not  simply  that  the  terrors  of  death  are  great  but 

i  Zy  may  be  so  great  as  to  overpower  fuhh  and  love.  From  these 
orebodkigs  I  derive  at  least  temporary  relief  from  such  passages  as  the 
after  part  of  Romans  viii  (a  glorious  revelation).  I  am  also  comforted 
eng^hened,  and  encouraged  by  the  experience  of  John  Newton  which 
caches  me  hat  my  want  of  deep  sensibility,  strong  caiiviclions,  &c 
tl^^^lh  a  melancholy  defect,  is  no  proof  that  I  am  not  in  Christ.  May 
God  preserve  me  fiom  unbelieving  despondency,  on  one  hand  and  pie- 
sumptuous  confidence  ou  the  other.*     I  feel  that  I  need   trials  and 

*Thi3  was  an  almost  daily  petition  ^^'•lth  him,  long  afterwards. 


jEr.20.i  EXPERIMENTAL    JOURNAL.  229 

troubles  to  make  mc  feci,  as  well  as  know,  my  dependence  upon  God.' 
Every  Iktle  circumstance  distracts  my  thoughts,  and  throws  me  back 
into  my  old  associations ;  and  yet  when  I  read  of  temptations,  &c.,  I 
am  ready  to  say,  my  mountain  stands  firm. 

"  11  p.  Ji.  By  engaging  in  long  and  somewhat  frivolous  discourse, 
I  find  that  I  have  lost  mucii  even  of  the  spiritual  taste  and  feeling  which 
I  had  this  morning — little  as  that  was.  I  do,  indeed,  want  something 
to  wean  my  aftections  altogether  from  the  trifles  of  this  life.  I  am  apt 
to  think  sometimes,  that  if  placed  in  such  or  such  a  place,  I  should  be 
more  spiritual.  The  truth,  no  doubt,  is,  tliat  without  new  supplies  of 
grace,  I  would  carry  the  same  worldliness  into  any  situation.  My  own 
strength  is  perfect  weakness— when  shall  I  learn  to  lean  upon  my  all- 
sufficient  helper?  O  God,  humble  my  proud  heart,  crucify  my  lusts, 
subdue  my  obstinacy,  melt  my  insensibility,  and  bring  all  my  powers 
into  captivity  to  thee  only  I  I  shall  be  satisfied  when  I  awake  with 
thy  likeness." 

"Feb.  11.  I  derive  much  pleasure,  and  I  hope  advantage,  from  the 
writings  of  John  Fewton.  He  evidently  grounds  his  opinions  on  the 
"Word  of  God,  confirmed  by  personal  experience.  I  find  it  necessary, 
however,  to  beware  of  placing  my  dependence  on  human  aids.  Men 
are  fallible;  and  their  fallibility  is  everywhere  apparent.  lvalue  re- 
ligious books  because  they  bring  into  a  single  point  of  view,  truths 
which  are  detached  in  the  Scriptures;  and  because  they  show  the 
effects  the  religion  of  the  Bible  has,  actually,  upon  the  minds  of  men. 
In  almost  every  book,  however,  there  is  a  tincture  of  some  personal 
infirmity  or  error— an  overstraining  of  some  one  point  in  preference  to 
others.  Thus  Owen,  who  wrote  his  book  on  Spiritual  Mindedness  in 
his  old  age,  when  waiting  for  his  last  change,  was  too  apt  to  underrate 
the  social  relations  and  man's  duties  as  a  member  of  society ;  while 
"  Newton,  who  was  wonderfully  changed  from  a  wicked  slave-dealer  to 
a  Christian  minister,  naturally  set  too  little  value  on  learning,  educa- 
tion, &c.  It  is  only  in  the  Book — the  Book  of  Books,  that  all  is  sym- 
metrical and  consistent ;  Oh  may  I  love  it  more  and  more !  I  have 
felt  some  grateful  emotions  this  evening  in  reflecting  on  the  mercies  of 
God  in  arresting  my  sinful  projects  and  opening  my  eyes.  A  year  ago 
how  many  resolutions  had  I  broken  as  to  my  conduct  during  the  ensu- 
ing year!  But  ala?T  such  feelings  with  me  are  but  transitory.  Light 
conversation  and  mere  literary  employments  distract  and  dissipate  my 
thoughts  till  I  feel  as  if  there  was  no  spiritual  life  within  me.  Lord, 
quicken  me!  " 

"  Feb.  12.     The  book  of  Ecclesiastes  is  an  exact  expression  of  the 


230  EXPERIMENTAL   JOURNAL.  [1830. 

feelings  wlaicli  I  have  lately  experienced  fis  to  the  vanity  of  earthly 
things.  How  true  is  it,  that  though  tlie  experience  of  men  is  iufiuiiely 
various,  the  Bible  contains -a  description  of  every  possihle  and  imagina- 
ble case. 

"  I  have  reason  to  be  continually  upon  my  guard  against  internal 
enemies  as  well  as  those  without.  On  reading  the  report  of  the 
Oriental  Translation  Fund  of  London,  I  found  myself  at  night  carried 
back  by  a  current  of  strong  associations  into  my  old  train  of  thought, 
my  literary  projects,  &c.  This  I  must  watch  and  pray  to  be  delivered 
from ;  for  I  am  fully  persuaded  that  I  am  more  in  danger  from  literary 
pursuits  than  from  any  other  quarter.  Sensual  gratification  I  always 
despised,  even  when  I  was  a  slave  to  it ;  but  intellectual  pleasure  has 
been  the  idul  to  which  I  have  deliberately  sacrificed  my  interests  and 
my  duty.  I  cannot  recollect  a  moment  in  which  the  prospect  of  any 
sensual  enjoyment  could  have  induced  me  to  have  abandoned  my  ac- 
quisitions and  the  hoi)e  of  more ;  whereas  I  would  at  any  time  have 
given  up  forever  the  pursuit  of  all  bodily  enjoyment  to  procure  some 
favourite  objects  of  the  other  kind.  But  amidst  the  turmoil  of  my  pas- 
siors  I  can  still  take  refuge  in  the  consciousness  that  my  supreme  desire 
is  to  make  God's  glory  ray  first  object,  and  to  use  all  things  else  as  in- 
struments.    God  preserve  me  in  this  disposition  for  Christ's  sake." 

"  Feb.  13.  O  Lord,  what  a  blank  is  the  past  week !  What  progress 
have  I  made  toward  heaven  and  toward  thee  ?  I  am  not  even  so  peace- 
ful nor  so  t-ingle-eyed  as  I  was  a  week  ago.  Though  I  have  overcome 
the  temptations  of  old  lusts  which  gave  me  trouble,  tlie  lust  of  the  un- 
derstimding — the  most  plausible  and  insinuating  of  all  unsanctified 
affections,  seems  to  be  creeping  back  upon  me.  The  thirst  for  mere 
literary  pleasure,  which  was  one  of  my  besetting  sins,  seems  to  threaten 
a  return.  I  can  only  guard  myself  by  making  sacred  literature  an  ob- 
ject of  attention,  for  which  reason  I  design  to  study  Hebrew  de  novo. 
Greek  I  study  with  exclusive  reference  to  the  Scriptures.  After  all, 
my  surest  dependence  is  on  Him  who  is,  and  was,  and  is  to  come ;  to 
liim  be  glory  forever  smd  evor.  Amen." 

"Feb.  14.  I  have  not  enjoyed  much  light  or  ppace  to-day,  because; 
I  have  not  sought  it  with  sufficient  zeal  and  diligence.  Unbelieving 
fears  or  wild  irnngiuation,  and  the  natural  aversion  of  the  heart  to  God 
have  kept  me  from  the  throne  of  Grace.  The  greatest  difficulty  which 
I  have  to  encounter  is  a  perfect  resignation  of  myself — life,  health, 
reputation,  talents,  acquisitions,  time,  and  all,  into  the  hands  of  God. 
I  feel  willing  to  do  gi-eat  things,  and  make  costly  sacrifices  in  lli^  ser- 
vice ;  but  it  seems  as  if  my  proud  heart  would  not  be  contented  Avith- 


^T.  20.] 


EXPERIMENTAL    JOURNAL.  235 


out  bavins  some  share  in  ordering  my  steps.     Hide  me,  O  Lord,  under 
the  shadow  of  thy  wings  !  " 

"  Feh.  15.  The  evil  I  have  most  to  complain  of  to-day  is  dissipation 
and  distraction  of  mind.  Every  thing  seems  vague  and  undefined. 
Though  I  have  no  spidtual  distress,  I  have  no  clear  views  of  truth,  nor 
elevated  affection?.  I  have  not  yet  learned  to  be  sutficiently  jealous  of 
myself.  I  am  too  apt  to  fall  back  into  my  old  trains  of  tlmught  and 
association.  When  I  do  so,  and  in  consequence  forget  God  and  sph-i- 
tual  things  for  many  minutes,  I  invariably  leel  a  painful  void  which 
can  only  be  filled  by  turning  my  attention  to  religious  matters  again. 
And,  I  thank  God,  I  feel  something  like  a  relish  for  His  service,  and 
though  hypochondria'cal  still,  fi  el  little  attachmeut  to  my  own  life,  or 
the  world  in  comparison  with  that  wliicli  lies  beyond." 

"Feb.  16.  At  times  to-day  I  have  enjoyed  considerable  peace  of 
mind;  but  for  the  most  part,  I  have  been  distracted  between  intellec- 
tual exercise  on  one  hand,  and  hypocliondriacal  apprehensions,  on  the 
other.  From  the  latter  plague  I  never  feel  so  free  as  Avhen  I  am  en- 
gaged in  prayer.  Yet,  strange  to  tell,  it  is  with  difficulty  that  I  can 
constrain  myself  to  go  upon  my  knees.  What  an  enigma  of  wickedness 
and  folly  do  I  daily  find  myself  to  be  !  I  am  astonished  that  I  could, 
live  so  long  without  any  discovery  of  my  own  character— its  selfishness 
and  meanness  its  weakness  and  inconsistency.  But  I  console  myself 
with  1  Corinthians,  xx.  51." 

"  Feb.  17.  At  different  liours  on  this  as  on  every  other  day,  my 
feelings  vary.  Occasionally  I  am  quite  resigned  and  contentjd  to  re- 
pose upon  God's  wisdom  and  gocdness.  These  are  my  happiest  mo- 
ments, but  they  are  few  and  transitory.  Would  to  God  I  were  rid  of 
this  selfish  solicitude,  which  not  only  mars  my  comfort  by  diffusing 
gloom  through  all  my  feelings,  but  engrosses  so  large  a  share  of  my 
attention  that  there  is  none  left  for  God." 

"  Feb.  18.  I  have  hardly  patience  to  continue  this  monotonous  and 
meagre  record.  My  experience  on  one  day  is  the  same  as  (U  another. 
Stufl  desire  to  take  all  the  shame  and  grief  of  my  darkness  and  dis- 
comfort to  mvself,  while  I  give  all  the  glory  to  God.  The  occasional 
intervals  of  satisfaction  which  I  enjoy  are  evidently  produced  by  com- 
munion with  Him,  while  the  disquietude  and  apathy  of  othtr  moments 
as  evidently  spring  from  a  neglect  of  religious  duties— ^fpte  AeT^o-oi/." 

"  Feb.  19.  I  began  this  day  in  consideiable  peace  and  comfort,  and 
though  I  have  had  returns  of  my  dejection,  I  have  reason  to  be  thank- 
ful  for  my  general  tranquillity.  At  noon,  ^vben  alone,  I  felt  some 
emotions  of  sorrow  in  reading  the  account  of  our  Saviour's  agony." 


232  EXPERIMENTAL    JOURNAL. 


11830. 


"Feb.  20.  During  the  past  week  I  have  finished  Canticles,  and 
read  forty-four  cliapters  in  English.  I  have  also  finislied  Matthew, 
read  all  of  Mark  and  eight  chapters  of  Luke  in  Greek.  In  the  Sep- 
tnagint  I  have  read  eigliteen  chapters  of  Genesis  ;  in  Martyn's  Persian 
New  Testsment  tlie  remainder  of  the  Apocalypse  and  five  chapters  of 
Mark.  I  have  also  studied  Stunrt's  Hebrew  grammar  and  Rosenmuller's 
Arabic  grammar,  and  have  finished  the  revision  of  thirty-three  pages  of 
the  Greek  lexicon  ;  lastly,  I  have  read  much  of  the  first  volume  of 
John  Newton's  works,  and  several  other  books,  such  as'  Advice  to  a 
young  Christian,'  '  Jovvett's  Christian  Eemembrancer,'  &c. 

"  This  is  little  enough,  but  when  I  turn  to  spiritual  things,  and  ask 
what  progress  I  have  made  during  the  past  week  I  am  dumb  with  con- 
fusion. One  sin  stands  forth  with  especial  prominence — my  ungrateful 
and  presumptuous  neglect  of  intercourse  with  God.  I  have  scarcely 
prayed  regularly  during  the  whole  week.  Sloth  in  the  morning  com- 
bined with  other  delinquencies  would  drive  me  from  the  mercy-seat, 
were  it  not  for  such  grand  revelations  .'is  Isaiah  Ixiii.  25.  If  it  was  for 
my  sake  the  Lord  showed  me  f  ivour,  I  might  well  despair  of  ever 
gaining  it,  but  since,  as  he  expressly  declares,  it  is  for  His  own  sake,  I 
submit— my  defections  make  me  cling  closer  to  the  throne  of  God  and 
to  the  cross  of  Christ.  Still  I  must  do  something,  and  therefore  with 
reliance  on  Divine  help  I  resolve  that  in  the  coming  week  I  will  arise 
as  soon  as  I  awake,  and  devote  the  time  so  gained  to  secret  prayer.  If 
the  immaculate  Saviour  rose  '  a  great  Avhile  before  day,'  and  spent 
whole  niglits  in  prayer,  surely  I  ought  to  pray  without  ceasing." 

"  Feb.  2L  I  was  enabled  to-day,  after  a  slight  struggle,  to  gain  the 
victory  over  sloth,  and  rise  a  little  earlier  than  usual.  Eead  the  Scrip- 
tures with  great  pleasure  and  I  hope  Divine  illumination.  I  am  aston- 
ished to  meet  with  such  multiplied  and  convincing  evidences  of  the 
deity  of  Christ.  I  never  saw  them  before  because  I  looked  for  direct, 
positive  declarations,  whereas  the  most  satisfactory  proofs  are,  appa- 
rently, minute  and  accidental.  In  fact,  the  strongest  argument,  it 
seems  to  me,  is  that  the  supposition  of  Christ's  divinity  gives  a  har- 
mony, consistency  and  beauty  to  the  Scriptures  which  they  cannot 
have  without  it.  The  point  to  Avhich  my  attention  has  been  chiefly 
calUd  to-day,  in  relation  to  this  matter,  is  the  fact  that  God  is  repeat- 
edly declared  to  be  the  only  Saviour,  and  that  this  name  is  as  strongly 
claimed  by  Him,  as  one  of  His  inalienable  titles,  as, any  other;  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  it  is  so  expressly  given  to  Jesus  Christ  in  the  New 
Testament,  that  it  ha:;  become  his  most  familiar  and  appropriate  epi 
thet  throughout  the  Christian  world.     Under  the  influence  of  these 


iET.20.]  EXPERIMENTAL    JOUENAL.  233 

considerations,  I  cannot  help  regarding  Christ  in  God,  when  I  examine 
in  ciinnGction  the  following  texts,  which  I  have  been  able  to  turn  to 
"without  a  concordance  (multitudes  of  others  tend  to  the  same  point) 
Isaiah  xliii.  11;  xlv.  42;  Jude,  25;  1  Tim.  i.  1;  2  Peter  i.  1,  3,  18- 
Two  of  these  (1  Tim  i.  1,  and  2  Peter  i.  1)  admit  of  an  interpretation 
which  amounts  to  positive  assertion  of  Christ's  deity,  but  even  waiving 
this,  they  satisfy  me. 

"Eeadthe  9th  chapter  of  Luke  with  feelings  altogether  new.  TMiat 
a  glory  is  thrown  upon  the  go?pel  history  by  keeping  constantly  in 
view  its  connection  with  the  former  dispensation !  I  have  been  too 
apt,  in  spite  of  the  Saviour's  own  admonition,  to  suppose  that  he  came 
to  destroy  the  law.  I  have  commonly  looked  upon  his  advent  &c.  as 
a  plan  formed  subsequently  to  the  revelations  of  the  Old  Testament. 
But  now,  when  I  read  the  predictions  of  a  Messiah  in  the  prophets,  tho 
types  of  him  in  the  ceremonial  law,  the  promise  of  him  in  paradise, 
and  then  turn  and  read  tlie  gospel  as  nothing  more  nor  less  than  a  con- 
tinuaiiim  of  the  history;  recognizing  in  Christ  the  Messiah  foretold 
of  old,  and  all  that  he  did  as  steps  taken  to  accomplish  the  grand 
scheme — it  is  unutterably  glorious.  In  reading  our  Lord's  instructions 
to  his  apostles,  Luke  ix.  1-6,  I  was  more  than  ever,  or  rather  for  the 
first  time,  struck  with  the  fact  that  he  did  not  heal  the  sick  and  raise 
the  dead  for  mere  sympathetic  feeling  for  the  sorrows  of  the  sufferers, 
but  as  means  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  great  end  of  his  incarna- 
tion. I  read  the  account  of  the  transfiguration  with  new  emotions, 
heightened  by  a  recollection  of  the  intercourse  betw^een  God  and 
Moses  and  Elias  in  former  times.  Two  circumstances  struck  me: 
Moses  talked  to  Jesus  of  the  « ^oSo?  which  he  should  accomplish  at  Je- 
rusalem ; — what  a  contrast  must  there  have  been  between  the  feelings 
of  Elijah,  when  he  stood  with  his  face  wrapped  in  his  mantle  at  the 
entering  in  of  the  cave,  trembling  at  the  still  small  voice  of  his  unseen 
God,  and  those  which  he  experienced  on  the  summit  of  Mount  Tabor 
hearing  the  same  voice  proceed  from  the  excellent  glory,  and  convers- 
ing with  the  same  God,  incarnate,  face  to  face!  Moses  was  a  great  man 
— Elijah  was  a  great  man,  and  the  simple  inscription  given  in  the 
gospel  of  their  intercourse  with  the  Saviour,  at  this  time,  gave  me 
seme  impressions  and  strong  feelings  of  the  Saviour's  glory  which  I 
never  had  before,  but  which  I  never  wish  to  lose.  Is  it  not  strange 
that  my  conceptions  of  the  Saviour  should  be  still  so  gross — that  even 
Moses  and  Elias  could  reflect  light  upon  Him  ? 

"11  o'clock,  A.  M.  Heard  Mr.  WoodhuU  on  Jesus  Christ  and  Him 
crucified.     At  4.  p.  m.,  Mr.  Bush  lectured  at  the  school  on  the  Ten  Vir- 


234  EXPERIMENTAL   JOURNAL.  [1830. 

gins  and  the  Ta]ents.  "Went  homo  and  attended  the  religious  confer- 
ence in  the  Seminary — suLject,  zectl.  I  have  enjoyed,  to-day,  unusual 
peace  and  satisfaction.  These  feelings  were  less  strong  toward  even- 
ing; probably  because  I  trusted  too  much  in  my  own  ability  to  keep  up 
such  emotions  at  my  pleasure.  The  Lord  preserve  me  from  self-confi- 
dence! I  have  read,  to-day,  in  Greek,  Luke  9-12 ;  in  Englisli,  Isaiah 
xliv-xlviii;  Newton's  letters,  Force  of  Truth,  Jowett's  Eesearches." 

"Feb.  22.  I  feel  a  sensible  declension  from  the  elevation  of  feel- 
ing which  I  enjoyed  yesterday.  It  arises  partly,  no  doubt,  from  my 
necessary  return  to  secular  business,  but  also,  in  a  great  measure,  from 
my  proneness  to  self-confidence  and  to  forget  that  of  myself  I  can  do 
nothing.  OIi,  that  I  Jiad  attained  that  stage  in  the  progi'ess  of  the 
soul  in  which  the  only  motive  is  the  love  of  God;  the  only  end,  the 
glory  of  God,  and  the  only  dependence  on  the  grace  of  God !  I  also 
need  to  be  constantly  reminded  of  the  emptiness  of  this  world,  and 
its  tumult  of  affairs!  Oh,  that  it  were  written  indelibly  in  my  heart 
— evos^  fvos,  fcrrt  ;^pfui." 

"  Feb.  24.  I  am  backsliding  very  fast ;  the  change  is  very  sensible. 
I  find  the  impression  which  I  had  of  the  vanity  of  earthly  things  fast 
wearing  off;  the  little  sense  which  I  had  gained  of  the  excellence  of 
holiness  becoming  less  and  less  lively,  and  all  my  feelings  setting  back 
towards  their  ancient  current.  The  worst  symptom  of  all  this  is,  that 
I  feel  no  grief  on  account  of  this  declension.  And  yet  amidst  it  all  I 
feel  that  I  could  cheerfully  sacrifice  all  the  pleasures,  gains  and  honours 
of  the  world  for  an  increase  in  holiness.     Lord,  save  me — I  perish. 

"Feb.  25.  It  pleased  God  to  rouse  me  from  the  lethargy  into 
which  I  was  sinking,  by  a  deep  wound  in  my  pride;  occasioned  by  the 
contemptuous  treatment  of  one  of  my  large  pupils  who  has  always  be- 
haved to  me  with  great  respect.  I  bless  God  I  was  enabled  to  defer 
my  anger,  to  repress  all  resentful  feelings  and  to  pay  the  boy's  imperti- 
nence with  kindness  and  forbearance.  It  was,  indeed,  of  great  use  to 
me,  by  giving  me  a  clearer  view  of  the  precarious  tenure  by  which  men 
possess  the  respect  and  esteem  of  others,  and  so  leading  me  to  renounce 
the  world  as  a  source  of  happiness.  "While  under  the  influence  of  this 
incident,  I  read  Jeremiah  ii.,  and  was  astonished  at  its  appropriateness 
to  my  own  case.  A  personal  address  on  the  subject  of  my  backsliding 
couM  not  come  more  home.  "V^erses  13,  17,  23,  34,  37,  struck  me  pr.r- 
ticularly  as  precisely  applicable.  Oh,  that  the  Lord  would  sanctify 
this  portion  of  His  work  as  a  means  of  av.'akening,  convincing,  and 
humbling  me!  " 

"  Feb.  27.     For  some  days  past  I  hiive  been  vexed  by  a  return  of 


^x.20.]  EXPERIMENTAL    JOURNAL.  235 

some  old  feelings  which  I  thought  had  quit  me  long  ago.  Their  firs; 
effect  has  been  to  agitate  and  disturb  me  ;  their  second  to  drive  me 
back  to  Goil  as  the  only  source  of  true  felicity.  I  conversed  this  after- 
noon with  Mr.  Patton  on  the  subject  of  religion.  He  gave  me  some 
account  of  his  experience,  which,  in  some  respects,  resembles  mine. 
One  observation  of  his  struck  me,  viz.— that  when  the  soul  is  harassed 
with  doubts  and  difficulties  as  to  the  evidences  of  its  state,  peace  may 
often  be  obtained  by  asking  itself  a  simple  question :  '  Would  any  thing 
induce  me  to  give  up  my  hope,  such  as  it  is  ? ' 

To-morrow  is  the  blessed  Sabbath.  How  little  did  I  think,  sis 
months  ago,  that  I  should  ever  hail  its  return  with  joy ;  not  as  a  season 
of  mere  relaxation,  but  a  precious  opportunity  of  wailing  upon  God. 
I  thauk  the  Lord  that  he  has  enabled  nie  to  look  upon  His  Sabbath  as 
a  delight  and  as  honourable.  Oh,  may  He  give  me  grac3  to  sanctify 
the  coming  dny  aright!  "  , 

"Feb.  28.  I  went  to  sleep  last  night  with  a  delightful  impression 
on  my  mind  of  the  relation  between  Christ  and  His  followers,  as  repre- 
sented by  the  figure  of  a  shepht-rd  and  his  sheep.  There  seemed  to  be 
a  force  and  beauty  in  the  allegory  which  I  had  never  before  observed. 
This  morning  I  awoke  earlier  than  common.  It  is  somewhat  singular 
that  for  some  time  past,  though  I  have  generally  slept  till  late,  I  have 
been  awakened  early  Sabbath  morning  by  the  crowing  of  the  cock. 
Through  the  day  I  have  been  generally  comlbrtab'e  and  have  had 
much  more  enjoyment  in  secret  prayer." 

"March  1.  After  reviewing  my  recorded  experience  during  the 
month  just  past  and  endeavouring  to  feel  some  of  that  humiliation 
which  my  coMness,  sloth  and  inconsistency  afford  so  much  reason  for, 
I  venture,  in  reliance  upon  God's  assistance  to  resolve:  1.  That  during 
the  present  month  I  will  endeavour  to  watch  with  redoubled  vigilance 
against  the  beginnings  of  evil;  especially  against  those  temptations 
which  I  know  by  experience  to  be  most  dangerous.  2.  That  I  will  en- 
deavour to  act  more  upon  principle,  with  more  regard  to  the  will  of 
God.  3.  That  I  will  endeavour  to  avoid  with  equal  diligence,  an  irre- 
ligious levity,  and  an  unprofitable  despondency  and  gloom.  4.  That  I  will 
watch  with  more  care  against  sloth  ;  endeavouring  to  improve  the  time 
more  than  I  have  done.  5.  That  I  will  endeavour  to  cultivate  a  i)rin- 
ciple  of  Christian  benevolence  and  love.  C.  That  I  will  endeavour  to 
mortify  my  pride;  especially  those  latent  forms  under  which  that  evil 
principle  conceals  itself-  Y.  That  I  will  guard  against  my  old  enemy— 
the  love  of  intellectual  pleasure ;  by  studying  with  regularity,  and  with 
constant  reference  to  the  grand  object  of  all  study.    8.  That  I  will  en- 


236  EXPERIMENTAL    JOURNAL.  [1830. 

donvonr  to  study  God's  Word  with  more  reverence,  attentinn,  patience, 
faith,  and  love.  9.  That  I  will  pay  such  attention  to  my  own  health  as 
duty  seems  to  demand,  by  moderation  in  diet  and  regularity  in  exercise. 
10.  That  having  done  all  I  will  throw  myself,  always  and  forever,  on 
the  gracious  aid  of  the  Almighty,  without  which  I  cannot  stir  a  step  in 
my  progress  toward  perfection. 

"And  now,  O  Omniscient  Searcher  of  hearts  !  if  tliou  seest  any  in- 
sincerity in  these  resolves,  purge  it,  I  beseech  thee,  from  my  licart ;  and 
if  I  am  indeed  sincere,  Oh,  enable  me  to  keep  the  vow  which  I  now 
make  in  tl)y  name  and  presenca :  for  the  sake  of  Christ.     Amen." 

"  March  2.  I  have  had  something  of  a  struggle  to-day  between  my 
literary  lusts,  so  to  speak,  and  a  sense  of  duty.  I  fully  believe,  from 
experience  as  well  as  testimony,  that  an  exclusive  devotion  to  intellec- 
tual pursuits  is  one  of  the  worst  enemies  with  which  the  renewed  soul 
has  to  grapple.  I  am  not  certain  that  I  ouglit  not  to  relinquish  my 
Arabic;  at  least  for  the  present;  as  I  haverehnquished  French,  Spanish, 
German  and  Italian  reading." 

"  March  7.  How  seldom  do  we  know  what  we  are  praying  for, 
when  we  ask  God,  upon  our  knees,  to  humble  us,  show  us  our  vileness, 
wean  us  from  dependence  on  ourselves,  &c!  For  my  own  part  I  know 
that  when  I  offer  such  petitions,  I  commonly  expect  them  to  be  an- 
swered by  an  immediate  operation  on  my  heart,  without  the  interven- 
tion of  external  means.  No  wonder,  then,  that  I  am  often  taken  by 
surprise  by  the  answer  to  my  own  earnest  supplications.  On  Tuesday 
(Mar.  1,)  I  vowed,  among  other  things,  to  endeavour  to  mortify  my 
pride ;  especially  those  latent  forms  under  which  that  evil  principle 
conceals  itself.  At  the  same  time  I  besought  the  Lord  to  assist  me  in 
adhering  to  this  resolution,  and  to  detect  any  insincerity  by  which  it 
might  be  vitiated.  On  Tuesday  all  went  well,  but  on  Wednesday  a 
trifling  occurrence  was  permitted  so  to  stir  up  the  corrupt  mass  of  my 
bad  passions,  especially  my  pride,  that  I  stood  amazed  at  the  mingled 
folly,  wickedness  and  helplessness  of  my  own  heart.  Yet,  strange  to 
tell,  it  never  occurred  to  me  until  this  evening,  that  this  occurrence 
was  in  answer  to  my  own  request  and  was  graciously  designed  to  show 
me  what  a  risk  I  run  Avhenever  I  presume  to  make  a  vow  or  resolution 
in  dependence  on  myself.  If  this  be  indeed  so,  I  bless  God  for  the 
timely  warning,  and  hope  to  profit  by  it.  The  two  great  evils  I  have 
to  complain  of  are,  my  pronencss  to  act  upon  mere  impulse,  without 
regard  to  principle,  and  my  inability  to  view  tilings  temporal  and  eter- 
nal in  their  great  proportions." 

"  March  15.     O  Lord !  Thou  knowest  me  altogether ;  when  I  look 


iET.20.]  EXPEIIIMEKTAL   JOURNAL.  237 

back  through  the  past  week  and  consider  my  neglect  of  thee,  my  dis- 
content, my  ungrateful  and  rebellious  murmurings  against  thy  provi^ 
dence,  how  can  I  appear  before  thee  ?  And  yet,  when  I  look  furthet 
back  and  remember  my  presumptuous  self-confidence,  my  fancied 
prepanition  for  all  trials,  I  cannot  but  acknowledge  in  the  dust  before 
thee,  that  I  did  indeed  need  a  lesson  such  as  thou  only  canst  give. 
With  shame,  too,  I  confess,  O  thou  long-suftering  and  gracious  Lord! 
my  selfish  reservations  in  giving  myself  up  to  thee.  Thou  hast  opened 
my  eyes  to  see  that  in  all  my  acts  of  self-devotion,  I  Jiave  constantly 
prescribed  conditions  unto  thee ;  consenting  to  serve  thee  if  thou 
wouldst  let  me  clioose  the  circumstances;  submitting  to  thy  will,  pro- 
vided it  coincided  Avith  my  own ;  and  professing  myself  willing  to 
undergo  all  sufierings,  provided  I  should  never  be  required  in  practice 
to  submit  to  them.  Even  now,  O  Lord !  with  my  eyes  in  a  measure 
open  to  the  wickedness  and  folly  of  such  dealings  with  a  holy,  merciful 
and  jealous  God — even  now  my  corrupt,  my  rotten  heart  suggests  that 
these  confessions  will  bribe  thee  to  deliver  me  from  the  natural  evil, 
with  the  fear  of  which  I  have  been  long  tormented.  Against  this  dia- 
bolical and  mad  corruption,  I  would  strive  ;  but  where  is  my  strength  ? 
When  I  should  have  clung  to  tlie  throne — to  the  cross — to  the  promises, 
with  most  tenacity,  I  have  foolishly  forsaken  them ;  what  wonder  then 
that  I  am  weak,  blind,  unwilling  and  unable  to  confide  in  thee — all- 
faithful  as  thou  art?  0  God,  thou  art  just!  I  deserve  it  all:  but  in 
the  name  of  one  whose  intercession  thou  canst  not  despise,  I  pray — 
with  agony  pray,  that  I  may  be  made  willing  to  do  or  to  sufter  any 
thing!     Amen." 

"March  16.  O  Lord,  God  of  infinite  compassion!  words  fail  me 
when  I  undertake  to  express  my  gratitude — or  rather  obligations  to 
thy  goodness.  I  can  hardly  believe  that  I  am  spared,  preserved,  ex- 
empted from  excruciating  torments.  What  am  I,  OLord!  that  thou 
shouldest  regard  me,  even  for  a  moment,  with  forbearance.  O  Lord! 
extirpate  this  hypocrisy  that  taints  every  exercise  of  my  soul.  Save 
me,  I  implore  thee,  from  the  damning  sin  of  uttering  words  before  thee 
which  belie  my  thoughts.  When  I  say  that  I  am  vile.  Oh  drench  my 
spirit  in  an  overwhelming  flood  of  shame  and  unfeigned  humiliation  at 
the  thought  of  my  pollution!  When  I  confess  my  enormities,  O  suflfer 
ine  not  to  confess  them  with  my  lips  alone ! — make  me  feel  that  I  am 
viler  than  any  language  can  describe  me." 

"  March  17.  This  morning  little  Harriet  Patton  died  of  the  scarlet 
fever.  On  Sunday  she  was  at  church,  and  appeared  as  well  as  usual. 
How  shall  I  derive  any  personal  advantage  from  this  melancholy  event? 


238  EXPERIMENTAL   JOURNAL.  [1830. 

The  Lord  seems  to  be  teaching  me,  by  repeated  ]cs?on=,  the  shortness 
and  uncertainty  of  life;  the  lolly  and  meanness  of  mere  hvpochondriacai 
depressions;  when  tlieoccasiims  of  real  sorrow  are  so  nt.meroiis  around 
me;  the  necessity,  the  absolute  necessity,  ..f  provi.ling  sources  of  relief 
and  consolation  altogetha-  independent  of  mere  hum  in  circumstances. 
From  the  glonm  which  at  present  clouds  this  house  of  mourning,  I  fjel 
constantly  disposed  to  take  refuge  by  visiting  or  thinking  of  my  father's 
family;  Avhere  all  are  well,  and  where  I  might  no  doubt,  obtain  a  tem- 
porary and  unprofitable  interval  of  freedom  from  unpleasant  thoughts. 
But  when  I  begin  to  make  the  supposition  that  death  might  enter  even 
that  asylum ;  that  one  and  another  even  of  that  circle,  to  which  all  my 
affections  have  so  long  been  selfishly  confined,  might  be  removed  as 
suddenly  as  this  poor  child ;  when  I  merely  imagine  these  events  as 
possible;  my  very  soul  grows  sick  and  revdlts  from  the  painful  thought. 
But  why?     It  must  be  so  at  some  time !     Nothing  can  be  more  ceriain 
than  that  sooner  or  later  I  mu>t  eiiher  die  alid  leave  my  friends,  or 
must  survive  the  last  wreck  of  my  family.     Where,  then,  is  the  wisdom 
of  shutting  my  eyes  to  the  consideration  of  such  truths?     The  fact  is, 
at  least  in  my  case,  that  strong  remedies  are  necessary  to  overcome 
this  sickly  tenderness.     Men  mu^t  die  :  they  are  dying  every  moment; 
and  the  very  unavoidableness  of  the  event  seems  to  tempt  us  all  to 
labour  to  forget  it.     In  no  circumstances  do  men  hew  out  broken  cis- 
terns with  such  p.rversj  diligence  as  when  shrouded  in  the  gloom  pro- 
duced by  the  death  of  friends.     And,  indeed,  this  would  be  the  height 
of  wisdom,  if  death  were  the  closing  scene.     If  wo  ce  ised  to  exist  at 
death,  and  death  were  inevitable,  it  would  be  gross  folly  to  torment 
ourselves  with  apprehensions  which  could  only  multiply  our  pangs. 
But  is  it  so?     Or  if  salv.ition  was  a  hopeless  thing;  if  death  must 
necessirily  plunge  us  into  misery;  I  cannot  see  what  be:ter  course  we 
conld  pursue  than  to  exclude  it  altogether  from  our  thoughts.     But  if 
it  be  true  (and  multitudes  who  act  thus  will  at  Last  pi'otVs>  t.)  belx-ve 
it),  if  it  be  true  that  one  ray  of  liiht  fr.au  heaven  heaning  ii  to  the 
soul,  one  s-ingle  ray  of  spiritual  light,  could  dispel  this  darkness  per- 
fectly ;  it'  it  be  true  that  thousands  have  enjoyed  this  beatific  sunshine 
in  the  midst  of  sorrows— nay,  amidst  the  pangs  of  death ;  if  it  be  true 
that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  as  willing  now  as  ever  to  impart  this  delightful 
gift;  and  indeed  only  shuts  up  the  apertures  through  which  the  dim 
light  of  this  world  shines  iu  order  to  lead  us  to  another  source  of  illu- 
mination; if  it  be  true  that  we  have  only  to  resign  ourselves  to  God, 
disputing  nothing— leaving  all  to  Him  in  absolute  defiance  of  appear- 
ances and  of  ourselves;  why  should  we  be  depressed  at  all? 


^T.20.]  EXPERIMENTAL    JOURNAL.  239 

"Noon.  I  have  been  to-day  inexpressibly  gloomy.  The  concxir- 
rence  of  so  many  melancholy  circumstances  tinges  my  imaginatinn  with 
a  dye  of  tenfold  blackness.  The  death  of  this  child ;  my  hypoclionaria  ; 
my  slight  indisposition;  the  gloomy  weather;  but  above  all,  the  un- 
settled state  of  my  mind  as  to  religi'^n.  I  find  there  are  iwo  kinds  of 
assurance  necessary  to  religious  comfort :  1.  A.a  assurance  of  the  truth 
of  Christianity.  2.  An  assurance  of  personal  interest  in  its  advantages. 
On  both  these  points  I  feel  a  corroding  anxiety  entirely  incompatible 
with  joy  or  peace  or  even  resignation.  My  doubts  as  to  Christianity 
itself  are  not  so  much  sett.led  and  habitual  misgivings,  as  occasional 
suggestions  of  distrust  and  scepticism.  1  have  good  evidence  that  this 
state  of  mind  arises  from  corruption  and  is  radically  sinful ;  because  I 
feel  myself  continually  prone  to  lay  a  thousand  times  more  stress  on 
difficulties  and  objections,  than  on  arguments  that  lean  the  other  way. 
My  perplexities  on  the  other  matter  are  more  constant  and  abiding. 
I  have  so  little  evidence  icithin  me  (and  where  that  is  wanting  what 
external  indications  can  avail)  I  feel  so  little  evidence  within  me  of  a 
renewed  heart,  and  a  principle  of  grace,  that  I  am  continually  tossed 
about  in  miserable  uncertainty.  I  think  internal  evidence  of  one's  ac- 
ceptance far  more  valuable  by  itself  than  the  most  ample  satisfaction 
of  the  understanding  as  to  the  verity  of  Christianit^y.  For  it  seems  to 
me  that  the  former,  where  it  exists  at  all,  must  be  founded  on  a  con- 
sciousness of  changes  wrought  in  the  character  and  feelings  which  no 
lower  cause  than  a  divine  operation  can  produce;  and  consequently 
must  include,  in  some  degree,  a  lively  conviction  of  tlie  truth  of  the 
gospeh  The  other,  on  the  contrary,  may  be  wholly  unattended  even 
by  a  belief  in  one's  conversion— nay,  a  man  may  preach  and  convince 
others  and  be  a  cast-away.  "What  then  are  the  necessities  which  press 
most  heavily  upon  me  in  my  present  circumstances? 

"To-night  it  pleased  the  Lord  to  give  me  some  stability  of  confi- 
dence in  the  Scriptures ;  through  the  reading  of  Scott's  preface  to  the 
Bible. 

■'  "  April  24.  I  am  this  day  twenty-one  years  old,  and  after  looking 
back  upon  my  past  life,  and  forward  to  eternity,  having  also  sought  in- 
struction in  God's  "Word  and  at  the  throne  of  grace,  I  desire  with  few 
words,  but  with  a  fixed  heart,  to  consecrate  myself,  soul  and  body,  now 
and  forever,  to  the  God  who  made  me.  With  this  intent  I  now  most 
solemnly  renounce  the  service  of  the  devil,  my  late  master;  abandoning 
not  only  certain  sins,  but  sin  itself;  with  all  its  pleasures,  hnnonrs 
and  emoluments;  desiringand  beseeching  God  never  more  to  suffer  mo 
to  taste  the  least  enjoyment  of  a  sinful  nature.     I  also  bind  my  con- 


240  EXPERIMENTAL    JOURNAL.         ^  [1830. 

science  ia  the  presence  of  the  jealous  God  who  searches  the  heart  and 
cannot  look  114x111  iniquity  without  abhorrence,  to  watch  against  all 
temptation;  and,  if  necessary,  to  re-ist  unto  blood  striving  agaiust  sin. 
At  the  same  time  I  renounce  all  dependence  upon  any  thing  I  may  be, 
do  or  suifer,  here  or  liereafter,  as  a  ground  of  deliverance  from  hell- 
trusting  for  mercy  in  the  cross  of  Christ.  And  having  thus  discharged 
myselfl'rom  all  allegiance  to  the  Prince  of  Darkness,  I  submit  myself  to 
God  in  Christ ;  desiring  and  consenting  to  be  His  forever,  to  do  and  suf- 
fer all  His  will,  in  the  joyful  hope  of  an  eternal  recompense.  And  now, 
having  learned  by  sad  experience,  the  deceitfulness  of  my  own  heart, 
the  weakne.-s  of  my  resolution  and  the  craft  of  Satan,  I  tlirow  myself 
at  thy  feet,  O  Lord  !  and  claim  the  promise  of  thy  strengthening  and  il- 
luminating grace  to  aid  me  in  the  performance  of  these  vows.  Oh,  let 
me  not,  I  pray  thee,  be  forsworn!  Let  me  not  insult  thy  majesty  by 
perjury  so  gross— so  impious— so  damnable!  Keep  me,  O  Gud,  in  the 
hollow  of  thy  hand  !  For  the  sake  of  thy  dear  Son  impart  to  me  the 
gift  of  thy  free  Spirit  to  purify,  enlighten  and  transform  my  heart! 
Through  life  may  I  be  thine,  and  in  death,  O  Lord,  in  death  be  thou 
my  God !  Again,  and  again,  and  again  I  solemnly  devote  myself  to  God 
the  Father,  God  the  Son,  and  God  the  Holy  Ghost;  desiring  nothing, 
hoping  nothing,  fearing  nothing  if  I  may  but  be  accepted  in  the  name 
of  Christ!    Amen." 

"  April  25.  Eead  the  epistle  to  Titus  in  Greek  and  English.  What 
a  comfort  it  must  be  to  ministers  that  the  apostle  Paul  has  left  such 
particular  directions  in  relation  to  their  office,  the  character  of  the  in- 
cumbents and  the  subjects  of  their  preaching !  I  w^as  much  struck  with 
the  explicit  charge  he  gives  to  Titus,  to  insist  upon  the  great  doctrines 
of  redemption  by  the  blood  of  Christ,  and  regeneration  through  the 
influences  of  the  Spirit,  and  to  avoid  vain  controversy.  AVhat  a  rebuke 
to  the  zealots  of  the  present  age!  Avho,  as  Kobert  Hall  says,  forget  the 
things  about  which  they  agree,  in  disputing  about  those  in  which  they 
differ.  I  am  also  struck  with  the  fidelity  in  adhering  to  his  own  direc- 
tions by  frequently  and  repeatedly  summing  up  the  essentials  of  Chris- 
tianity in  a  few  words.  This  is  done  witli  wonderful  brevity  and  force 
in  verses  3,  4,  5,  G,  and  7  of  the  third  chapter  of  this  epistle.  In  this 
Bhort  passage  we  have:  1.  A  clear  exhibition  of  universal  depravity. 
2.  Of  G(;d's  free  grace.  3.  Of  the  offices  of  the  Son  and  Spu-it  in  the 
work  of  redemption  and  sanctification. 

"  r.ead  the  Section  Daleth  in  the  cxixth  Psalm.  I  have  derived  great 
satisfaction,  within  a  few  days,  from  perusing  this  masterpiece  of  devo- 
tion      It  is  not  to  be  read  like  the  epistles ;  which  I  find  are  most 


^T.  21.]  EXPERIMENTAL    JOURNAL.  241 

intelligible  nnd  impressive  when  perused  upon  Locke's  plan,  continu- 
onsly  and  as  a  wliole.  The  Psalms  must  he  taken  piece-meal ;  and 
drank  in  drop  by  drop.  Every  verse  seems  to  be  full  of  meaning,  and 
to  become  more  so  the  longer  it  is  pondered.  I  find  it  advantageous 
to  read  each  verse  in  the  original,  and,  also,  in  such  versions  as  I  have 
at  hand.     This  I  have  read  in  Hebrew,  Latin,  French  and  English. 

This  is  the  end  of  his  experimental  journal  so  far  as  it  has 
been  continuously  preserved.  Detached  entries  reappear,  but 
from  this  time  nearly  all  his  diaries  of  this  nature  were  kept 
in  separate  books  wrfiich  were  afterwards  destroyed.  The  in- 
ner history  of  his  soul  can  be  truly  read  only  in  the  light  of 
these  fragments  which  have  escaped  the  flames.  He  seldom 
spoke  about  his  own  spiritual  state.  The  silence  of  his 
journals  as  to  this  important  subject  for  so  long  a  course  of 
years  cannot  be  compensated.  It  is  "hiatus  maxime  de- 
flondus." 

11 


CHAPTER  yil. 

In  the  month  of  July  of  this  year,  Mr.  Alexander  was 
dangerously  sick  with  scarlet  fever.     It  was  seldom  indeed 
that\e  sufiered  from  any  thing  that  could  Idc  called  illness,  and 
he  was  hardly  ever  known  to  he  confined  to  his  bed.     On  this 
occasion  he  was  very  patient,  and  a  survivor  distinctly  recalls 
his  placid  face  and  quiet  grateful  ways.     This  attack  though 
sharp  was  soon  over ;  and  upon  his  recovery  he  was,  on  the 
29th  day  of  the  same  month,  appointed  hy  the  trustees  Ad- 
junct Professor  of  Ancient  Languages  And  Literature  in  the 
College  of  New  Jersey,  with  the  understanding  that  he  was  to 
reside  in  the  College  and  act  as  tutor.     This  position  was  one 
which  afforded  many  advantages  in  the  way  of  self-improve- 
ment.    The  College  tasks  were  not  burdensome  to  him,  and 
left  much  leisure  for  the  prosecution  of  other  and  still  more 
congenial  studies.     The  rigid  sameness  of  the  academic  rou- 
tine'' no  doubt   fatigued  and   possibly   fretted   him ;    but   its 
methodical  regularity  was  exactly  what  he  liked.    The  scholas- 
tic repose  of  certain  hours,  the  lively  noise  of  others  ;  the  un. 
broken   seclusion   of   his  own  apartments;    the   verdant   or 
frozen   lajvn,  that   was  spread  like  a   carpet    of  velvet,   or 
snow*  under  his  window  ;  the  grateful  early  summer  shades; 
the  occasional  intercourse  of  men  of  learning  and  talents,  cr  at 
any  rate  of  extensive  information  and  experience ;  must  for  a 
while  at  least,  have  been  agreeable  to  his  tastes  and  disposi- 
tion.    But  the  truth  was,   when  not   fully  employed,  he  be- 
came wretched  in  any  situation  of  iinvaricd  repose.     He  loved 
to  be  surrounded  by  excitement,  and  was  never  so  happy  as 

*  Helivod  in  the  college;  No.  59  of  the  old  college,  now  burnt;  next  to 
the  bell-rope. 


^T.21.]     ENTRANCE  UPON  HIS  PROFESSORSHIP.   "    243 

when  the  sport  of  painless  vicissitude.  It  may  be  inferred 
that  he  soon  wearied  of  his  work  at  the  College. 

If  by  this  is  meant,  that  he  was  often  restless  in  his  new 
employment,  and  at  times  thirsted  for  a  change,  the  inference 
is  probably  correct.  But  if  it  be  meant,  that  he  was  on  the 
whole  dissatisfied  with  his  new  situation,  or  that  he  was  soon 
induced  to  give  up  the  post,  the  impression  is  a  mistaken  one. 
His  diaries  lend  no  countenance  to  any  such  notion ;  and  he  re- 
mained at  the  College  till  he  set  sail  for  Europe,  that  is  for  a 
period  of  two  years  and  five  months,  and  then  (to  use  a  po- 
litical phrase)  he  gave  up  his  portfolio  in  obedience  to  the 
dictate  of  obvious  and  imperative  duty. 

His  journal  contains  a  transcript  of  his  feelings  at  this  time, 
and  presents  a  somewhat  detailed  account  of  his  mental  oper- 
ations, as  well  as  the  series  of  his  regular  tasks  in  the  College. 

"Dec.  16.  On  the  lltli  day  of  November  I  entered  on  my 
duties  as  actual*  tutor  and  nominal  Professor  in  the  College  of  New 
Jersey.  My  official  labours  are  not  so  burdensome  but  that  they  leave 
me  considerable  time  for  study.  Indeed,  I  should  not  have  accepted 
the  appointment,  except  upon  the  supposition  that  I  should  be  able  to 
continue  my  professional  pursuits.  Having  finally  resolved  upon  prep- 
aration for  the  ministry,  I  feel  the  satisfaction  and  advantage  of  having 
some  one  definite  object  in  my  studies,  instead  of  wandering  amidst  a 
thousand,  under  the  mere  guidance  of  capricious  inclination.  I  liave 
set  before  me  as  the  specific  end  of  my  toils,  to  become  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  the  Scriptures ;  philologically,  theologically,  practi- 
cally :  and  so  to  qualify  myself  for  interpreting  them  properly  to  others. 
My  studies  having  tbis  for  their  chief  end,  will,  at  present,  fall  under 
three  distinct  heads:  1.  Biblical  criticism.  2.  Systematic  theology. 
3.  History.  To  the  first  I  shall  for  some  time  devote  one  whole  day  in 
each  week ;  to  the  second,  four ;  and  to  the  third,  one.  The  first  and 
third  will  however  receive  some  attention  every  day.  My  course  of 
study  in  the  first  branch  will  consist  in  studying  the  original  Scriptures, 
and  in  reading  approved  works  on  criticism,  under  the  direction  of  Mr. 
Hodge.     Before  taking  up  theology  proper,  my  father  advises  a  course 

*  He  acted  as  tutor  so  far  as  discipline  in  the  building  was  concerned,  but 
was  never  tutor  by  appointment. 


244        ■  PROGRESS   IN    STUDIES.  tl830. 

of  Metaphysics;  upon  which  I  have  already  entcre;!.  My  historical 
reading  will,  of  course,  be  chiefly  in  the  Ecclesiastical  department;  but 
I  have  determined  to  embrace  this  opportunity  of  laying  a  firm  general 
foundation.  Tliis  I  shall  do  by  reading  the  best  original  historical 
autliorities  in  the  languages  with  which  I  am  acquainted.  I  shall  avoid 
compilers  and  second-hand  retailers.  Content  adire  integros  fonter,. 
My  object  is  to  survey  for  myself  the  raw  stuff— the  material  from 
which  historiographers  have  wrought  their  patch-work.  I  shall  begin 
with  the  historical  books  of  the  Bible,  and  then  probably  proceed  to 
Herodotus.     Further  I  have  not  yet  looked  ahead," 

The  following  statement  will  show  what  progress  he  had 
already  made  in  these  departments,  and  what  his  scheme  was 
for  the  future.  In  Biblical  criticism  he  had  begun  the  gospel 
of  Matthew  in  Greek ;  pursuing  the  method  of  thorough-going 
analysis — sifting  every  syllable  and  letter,  and  not  even  for- 
getting the  accents.  lie  had  also  begun  the  Epistle  to  the 
Galatians,  of  which  he  declares  his  intention  to  read  it  over 
and  over  again  ;  first  repeatedly  in  Greek,  with  critical  care, 
but  not  with  such  minute  regard  to  grammatical  niceties  as  in 
the  other  exercise ;  then  in  all  the  versions  that  he  finds  acces- 
sible, comparing  the  best  commentators.  When  he  should 
think  himself  well  grounded  in  Galatians,  he  proposed  to  go 
on  to  Ephesians.  He  had  thus  finished  the  first  chapter, 
making  rise  of  "  Robert  Stephens's  magnificent  edition,"  and 
comparing  the  text  with  that  of  Griesbach.  His  lexicons  at 
this  time  were  Bretschneider's  (Leip.  1829),  and  Robinson's 
translation  of  Wahl.  He  had  also  been  revising  Gcsenius's 
grammar,  preparatory  to  a  course  of  critical  reading  in  Hebrew. 
The  plan  he  had  thought  of,  was  to  take  some  short  book  and 
proceed  inch  by  inch  as  he  had  done  in  Matthew.  He  should 
also  be  reading  the  historicolhooks  pari  passu  ;  but  with  more 
freedom.  He  was  to  use  Kennicott's  and  Vanderhooght's  edi- 
tions and  Gcsenius's  Hebrew-German  Lexicon. 

In  metaphysics,  he  had  read  Avithin  a  month,  Beattie  on 
Truth ;  Buffier's  First  Truths ;  the  fourth  book  of  Locke's 
Essays ;  the  first  book  of  the  Novum  Organum ;  Des  Cartes's 
Meditations  and  the   first  book   of  his  Priucipia ;    Hobbes's 


Mr.2l.i  SUBJECTS    OF   STUDY.  245 

treatise  on  Human  Nature;  and  Reid's  Enquiry  into  the 
Human  Mind.  The  last  he  had  finished  two  days  hefore,  and 
was  to  attack  Reid's  Essays  next. 

In  history,  he  had  begun  Genesis  in  Hebrew,  merely  as  an 
exercise  in  historical  literature.  I  find  that  he  was  reading  it 
in  Kennicott  without  the  points,  which  he  discovered  wa?  a 
very  pleasant  method  in  his  unfettered  excursions.  For  pur- 
poses of  critical  analysis  he  of  course  used  the  pointed  text. 
He  had  this  day  finished  the  twenty-sixth  chapter. 

To  metaphysics  and  theology,  he  was  now  devoting  four 
days,  viz. :  Monday,  Wednesday,  Thursday  and  Saturday,  or 
to  speak  more  strictly,  the  best  part  of  four  days,  from  four  to 
six  hours  each.  To  history  he  devoted  Tuesday,  and  a  little 
additional  time  on  every  other  day — "  say  enough  to  read  one 
chapter."  Friday  he  gave  up  to  the  study  of  books  on  Bibli- 
cal criticism.  His  critical  reading  in  Hebrew  and  Greek  was 
continued  daily  and  revised  on  Friday.  His  chart  also  inclu- 
ded a  plan  for  amusement ;  nor  did  he  sufier  his  literary  tasks 
to  crowd  out  his  religious  meditations. 


"  Besides  these  subjects  of  systematic  study,  I  shall  indulge  myself 
moderately  in  lighter  reading  as  a  relaxation.  For  the  present  this 
shall  consist  in  a  partial  survey  of  European  periodical  literature,  be- 
ginning with  the  Monthly  Review  for  1758,  I  shall  read  no  news- 
papers (regularly)  except;  the  Boston  Recorder  (a  weekly  religious 
paper),  which  I  expect  to  take.  As  I  know  by  experience  the  impor- 
tance of  distributing  my  time  exactly,  I  have  adopted  the  following 
sclieme  to  ^erve  till  I  form  a  better. 

"  1.  My  leisure  time  in  the  study  hours  of  College,  both  before  and 
after  dinnei- ;  i.  e.  between  nine  and  twelve  in  the  forenoon,  and  two 
and  five  in  the  afternoon ;  I  shall  devote  to  the  leading  subjects  of  the  day. 

"  2.  The  part  of  an  hour  after  breakfast  and  dinner  before  study 
hours  begin,  I  shall  occupy  with  my  critical  reading  of  Greek  and 
Hebrew. 

"3.     From  eight  to  nine  p.  m.  sl:all  be  sacred  to  devotion. 

"4.  The  time  before  breakfa-^t,  between  twelve  m.  and  dinner,  and 
between  evening  prayers  and  eight  u'clock,  are  not  appropriated  above. 
The  mode  of  spending  this  time  will  depend  on  circumstances.     Some- 


246  PURSUING    HEBllEW.  [1830. 

times  I  shall  be  in  at  these  hours;  sometimes  not.  During  one  of  these 
intervals  I  must  attend  daily  to  my  more  cursory  reading  in  Greek  and 
Hebrew. 

"The  Pabbath  is  not  included  in  the  foregoing  arrangements.  My 
reading  on  that  day  must  be  confined  to  the  Scriptures  and  practical 
divinity." 

Here  is  a  picture  of  the  young  scholar  among  his  text- 
books. We  can  almost  hear  him  muttering  over  the  odJ- 
looking  pages  of  his  great  open  volumes. 

"Dec.  23.  This  is  my  Hebrew  day.  My  object,  at  present,  is  to 
obtain  as  accurate  a  knowledge  as  I  can,  of  the  lexiography  and  gram- 
mar of  both  languages.  I  choose  a  passnge  therefore,  merely  to  serve 
as  a  text,  and  go  over  it  twice.  In  Hebrew  I  do  this  first  in  Kennicott, 
without  the  points,  looking  for  every  word  in  Gesenius's  lexicon,  and 
reading  the  whole  article  upon  it  carefully.  This  is  my  way  of  studying 
the  passage  lexicographically.  I  then  take  the  pointed  text,  and  analyze 
it  most  minutely,  reading  at  large  every  article  in  Gesenius's  Elemen- 
tarbuch  which  has  a  bearing  upon  the  subject.  By  pursuing  this  plan 
I  shall  soon  have  read  a  large  proportion  of  the  lexicon,  and  grounded 
myself  pretty  completely  in  the  grammar.  In  tiiis  sort  of  study,  the 
grammar  and  lexicon  are  the  real  objects  of  attention  ;  the  Hebrew 
passage  only  serving  as  an  index  to  the  parts  to  be  consulted.  In 
another  branch  I  shall  make  the  exegesis  of  the  passage  my  chief  aim. 
Even  in  the  former  mode,  however,  I  shall  be  slowly,  but  surely  gain- 
ing a  thorough  knowledge  of  some  parts  of  the  Bible." 

The  holdness  of  the  attempt  to  master  the  entire  Hebrew- 
dictionary  in  one  course  of  study,  does  not  seem  to  have 
once  occurred  to  him.  With  him  to  resolve  was  to  do  ;  unless 
his  mind  was  suddenly  diverted  to  something  else,  or  he  lost 
interest  in  his  labours.  In  the  present  case  neither  of  these 
events  happened.  He  was  at  this  time  not  near  so  stout  as  at 
a  later  period,  and  was  remarkably  good-looking,  with  short, 
dark  brown  hair,  and  a  clear,  fresh,  florid  complexion.  His  fine 
blue  eyes  twinkled  through  a  pair  of  strong  near-sighted 
glasses.  His  face  was  clean-shaven,  and  he  was  exquisitely 
neat  in  his  person,  dress,  and  habits.  A  lady  who  saw  liim 
for  the  first  time  in  June  of  this  year  tells  me  that  he  was 


MT.n.2  LEADING    CHARACTERISTICS.  247 

very  retiring,  but  very  kind  and  pleasant.  To  lier  he  was  all 
that  was  cordial  and  agreeable,  and  she  should  never  have 
dreamed  that  he  was  in  any  important  respect  different  from 
other  people.  No  one  saw  much  of  him,  for  he  was  buried 
among  his  books  at  Mr.  Patton's  school.  His  devotion  to  his 
mother  was  unbounded.  During  his  illness  he  was  observed 
ao-ain  and  again  to  turn  his  head  and  look  up  in  her  face  with 
glances  of  wistful  love  and  pleasure.  His  admiration  for  her 
understanding,  and  the  winning  charm  of  her  society,  was 
almost  as  great  as  his  affection  for  her  person. 

The  uniformity  of  testimony  as  to  his  leading  character- 
istics at  this  period,  leaves  no  doubt  as  to  what  they  were. 

"  From  my  boyhood,"  writes  one  who  has  travelled  far  and  met 
with  a  variety  of  men,*  "  I  had  been  accustomed  to  hear  of  Addison 
Alexander  tlirough  a  relation  of  his  who  was  married  to  one  of  my 
brothers,  and  who  having  spent  some  years  in  Dr.  Alexander's  family 
had,  of  course,  enjoyed  the  most  favourable  opportunities  for  an  inti- 
mate acquaintance  with  his  son  Addison,  The  minute  details  thus 
o'iven  me  of  his  manner  of  life  and  his  various  sayings  and  doings 
greatly  impressed  me,  and  excited  a  strong  desire  to  see  him." 

This  was  before  he  became  known  to  the  public,  but  even 
then  this  writer  had  learned  to  look  upon  him  as  an  intellectual 
prodigy. 

"  My  personal  acquaintance  with  him  was  made  on  my  going  to 
Princeton  as  a  student  of  the  college,  in  which  he  then  held  the  place 
of  adjunct  Professor  of  Languages.  He  had  previously  been  carrying  on 
a  correspondence  with  my  brother  George  to  induce  him  to  accept  a 
tutorship  in  the  college  during  his  course  in  the  Theological  Seminary 
which  he  was  about  to  enter ;  and  as  I  accompanied  my  brother  to 
Princeton,  this  circumstance  immediately  brought  me  into  contact  with 
Mr.  Alexander." 

He  found  him  affable  and  kind,  unassuming  and  apparently 
much  like  any  other  educated  and  pleasant  gentleman. 

*  The  Rev.  John  Leyburn,  D.  D.,  of  Baltimore,  but  for  many  years  of  Phil- 
adelphia, and  at  one  time  one  of  the  editors  of  the  Presbyterian. 


248  IN    THE    CLASS.  [1830. 

Subsequently  he  was  himself  a  member  of  one  of  his  classes 
in  college,  and  was  smitten  with  the  general  admiration  for 
his  teacher. 

"The  students  among  themselves  always  called  him  'Addy,'but 
they  never  ventured  on  familiarity  with  him.  Ilis  extraordinary 
mental  gifts  and  wonderful  scholarship  were  perfectly  understood  and 
commanded  their  respect,  while  his  prompt  and  decided  manner  in  the 
recitation-room  showed  that  he  was  not  to  be  trifled  with.  He  had 
but  little  patience  at  this  time  with  the  indolent  and  negligent,  and 
sometimes  cut  them  up  with  sharp  words." 

Occasionally  too,  it  struck  him  that  Mr.  Alexander's  own 
gifted  and  luminous  mind  had  elevated  him  so  far  above 
the  common  range  of  intellect  as  to  some  extent  to  incapaci- 
tate him  from  appreciating  the  difficulties  of  a  naturally  dull 
student. 

"  One  in  our  class  of  this  description  he  used  to  be  quite  hard  upon. 
He  would  allow  him  to  flounder  along  through  the  lengthy  and  com- 
plicated sentences  of  Cicero,  making  the  most  hideous  blunders ;  the 
Professor  never  correcting  them,  but  once  in  a  while  casting  a  glance 
of  mingled  astonishment  and  displeasure  at  the  poor  fellow ;  until  hav- 
ing completed  his  tissue  of  incomprehensible  nonsense,  the  latter  came 

to  a  pause.    '  aSTow  Mr. ,'  the  Professor  would  s:iy,  '  what  do  you 

understand  by  tJintP  The  tone  in  which  the  question  was  put,  in  con- 
nexion with  the  exhibition  just  made,  rendered  the  thing  so  ludicrous 
as  to  call  forth  a  general  titter/' 

A  year  or  two  after  the  graduation  of  the  Rev.  George  W, 
Leyburn  of  Virginia,  it  was  proposed  to  him  to  take  a 
tutorship  in  the  college,  and  Professor  Addison  Alexander,  as 
a  member  of  the  faculty,  conducted  the  correspondence  with 
him.  While,  for  the  next  year  or  two,  as  tutor  and  as  a  stu- 
dent of  the  seminary,  Mr.  Leyburn  was  again  at  Princeton,  he 
and  Mr.  Alexander  exchanged  occasional  visits,  and  the  former 
has  never  ceased  to  regret  that  he  did  not  more  fully  improve 
the  opportunity  he  then  enjoyed  of  cu.ltivating  accjuaintance 
and  intercourse  Avith  a  man  whom  he  "  so  much  admired,  as 
one  of  the  greatest  geniuses  of  our  own  or  any  age.     But, 


Mt.21.2  MR.    GEORGE    LEYBURN.  249 

though  I  believe  his  condescension  would  have  encouraged  it, 
my  own  diffidence  as  to  seeking  such  a  privilege,  and  my 
absorption  in  the  studies  of  the  seminary  course,  too  much  re- 
strained me." 

That  was  really  the  period  at  which  the  writer  of  these 
reminiscences  saw  most  of  him.  But  that  part  of  his  life  was 
spent  in  the  quiet,  unconspicuous  walks  of  his  college  subpro- 
fessorship.  Nothing  of  a  striking  character  in  regard  to  it, 
presents  itself  to  the  memory  of  the  survivor. 

"  He  was  then  pious,  though  not  a  minister,"  and  was  some- 
times at  faculty  meetings  called  upon  to  make  an  opening  or 
closing  prayer;  and  scarcely  any  thing  in  regard  to  him,  during 
that  period,  impressed  the  young  tutor  more  than  the  rich  and 
easy  flow  of  thought  and  diction,  which  marked  those  prayers. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  Dr.  Burrowes  bears  the  same  tes- 
timony. 

Mr.  Leyburn  then  goes  on  to  say  that  to  the  eye — his  eye, 
at  least — the  two  brothers  were  men  of  quite  diifereut  appear- 
ance: 

"The  one  being  a  man  of  pale,  pensive  face  of  oval  shape,  the 
other  having  a  fair  complexion  and  a  rotundity  of  face  and  person 
which  made  me  think  of  the  phlegmatic  German  students,  according  at 
least  to  my  idea  of  them,  who  fatten  upon  study.  I  once  thought  of 
Professor  Addison  Alexander  as  one  who  could  almost  do  the  same,  a 
real  salamander  as  to  the  capability  of  endurance  in  tins  respect." 

But  on  his  renewing  his  acquaintance  with  him  on  his 
second  sojourn  in  Princeton,  Mr.  Alexander  expressed  to  him 
the  opinion  that  no  man  of  sedentary  habits  could  do  without 
seasons  of  relaxation,  and  told  him  that  he  had  himself  suf- 
fered in  health  from  too  great  confinement  and  labour  in 
study,  during  the  time  he  was  at  Mr.  Patton's.  He  appeared 
to  allude  especially  to  the  severe  work  he  had  had  in  getting 
ready  the  edition  of  Donnegan. 

"But,"  continues  Mr.  Leyburn,  "though  dissimilar  in  some  things 
of  the  outer  man,  the  two  brothers  were  much  alike  in  others :  in 
that  musical  tone  of  their  voices,  their  eminently  high  and  varied  cul- 
11* 


250  ARTICLES   WRITTEN.  D830. 

ture,  and  the  remarkable  fecundity  of  thought  and  flow  of  correct 
and  elegant  language  wliich  made  them  such  attractive  and  even 
fascinating  men  to  those  who  listened  to  them  publicly  or  privately  or 
read  the  rich  productions  of  tlieir  pens. 

"  They  were  to  me,  I  believe,  the  two  men  who  of  all  that  I  have 
ever  actually  known,  threw  over  me  the  spell  of  an  admiration 
amounting  to  a  kind  of  charm  ;  and  I  think  of  them  with  a  peculiar 
sadness,  oft-times,  as  taken  away  just  in  the  glowing  ripeness  of  those 
high  powers  and  graceful  accomplishments  which  clustered  so  richly 
about  both  of  them.  'Was  it,'  I  sometimes  ask  myself,  'in  their 
cases  the  realization  of  the  idea  of  an  early,  rapid,  and  astonishingly 
beautiful  efflorescence,  to  be  followed  by  a  correspondingly  early  and 
what  would  seem  to  us  premature  decay  and  dropping  of  the  leaf? ' 
But  I  felt  as  if  the  whole  church  of  God,  this  western  continent  that 
gave  them  birth,  and  this  generation  at  large,  had  to  mourn  the  death 
of  the  two  Alexanders." 

Mr,  Alexander  wrote  but  two  articles  for  the  Repertory 
this  yecar;  for  the  July  number,  a  Review  of  Guerikc's  Life* 
of  "  August  Hermann  Francke  ;  "  and  for  the  October  number, 
a  most  lively,  racy,  entertaining,  and  skilful  showing  up  of 
Madden's  "  Travels  in  Turkey,  Egypt,  Nubia,  and  Palestine  in 
1824, 1825,  1826,  and  1827."  The  article  on  Francke  .is  mainly 
biographical,  and  is  bright  and  vivid  in  its  character. 

Among  the  students  of  this  time  was  Parke  Godwin,  Esq., 
of  New  York,  the  well  known  editor  and  historian.  He  has 
politely  furnished  me  with  the  following  recollections  of  his  old 
'teacher,  who  at  the  period  referred  to  was  in  years  barely  a 
man.       IMr.   Godwin  writes   that   the  impression  which  the 

*The  following  is  a  list  of  his  contriljutions  to  the  Philadelphia  '•  Morning 
Journal"  in  1830: 

"  I  cannot  positively  in  every  case  distinguish  them  from  J.  W.  A.'s,  but 
am  pretty  confident  of  the  following. — J.  11." 

Jan.  15.     "  Carston  Niebuhr." 
"      16.     Several  literary  paragraphs. 

Feb.  24.     "  The  Child  of  Mystery,  translated  from  a  Persian  MS." 
"     27.     Literary  paragraphs. 

March  81.     A  humorous  letter  for  an  ambitious  author. 

April  14.     "Arabic  Anecdotes,  translated  from  the  original." 


Mt.  21.] 


PARKE    GODWIN,  ESQ.  251 


young  professor  made  upon  him  is  still  very  distinct.  It  will 
be  found  that  Mr.  Godwin's  ideas  as  to  the  attainments  of 
his  youthful  instructor  do  not  differ  materially  from  those  of 
others  who  were  better  acquainted  with  him. 

'=1  shall  never  forget  the  abruptness  as  well  as  the  sagacity  of  the 
first  remark  he  made  to  our  class,  during  the  Sophomore  year.'  '  Young 
gentlemen,'  he  said,  in  a  quick  but  positive  way,  '  all  knowledge  is 
pleasant.'  He  then  stopped  for  a  moment  that  we  might  digest  the 
tn.th.  'All  knowledge  is  pleasant,'  he  resumed  :  '  and  I  shaU  there- 
fore take  it  for  granted,  when  I  hear  that  any  one  does  not  like  any 
particular  study,  that  he  does  not  know  any  thing  about  it.'  That  was 
about  the  whole  of  his  address,  and  you  may  infer  from  it  that  he  re- 
ceived few  complaints  from  us,  during  his  incumbency  at  least. 
"Addy"  as  we  called  him  familiarly,  was  held  in  the  profoundest 
respect  by  all  the  students ;  and  for  two  reasons :  the  first  was,  that 
nobody  ever  saw  him,  except  in  the  class;  and  the  second,  that  we 
imputed  to  him  a  marvellous  amount  of  human  knowledge  of  aU  sorts. 
He  was  supposed  to  study  about  eighteen  hours  a  day,  adding  to  his 
already  prodigious  acquirements ;  and  these  acquirements  were  com- 
puted at  no  less  than  thirteen  diff"erent  languages,  and  all  the  then 
known  Natural  Sciences.*  You  may  imagiue  that  we  always  ap- 
proached him  with  a  feeling  of  awe  and  veneration. 

"I  found  afterwards  tliat  these  popular  estimates  of  the  students' 
halls  were  scarcely  exaggerated ;  he  was  a  marvel  of  erudition ;  his 
learning  was  no  less  accurate  than  comprehensive;  he  seemed  to  find 
no  difficulty  in  mastering  any  tongue  or  any  science  ;  and  what  was 
better  than  this  mere  facility  of  accumulation  was  the  thoroughness 
Aviih  which  he  assimilated  his  omnivorous  gatherings.  It  could  not 
be  said  of  him,  what  P.obert  Hall  said  of  Dr.  Kippis,  that  '  be  had  so 
manv  books  on  his  head  that  his  brains  couldn't  move.'  His  brains 
did  move,  and  moved  to  great  effect.  When  he  cither  wrote  or  spoke, 
his  matter  was  original,  well-considered,  apt,  and  vivacious.  You 
wondered  alike  at  its  fulness,  its  fluency,  and  its  fervour.  His  lectures 
and  sermons  were  models  of  chaste  and  elegant  composition,  as  well 
as  of  a  complete  mastery  of  the  subject.  He  was  not  eloquent  in  the 
sense  that  his  brother  James  Waddel  Alexander  was,  but  he  was 
always  instructive,  elevating  and  moving;  and  no  student  willingly 

*  It  is  due  to  truth  to  say  that  Mr.  Alexander's  knowledge  of  the  natural 
sciences  was  but  slight. 


252  STUDIES    OF    THE    TEAR.  [1S30. 

staid  awav  from  chapel  when  it  was  given  out  that  he  was  about  to 
occupy  the  pulpit." 

Of  his  personal  traits  r^Ir.  G.  can  give  no  account.  The 
professor  was  always  hard  at  work,  and  was  as  shy  as  a  fawn. 

"lie  was  then  so  close  a  student  that  none  but  the  members  of  his 
family  saw  much  of  Iiim,  and  when  a  chance  encounter  brought  you 
into  liis  presence  he  was  generally  very  shy  and  reserved.  It  was  the 
ambition  of  all  of  us  to  become  intimate  with  him :  but  we  were  not 
permitted  tbe  opportunity.  I  regret  tliat  I  cannot  furnish  you  other 
particulars,  as  I  have  never  ceased  to  love  and  admire  the  man,  as  one 
of  the  noblest  and  most  gifteil  of  our  fellow  countrymen." 

The  plan  of  study  indicated  in  the  foregoing  journal  of 
1S30,  Mr.  Alexander  carried  out  faithfully  during  the  year 
1S31 ;  and  his  diary  consists  of  nothing  but  a  view  of  Lis 
daily  emjDloyment  under  this  i-igid  scheme.  The  following 
list  embraces  most  of  the  works  upon  which  he  was  engaged : 
in  psychology  and  kindred  sciences,  Reid's  Essays,  Brown's 
Lectures,  Stewart's  Elements,  Payne's  Elements,  and  Ed- 
Avards  on  the  Will ;  in  Persian,  Bakhtyarnameh  ;*  in  German, 
Gesenius's  Handbuch,  Gesenius's  History  of  tho  Hebrew  Lan- 
guage, and  a  large  part  of  Conversations  Lexicon  ;  in  the  an- 
cient languages,  Thucydides,  Herodotus,  parts  of  Plato,  parts 
of  Demosthenes,  and  parts  of  Aristophanes,  besides  many  pages 
of  the  Latin  classics;  in  Biblical  criticism  and  theology.  Wet- 
stein's  Prolegomena,  and  Xew  Testament  in  Greek;  parts 
of  Schramm's  Analysis  Patrum,  Stillingfleet's  Origines  Sacrae, 
Kennicott's  Disertatio  Generalis,  Pictet,  Herbert  Marsh's  Lec- 
tures, Watson's  Listitutes,  and  Turretin  ;  in  history  and  upon 
miscellaneous  topics,  Dunlop's  History  of  Roman  Literature, 
various  works  on  the  History  of  India,  the  Xew  Monthly 
Magazine,  and  the  Boston  Recorder;  besides  whatever  fell 
into  his  hands  during  his  idle  moments,  if  any  of  his  mo- 
ments coxild  be  so  called.     He  was  moreover  a   f:iithful  at- 

*  Or  the  storj  of  Prince  Bakhtyarnameh  and  the  ten  viziers. 


iET.21.]  TURKISH    LANGUAGE.  '  253 

tenclant  upon  his  father's  lectures  on  metaphysics,  which  wera 
delivered  to  one  of  the  classes  in  the  Seminary. 

In  addition  to  all  this,  he  continued  his  study  of  Portu- 
guese and  Danish,  and  commenced  the  study  of  Turkish. 
This  last  item  is  gathered  from  the  following  record  : 

"October  22. —Began  to  study  Turkish  in  an  old  Gra7nmaira 
Turque,  which  may  be  regarded  as  a  typographical  curiosity;  as  it 
was  printed  a  liundred  years  ago  in  Constantinople.  I  have  examined 
it  before,  but  never  studied  it  with  care.  I  went  to-day  through  the 
chapter  on  adjectives;  the  language  appears  to  be  remarkably  free 
from  grammatical  anomalies." 

And  on  the  25th  : 

"Learned  the  personal,  possessive,  and  relative  pronouns,  the  car- 
dinal, ordinal,  and  distributive  numerals  in  Turkish.  I  think  this  lan- 
guage more  remarkable,  so  far  as  I  am  yet  acquainted  with  it,  f  ir 
regularity  than  any  other  which  I  have  attempted.*  It  takes  precedence 
of  the  Persian,  quoad  hoc,  because  the  latter  is  remarkable  lor  paucity 
of  changes  and  inflections,  whereas  Turkish  has  a  multitude,  e.  g.  five 
cases  of  nouns  distinctly  marked.  I  shall  wait,  however,  till  I  enter 
on  the  verb,  before  I  pass  judgment." 

The  common  opinion  was  then  and  still  is,  that  he  not 
only  had  a  dislike  for  metaphysical  reasoning,  but  was  wholly 
unacquainted  wath  what  had  been  done  in  this  department.  It 
will  be  seen  from  the  extract  which  follows,  as  is  evident  from 
the  many  like  it,  that  this  opinion  was  erroneous.  He  was 
well  read  in  the  writings  of  the  English  and  Scotch  schools, 
and  though  he  never  lost  an  opportunity  of  satirizing  the 
German  idealists,  few  persons  were  better  informed  as  to 
their  names  and  the  nature  of  their  speculations ;  and  no  one, 
unless  Henry  Rogers,  has  given  us  a  better  parody  of  theirf 
manner  than  he  has  done  in  the  "  Diagnosis  of  the  I  and  tlie 
Not-I,"  in  the  Princeton  Magazine,  |  or  has  made  them  the 

*See  MaxMiiller  Sc.  Lang.  First  Series,  pp.  108,  109.  Ch.  Scribner,  N. 
Y.,  1862. 

•j-  See  the  Grayson  Letters. 

\  "  '  Diagnosis  of  the  I  and  the  Not — L' — Assuming  as  we  safely  may  that 
all  the  reflex  actings  of  the  rational  idea  towards  the  pole  of  semi-entity  are 


254  BURLESQUE   WRITING.  tl831. 

butt  of  a  more  intelligent  and  refined  ridicule,  than  he  has  done 
casually  in  his  Seminary  lectures,  and  his  review  articles,  as 
well  as  in  various  squibs  in  his  children's  books.  There  is 
a  trace  of  this  raillery  in  the  subjoined  burlesque  on  the  dis- 
proportionate zeal  with  which  writers  often  advocate  their 
hobbies. 

"PEIZE  ESSAY  UPON  NOTHING  * 
"The  appr.rent  incongruity  of  coming  forward,  at  the  present 
crisis,  when  the  minds  of  men  are  agitated  by  the  fear  of  fiscal  and 
political  convulsion,  with  a  systematic  treatise  upon  nothing,  will,  it  is 
fondly  hoped,  be  found  excusable,  on  a  deliberate  examination  of  the 
principles  maintained  and  the  practical  inferences  tlience  deduced. 

CHAPTER  I. 

"  1.  Nothing  may  be  defined  not  any  thing. 

"2.  It  naturally  divides  itself  into  two  species,  positive  nothing, 
and  negative  nothing. 

"3.  Positive  nothing  includes  every  thing  of  which  the  non-entity 
is  demonstrable. 

"4.  Negative  nothing  includes  everything,  of  which  the  non-entity 
may  be  presnmed,  but  cannot  be  demonstrated. 

"  5.  The  principal  use  of  Nothing,  is  to  nullify  every  thing. 

"  6.  Nothing  may  be  converted  into  something,  by  abstracting  its 
non-entity. 

•naturally  complicated  with  a  tissue  of  non-negative  impressions,  which  can  only 
be  disintegrated  bv  a  process  of  spontaneous  and  intuitive  abstraction,  it  in- 
evitably follows,  as  a  self-sustaining  corollary,  that  the  isolated  and  connatural 
conceptions,  formed  in  this  antespeculative  stage  of  intellectual  activity,  must 
be  reflected  on  the  faculty  itself,  or,  to  speak  with  philosophical  precision,  on 
the  I,  when  viewed  concretely  as  the  Not-I ;  and  in  this  reciprocal  self-repro- 
duction, carried  on  by  the  direct  and  transverse  action  of  the  Reason  and  the 
Understanding,  modified  of  course  by  those  extraneous  and  illusory  percep- 
tions, which  can  never  be  entirely  excluded  from  the  mutual  relations  of  the 
pure  intelligence  on  the  one  hand  and  the  mixed  operations  of  the  will  and  the 
imngination  on  the  other,  may  be  detected,  even  by  an  infant  eye,  the  true 
solution  of  this  great  philosophical  enigma,  the  one  sole  self-developing  crite- 
rion of  the  elementary  difference  between  the  Not-I  and  the  I."_Pnnceton 
Magazine,  p.  35. 

*  From  Wistar's  Magazine. 


^T.  21.] 


METAPHYSICS.  255 


"7,  Nobody  may  become  nothing  by  being  deprived  of  its  negative 

personality. 

"8.  Anything  may  become  nothing,  by  annihilation.  The  only 
other  remark  which  I  propose  to  oifer  on  this  interestuig  and  important 
point  is — nothing." 

His  wonderful  poAvers  of  analysis  are  as  evident  in  some 
of  these  little  whimsical  effusions  which  he  poured  out  almost 
spontaneously,  as  in  his  serious  works.  His  mind  moved  as 
regularly  as  a  planet. 

His  opinion  as  to  the  relative  merits  of  two  of  the  most 
eminent  writers  in  this  department  may  be  gathered  from  the 
following  record : 

"Jan.  8.  Eead  cursorily  the  first  volume  of  Dugald  Stewart's 
Philosophy  of  the  Human  Mind.  I  read  this  book  once  before.  I 
liked  it  better  then  than  now.  He  seems  to  me  to  have  made  himself 
master  of  all  Dr.  Eeid's  discoveries,  and  then  to  have  busied  him- 
self in  clothing  them  in  elegant  but  diffuse  expressions— just  differ- 
ing enough  from  his  exemplar  to  escape  the  charge  of  servile  plagia- 
rism. From  his  studied  attention  to  style  and  his  frequent  introduction 
of  historical  illustrations,  I  infer  that  he  was  more  of  a  rhetorician 
than  a  philosopher.  He  appears  to  care  more  for  the  way  in  which  he 
says  a  thing  than  for  what  he  says." 

His  adversaria  of  this  period  evince  the  same  shrewd,  crit- 
ical acquaintance  with  Reid  and  Brown,  and  the  same  dis- 
criminative appreciation  of  their  philosophical  labours.  The 
literary  merits  of  Stewart  and  Brown  could  not  escape  an  eye 
that  loved  to  wander  over  every  pleasing  territory  in  the 
domain  of  the  belles-lettres,  and  it  required  but  a  single 
o-lance  of  so  penetrating  an  intellect  to  discover  the  defect  in 
Brown's  Theory  of  Cause,  which  had  already  been  conclusively 
pointed  out  by  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander,  and  was  afterwards 
more  fully  exposed  by  Sir  William  Hamilton.  The  son  had 
probably  read  the  father's  article,  but  gives  his  own  indepen- 
dent impressions. 

Whatever  else  he  did,  or  failed  to  do,  he  at  no  time  neg- 
lected  the  study  of  the  Scriptures  in  the  original  tongues. 


256  GRAMMATICAL    STUDIES.  •      C1831. 

Hebrew,  whether  with  or  withoiit  points,  he  could  now  read 
and  write  with  somewhat  of  the  ease  of  his  vernacular.  On  the 
same  day  with  the  reference  to  Stewart,  there  is  the  following 
reminiscence  of  Mr.  Alexander's  early  Oriental  tastes,  which 
were  never  entirely  brought  into  subjection  to  his  later  views 
with  regard  to  the  Indo-European  tongues  in  general  and  the 
importance  of  the  Biblical  or  Hellenistic  Greek. 

"Eead  in  Hebrew  the  Listorical  parts  of  Exodus  xv,  and  Ihe  whole 
of  cliaptcrs  xvi,  xvii.  Eead  a  number  of  articles  in  Gesenius's  lexicon. 
Read  ten  p.-iges  in  Bakbtyar-Nameli  (Persian).  Read  the  first  volume 
of  the  Mussulman,  a  novel  by  the  traveller,  Madden.  Interesting  from 
its  illustrations  of  Oriental  character  and  manners,  but  full  of  afiecta- 
tion  and  false  taste.  There  seems  to  be  a  covert  aim  at  satire  upon 
European  manners  running  through  the  work." 

The  subjoined  entries  explain  themselves,  and  show  very 
fully  what  he  M^as  doing  in  the  way  of  generous  excursion  into 
various  fields  of  knowledge. 

"  Feb.  3.  Continued  Payne's  Elements  of  Mental  Science.  Read  a 
portion  of  Thucydides.  The  second  part  of  Matthiae's  Greek  Grammar 
(comprising  the  syntax)  contains  the  most  copious  collection  of  author- 
ities, I  suspect,  that  is  anywhere  extant.  The  index  of  the  passages 
cited  occupies,  of  itself,  above  200  pages.  I  think  of  reading  the  vol- 
ume and  analyzing  the  citations  as  I  go  along.  Read  the  first  section 
in  this  way  to-day." 

The  discreet  estimate  here  given  of  the  great  work  of  Mat- 
thiae,  reveals  only  partially  the  thorough  way  in  which  Mr. 
Alexander  prosecuted  his  researches  in  this  and  every  otl  er 
direction.  He  was  versed  also  in  such  authors  as  Winer, 
Kiihner,  Wahl,  Thiersch  and  Buttmann,  and  of  nearly  all  of 
the  English  and  American  compilations  which  he  thought  worth 
his  attention.  But  in  Greek  as  in  every  other  language  he 
had  his  own,  original,  unwritten  grammar  and  lexicon,  derived 
from  his  own  surprising  recollection  of  the  various  meanings 
and  relations  of  the  words,  phrases,  and  idioms  he  had  met 
with  in  reading.  There  is  no  one  but  has  been  struck  with  thia 


^T.  21.]  JOURNAL.  25*? 

in  perusing  his  "Matthew  "  oi'  "Mark,"  or  his  work  on  "  the 
Acts."  A  compendious  but  characteristic  lexicon,  as  well  as 
grammar,  of  the  Greek  language,  especially  in  its  Hellenistic 
form,  might  almost  be  constructed  out  of  the  hints  that  are 
thrown  out  in  these  three  books.  The  plan  of  mastering  the 
citations  as  well  as  tlie  text  ofMatthiae,  he  fully  accomplished. 
Sometimes  the  entries  in  his  diary  are  in  Greek,  sometimes 
Italian,  sometimes  French,  sometimes  in  Arabic  or  even  Per- 
sian. 

The  items  which  followed  enable  us  to  trace  him  through 
the  summer. 

"  Aug.  8.  Read  in  Greek  Ps.  xxxviii-xlili.  Read  in  Greek  and 
English,  Ephesians  i.  Read  in  Greek  three  sections  in  the  Melpomene  of 
Herodotus.  Read  in  German  the  articles  "  Englische  Poesie,"  "  Engl. 
Theatre"  and  part  of  the  article  "Deutsche  Literatur"  in  Conversa- 
tions-Lexicon. Read  in  English  Woodbridge's  account  of  the  mari- 
time divisions  of  the  earth.  Read  the  2.3d  cliapter  of  Matthew  in 
ancient  and  modern  Greek.  Read  the  first  chapter  of  John  in  Danish. 
Wrote  three  pages  of  Valpy's  Greek  Exercises. 

"  Aug.  18.  Read  Psalms  xc-xciv  in  the  Septuagint.  Read  Philip- 
pians  ii.  in  Greek  and  English.  Read  Matthew  xxvi  in  ancient  and 
modern  Greek.  Read  forty-nine  sections  in  the  Melpomene  of  Herod- 
otus. Read  the  Litter  half  of  the  Batrachoi  of  Aristophanes  in 
Kuster's  edition,  referring  to  his  Latin  version  and  Greek  scholia. 
This  play  is  truly  witty,  and  has  this  advantage  that  there  is  nothing 
immoral  or  indecent  in  the  plot,  and  very  little  in  the  language.  The 
satire  on  Euripides  is  very  amusing,  but  that  on  Bacchus  and  the 
heathen  mythology  still  better.  I  think,  with  a  litt'e  expurgation  and 
exposition,  this  comedy  might  he  made  an  excellent  text-book." 

I  find  the  following  isolated  experimental  record. 

"  June  5.  Read  a  considerable  part  of  Halyburton's  life  with 
avidity  and  astonishment.  I  seemed  to.be  reading  a  history  of  my 
own  life.  I  speak  within  bounds  when  I  sny  that  up  to  the  .nge  of 
twenty  his  spiritual  history  is  mine  in  almost  every  point.  Both  min- 
ister's sons,  and  both  ministers  of  the  same  communion — both  guarded, 
in  an  unusual  degree,  by  circumstances  from  exterior  temptation — both 
outwardly  exemplary,  inwardly  corrupt — both  led  to  seek  religion  by 
distress — both  tormented  with  the  fear  of  death  !     The  coincidence  is 


258  RELIGIOUS    EXPERIENCE.  DSSl. 

truly  wonderful.  The  account  of  his  vows  and  resolutions;  his  fre- 
quent breaches  of  them;  his  distress  in  consequence;  his  subsequent 
resorts  and  shifts — I  niiglit  transcribe  and  make  my  own.  I  was 
obliged  to  pause  sometimes  and  wonder  at  these  strange  coincidences ; 
and  I  bless  God  that  the  book  fell  into  my  hands.  From  the  experience 
of  one  whose  early  history  was  so  much  like  my  own,  I  have  learaed 
some  precious  lessons.  Some  enigmas  have  been  solved  ;  some  myste- 
ries of  iniquity  developed  ;  some  obstacles  removed  ;  some  useful  hints 
suggested.  On  one  head  particularly,  I  have  been  much  edified. 
When  my  conscience  has  been  wounded  by  relapses  into  sin,  I  have 
always  been  tempted  to  sink  down  into  a  sullen  apathy,  or  else  to  wait 
a  day  or  two  before  approaching  God  again.  It  has  seemed  to  me,  ou 
such  occasions,  that  it  would  be  awfully  presumptuous  and  insolent 
to  ask  God  to  forgive  me  on  the  q^ot.  I  never  knew  why  I  thought  so 
until  Halyburton  told  me.  I  luid  been  trusting  in  my  abstinence  from 
sin,  instead  of  Christ's  atonement,  so  that  when  surprised  and  van- 
quished, by  temptation,  I  felt  that  my  foundation  was  removed,  my 
righteousness  gone,  and  I  had  no  righteousness  wherewith  to  purchase 
favour.  It  pleased  God  this  afternoon  to  use  the  memoir  as  an  in- 
strument in  fixing  on  my  mind  a  strong  conviction  that  the  only  rea- 
sonable course  is  to  come  at  once,  and  ask  forgiveness  in  the  name  of 
Christ.  The  remarks  which  particularly  struck  me  as  conclusive  were 
these  three  : 

1.  After  an  act  of  known  transgression,  every  moment  that  I  spend 
without  applying  to  the  blood  of  Christ  I  spend  in  sin ;  and  consequently 
aggravate  my  guilt. 

2.  It  was  my  folly  to  suppose  that  I  should  never  sin  again.  lie 
tliat  trusteth  to  his  own  heart  is  a  fool. 

3.  Above  all  I  seemed  to  have  received  new  light  upon  a  point 
which  I  never  before  thought  of  as  I  ought,  viz.  that  God's  chief  end 
in  dealing  with  men's  souls  is  not  to  discipline  them  nor  save  them ; 
but  to  promote  his  own  glory.  Now  He  chooses  to  glorify  all  his  at- 
tributes together — His  mercy  as  well  as  His  justice.  To  distrust  the 
extent  of  His  forgiving  mercy  through  Christ  Jesus,  therefore,  is  an 
insult.  It  is  in  vain  that  the  sinner  talks  about  his  unworthiness  and 
the  greatness  of  his  sins.  Poor  wretch;— if  God  thought  of  your  un- 
worthiness you  might  well  despair  ;  but  it  is  to  glorify  Himself  that  He 
invites  you!  You  maybe  sure,  therefore,  that  He  will  receive  you. 
This  is  an  humbling  but  delightful  doctrine.  I  feel,  however,  the  ne- 
cessity of  guarding  against  an  antinomian  spirit.  Self-righteousness 
and  antinomianism  are  my  Pcylla  and  Charyhdis." 


^T.22.]  THE    TWO    BROTHERS.  259 

At  the  close  ot  a  letter  to  one  of  his  old  pastor's  sous,  a 
friend*  thus  expresses  his  sense  of  obligation  to  the  Rev- 
erend James  W.  Alexander,  who  was  still  labouring  at  the 
State  capital : 

"While  writing  this  there  have  been  constantly  running  in  my 
mind  remembrances  of  my  youthful  days,  blended  with  your  sainted 
father,  wlien  in  that  old  church  ia  Trenton  with  its  lofty  galleries  and 
pulpit  perched  aloft  between  the  doors,  I  took,  in  the  depths  of  my 
soul,  impressions  from  his  then  peerless  preaching,  Avhich  have  done 
so  much  towards  forming  my  literary  taste  and  moulding  my  religious 
life;  times  when  in  my  father's  gig  I  drove  him  to  some  neighbouring 
church  on  Saturday,  to  preach  on  the  Sabbath  and  return  on  Monday; 
and  with  what  hearty  pleasure,  he  would  have  me  stop  the  horse  that 
he  might  go  along  the  banks  of  a  brook  to  gather  wild  flowers  and 
magnolias;  and  with  what  happiness  he  entered  into  the  beauties  of 
the  green  fields,  and  of  the  summer  works  of  that  God  whom  he  adored 
and  Saviour  whom  he  loved  so  well.  But  my  hand  is  weary  and  I  must 
pause." 

How  pleasing  it  would  be  to  be  able  to  give  a  record  of 
the  words  that  fell  from  the  lips  of  the  brothers  James  and 
Addison  in  conversation  !  This  is  of  course  impossible.  A 
few  sentences  of  it  has  been  preserved  in  letters  and  common- 
place books.  One  day  speaking  of  Watson  the  Methodist, 
whom  he  had  just  compared  to  Turretin,  the  younger  brother 
exclaimed  with  vivacity,  and  I  have  no  doubt  with  a  beaming 
countenance,  "  He  reasons  like  Paley  and  descants  like  Hall ! " 
To  this  opinion  his  auditor  heartily  subscribes.!  On  another 
occasion,  in  a  later  year  of  this  general  period,  the  talk  fell 
upon  childrens'  books  and  the  younger  scholar  said  to  his  de- 
lighted companion,  "  Don't  try  to  vary  the  Bible  language 
too  much  ;  say  what  you  will  it  is  the  most  intelligible  to 
children.  Don't  try  too  much  to  improve  upon  the  Bible ;  let 
what  you  add  be  exegetical  and  brief"  He  went  on  then  to 
say  that  "  a  thousand  books  may  yet  be  made  out  of  the  raw 

*  Dr.  Burrowes,  of  Easton. 
f  Fam.  Lett.     Vol.  I.,  p.  181. 


260  HIS    READING.  D831. 

Bible  material,  with  very  little  alteration  of  the  text.  Thus 
one  may  take  all  that  relates  to  the  archajology  of  the  Hebrew 
houses,  and  make  a  book  of  it ;  and  that  not  by  casting  the 
scriptural  parts  into  the  pigeon-holes  of  formal  artistical  ar- 
rangement, but  following  the  exact  order  of  the  scripture 
story.     Take  one  subject  and  chase  it  through  the  canon."  * 

His  thirst  for  knowledge  was  no  less  insatiable  than  when 
as  a  boy  he  devoured  strange  volumes  in  his  father's  garret. 
On  the  sixth  of  July  he  writes,  "  I  was  seized  to-day  with  a 
strong  desire  to  study  geography,  created  probably  by  the 
perusal  of  Kotzebue  and  Stewart's  voyages."  He  continued 
this  investigation  with  some  mental  entertainment  until  he 
had  finished  one  of  Woodbridge's  school  text-books.  He  was 
always  passionately  fond  of  books  of  travels.  "  England's 
Forgotten  Worthies,"  Drake,  Raleigh,  and  the  other  early 
navigators,  were  as  fascinating  personages  to  him  in  his  rural 
solitude,  as  they  were  ever  to  Froude.  He  lived  largely,  as 
in  his  boyhood,  in  an  ideal  or  imaginary  Avorld.  He  could 
summon  round  him  at  will,  the  famous  personages  of  ancient 
or  modern  history ;  the  men  and  women  of  the  Bible ;  the 
scenery  and  manners  of  the  East  or  of  the  West ;  the  fictitious 
actors  in  the  story  of  Cervantes,  in  the  dramas  of  Shakespeare, 
in  the  chivalrous  ballads  of  Firdusi,  in  the  glorious  poems 
of  Homer.  His  studies  all  ministered  to  the  purest  isstbctic 
as  well  as  to  higher  forms  of  intellectual  enjoyment. 

During  this  time  he  was  a  contributor  at  intervals  to 
Walsh's  National  Gazette  of  Philadelphia,  and  to  tbe  Prince- 
ton Courier,  a  Aveckly  newspaper.f  But  in  the  midst  of  all 
his  laborious  and  diversified  pursuits  he  saved  time  lor  the 
most  heart-searching  exercises  in  his  closet.  He  gave  himself 
up  to  daily  communion  with  his  God.  He  might  neglect 
every  thing  else,  but  he  could  not  neglect  his  private  devotions. 
In  point  of  fact  he  neglected  nothing.  He  moved  as  by  clock- 
work.    The  cultivation  ot  personal  i3iety,  in  the  light  of  the 

*  Fam.  Lett.    Vol.  I.,  p.  219. 

f  None  of  these  articles  is  in  the  Covricr  known  to  be  extant. 


^T.22.1  HE    LOVES    THE    BIBLE.  261 

insi)ired  word,  was  now  with  him  the  main  object  that  he  had 
in  lile.  The  next  most  prominent  goal  that  he  set  before  him- 
self was  the  interpretation  of  the  original  scriptures;  for  their 
own  sake,  and  for  the  benefit  of  a  rising  ministry,  as  well  as 
for  the  gratification  he  took  in  the  Avork.  The  Bible  was  to  him 
the  most  profoundly  interesting  book  in  the  world.  It  was  in 
his  eyes  not  merely  the  only  source  of  true  and  undefiled  reli- 
gion, but  also  the  very  paragon  among  all  remains  of  human 
genius.  He  knew  great  portions  of  it  by  heart.  lie  was  now, 
or  aftei'wards  became,  a  consummate  master  of  every  one  of 
its  idioms,  of  the  wide  embrace  of  its  contents,  of  the  whole 
sweep  of  its  doctrine,  evidence,  history,  and  literature,  of  much 
of  the  broad  domain  of  exterior  but  kindred  science  and  belles- 
lettres,  of  the  innumerable  manuscripts  and  versions,  of  the 
immense  field  of  patristic  comment  and  modern  hermeneutics 
and  criticism  ;  and  long  before  the  close  of  his  life,  he  had 
analyzed  every  book,  every  chapter,  every  paragraph,  every 
sentence,  every  word,  every  syllable,  every  letter,  of  which  an 
analysis  vras  possible,  with  a  degree  of  minuteness,  precision, 
clearness,  originality,  force,  and  comprehensive  fulness,  and 
with  an  humble  childlike  reverence  for  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus, 
which,  as  exhibited  in  his  printed  volumes,  have  awakened 
the  respect  of  pious  scholars  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic, 
without  distinction  of  creed  or  rubric.  But  more  than  this : 
the  Bible  was  the  chief  object  of  his  personal  enthusiasm;  he 
was  fond  of  it ;  he  loved  it ;  he  was  proud  of  it ;  he  exalted  in 
it.  It  occupied  his  best  thoughts  by  day  and  by  night.  It 
was  his  meat  and  drink.  It  was  his  delectable  reward.  There 
were  times  when  he  might  say  with  the  Psalmist,  "Mine  eyes 
prevent  the  night  watches  that  I  might  meditate  in  thy  word, 
I  have  rejoiced  in  the  way  of  thy  precepts  more  than  in  great 
riches."  He  succeeded  perfectly  in  communicating  this  de- 
lightful zeal  to  others.  His  pupils  all  concur  in  saying  that 
"  he  made  the  Bible  glorious  "  to  them. 

On  the  twenty-first  of  May  we  have  another  isolated  record 
of  his  religious  experience  : 


262  TEMPTATION.  tl83t 

"  I  have  been  grievously  tempted  to-day,  and  the  temptation  has 
not  left  me.  It  is  on  me  at  this  moment ;  I  take  refuge  in  the  act  of 
■writing,  from  its  assaults.  Oh,  that  I  were  delivered  from  this  body 
of  death ! 

How  strange  a  conflict !  between  a  man  and  himself!  IIow  strange 
the  coexistence  of  two  wills  in  one  person!— a  will  to  do  evil  and  a 
will  to  avoid  it. 

"When  I  look  forward  to  temptations  I  am  always  confident  of 
victory,  and  that  an  easy  one.  I  have  a  vague  idea  that  the  foe  to  be 
contended  with  is  something  extrinsic  to  myself,  and  feel  myself  in- 
terested therefore,  in  resisting  unto  blood.  But  when  the  trial  comes 
and  I  find  arrayed  against  me  my  own  strongest  propensities  and  ten- 
derest  affections,  when  every  blow  aimed  at  the  tempter  rends  a  fibre 
of  my  heart— then  is  my  strengtii  indeed  found  perfect  weakness. 

"  It  grieves  me,  too,  and  galls  me  to  discover  by  experience,  that 
the  strongest  deductions  of  my  reason  are  of  little  use  by  themselves 
in  the  moment  of  temptation.  During  an  interval  of  calm,  dispassion- 
ate reflection,  I  revolve  a  moral  question  in  my  mind.  I  weigh  all  the 
arguments  on  both  sides.  I  am  satisfied— entirely  satisfied  that  reason, 
conscience,  gratitude,  require  me,  una  voce,  to  do  this,  or  abstain  from 
that.  I  foolishly  imagine  that  with  such  convictions  I  can  never  be 
seduced  into  transgression.  A  strong  temptation  fastens  on  me— all 
my  fortified  conclusions  seem  to  vanish  into  air!  I  no  longer  seem  to 
be  a  rational  creature.  Instinct,  passion,  appetite,  appear  to  be  omnip- 
otent. I  may  remember  all  my  arguments,  but  I  no  longer  feel  their 
force.  What  then  is  to  sustain  me  ?  The  grace  of  God  imparted  at 
the  moment  and  proportioned  to  the  exigency.  How  is  it  to  be  had? 
By  prayer  and  holy  living  through  the  Saviour's  intercession.  How 
shall  1  be  a>sured  of  having  it  in  season  ?  Trust— trust— trust  in  God. 
Kemember  that  you  do  not  deserve  to  be  sustained  at  all;  that  if  you 
are,  it  is  a  mere  favour.  What  assurance,  then,  is  wanting  but  a 
knowledge  of  God's  goodness  and  a  firm  faith  in  his  promises?  " 

He  does  not  seem  to  have  written  any  this  year  for  the 
Biblical  Repertory. 

The  year  1832  was  occupied  very  much  as  the  last.  Be- 
sides finishing,  or  continuing  the  perusal  of  the  works  already 
named,  but  not  fully  read,  he  addicted  himself  to  Home's  Intro- 
duction, Paley's  Natural  Theology  ;  Paley's  Evidences  ;  Mur- 
dock's  Mosheim  ;  Gesenius's  Einleituug  on  Isa. ;  Stuart  on  He- 


-^T.  22.] 


DAILY   READING.  263 


brews ;  Wolf's  Bibliotheca  Hebraica ;  Alexander  on  the  Can- 
on ;  Acts  of  the  Synod  of  Dort ;  Clarendon's  History  of  the 
Rebellion  ;  and  Milner's  Letters  on  the  Christian  Ministry.  He 
also  studied  Isaiah,  in  Hebrew,  Chaldee,  Syriac,  Greek,  Latin, 
English,  Arabic,  and  German,  with  Rosenmiiller's  and  Geseni- 
ns's  and  Lowth's  notes  ;  the  Peshito,  and  the  Targum  of  Jon- 
athan ;  also  Campbell's  gospels  ;  Hugo  Einleitung ;  Bush  on 
Millennium,  etc. 

I  find  the  following  record : 

"  March  11.  At  the  conference  last  Lord's  Day,  my  father  urged 
upon  the  students  the  duty  of  storing  their  memory  with  Scripture. 
I  resolved,  by  way  of  experiment,  to  get  by  heart  a  portion  of  Scripture 
every  day,  both  in  English  and  tlie  original." 

In  pursuance  of  this  purpose,  during  this  year,  he  commit- 
ted the  whole  of  the  Psalms  in  Hebrew  and  English,  and  the 
first  few  verses  of  each  chapter  in  Isaiah  ;  and  the  epistles  of 
Romans  and  Hebrews  in  Greek  and  English.  He  also  fastened 
in  his  memory  the  succession  of  events  in  the  gospels  of  Mat- 
thew, Mark  and  Luke,  so  as  to  be  able  to  give  an  analysis  of 
each  cliapter  from  memory. 

He  had,  during  the  previous  year,  studied  critically,  almost 
the  whole  of  the  Bible  in  that  thorough  and  exhaustive  way 
proposed  in  his  plan  of  study.  This  work  he  now  completed. 
He  also  thoroughly  mastered  several  grammars  of  the  German, 
Syriac  and  Chaldee  languages.  During  most  of  this  time  he 
was  giving  instruction  to  two  classes  in  the  college  in  Greek ; 
writing  for  Walsh's  Review,  tlie  Biblical  Repertory,  and  the 
Presbyterian  ;  teaching  one  of  his  brothers  and  a  young  lady 
German  and  French,  and  reading  the  English  poets  with 
them ;  besides  reading  English  reviews,  many  treatises  on 
various  subjects,  and  portions  of  many  books,  great  and 
small,  not  enumerated  above. 

"Peinceton,  July  31,  1832. 
"Dear  Sik, 

"  I  happened  to  hear,  not  long  ago,  that  you  were  editing  the 
S.  S.  J.  'pro  tempore.    The  thought  occurred  at  once,  that  this  arrange- 


264  LETTER   TO    MR.    HALL.  assU 

nient  might  bo  rendered  permanent  with  great  advnntage  to  the  institu- 
tion. I  was  not  aware,  at  that  time,  of  the  purpose  to  employ  another 
editor,  which  you  have  since  informed  me  of.  Your  letter  of  last  week 
affords  me  an  opportunity  of  meddling  in  the  matter,  which  I  do  at 
once  by  saying,  that  I  think  you  called  by  Providence  to  undertake  this 
business.  I  speak,  of  courj^e,  in  deference  to  public  interests.  Those 
private  relations  and  considerations  which  may  bear  upon  the  case,  I 
know  nothing  about.  Looking  at  the  thing  from  the  Sunday  School 
side  only,  I  should  certainly  have  given  you  my  vote,  if  qualified,  even 
though  I  had  never  been  called  upon  to  do  it  by  way  of  repartee. 

"  I  do  not  deny,  that  arguments  suggest  themselves  in  favour  of  my 
doing  what  you  ask.  But  I  can  truly  say  that  there  is  not  one  of  them 
(I  mean  of  such  of  them  as  rest  upon  the  ground  of  public  utility)  which 
does  not  reach  you  just  as  fully  as  myself.  And  then  besidis  these, 
there  are  others  which  apply  to  you  alone,  and  strongly  too.  Let  me 
mention  three  as  samples.  (1.)  You  have  experience  and  resources  as 
an  editor,  which  I  have  not.  (2.)  You  are  already  familiar  with  the 
entire  system,  or,  to  use  the  new  word,  '  cause ' — of  Sunday  Schools. 
(3.)  You  would  not  be  forsaking  one  field  of  usefulness  to  rush,  perhaps 
at  no  small  hazard,  into  another.  That  many  things  in  the  life  of  an 
editor  would  please  me,  I  admit.  But  you  see  how  stoically  I  have  set 
aside  the  dulce  for  the  utile. 

"  I  am  afraid  that  you  will  find  this  a  very  informal  and  unscientific 
answer  to  your  protocol.  Please  to  lay  the  blame  of  its  defects,  in  part 
upon  a  class  of  interesting  youth  who  are  awaiting  me,  and  in  part  upon 
my  own  procrastination,  which  has  left  your  favour  unacknowledged 
for  a  week.     "With  true,  though  tardy  thanks  for  it,  I  now  stop  short. 

"  Yours,  truly, 

"  Addison  Alexandeij. 

"  /.  Hall,  Esq. 

"  On  stating  the  substance  of  the  above  to  James,  he  graciously  as- 
sented to  it.  He  desires  me  to  say  that  he  has  received  your  letter 
and  may  answer  it  (or  will — I  have  forgotten  which.)" 


CHAPTEK  VIII. 

During  the  yeai-  1832,  Mr.  Alexander  contributed  no  less 
than  six  articles  to  the  Princeton  Quarterly,  viz.  one  on  Heng- 
stenberg's  Daniel,  one  on  Arabian  and  Persian  Lexicography, 
one  on  the  Historical  Statements  of  the  Koran,  one  on  Gibbs's 
Manual,  one  on  De  Sacy's  Arabic  Grammar,  and  one  on  Hebrew 
Grammar.  There  is  something  in  the  profusion  of  his  mind  at 
this  time  that  strikes  one  with  fresh  astonishment  and  admira- 
tion. His  efforts  of  this  period  are  equal  in  most  respects  to 
any  of  his  life.  His  continued  preference  of  Oriental  themes  to 
classical,  would  seem  to  show  that  whatever  might  be  the 
ripening  conclusions  of  his  judgment,  the  governing  bent  of  his 
inclinations  was  still  towards  the  tongues  that  are  spoken  in  the 
tents  of  Shem;  thoxagh  he  tells  us  that  he  was  now  becoming 
daily  more  and  more  enamoured  of  Greek,  and  soon  came  to 
rate  it  as  his  first  choice  among  all  his  studies.  This  was  so  at 
the  time  of  his  appointment  as  teacher  in  the  Seminary ;  but  as 
he  says  himself,  he  was  already  somewhat  weaned  from  anato- 
lic  studies  as  early  as  1829,  when  under  the  guiding  influence  of 
Patton  he  began  to  explore  the  wonders  of  modern  German 
philology,  and  under  the  stimulus  of  new  and  better  grammars 
to  ground  himself  in  the  principles  of  profound  classical  schol- 
arship. The  years  intervening  between  his  residence  at  Edge- 
hill  and  his  first  European  voyage,  was  the  transition  period. 

At  the  time  these  articles  were  published  he  was  on  the 
point  of  casting  the  slough  of  his  Semitic  tastes  and  pro- 
clivities, and  to  wear  it  no  more  as  his  favourite  and  almost 
exclusive  vesture.  He  was  in  a  short  time  to  emerge  from  his 
youthful  chrysalis  apparelled  in  intellectual  garments  of  scarce- 
ly less  resplendent  richness.  He  was  (to  modify  the  figure) 
about  to  clothe  himself  in  raiment  wrought  out  of  the  Indo- 
12 


266  ORIENTAL    PREFERENCES.  [1832. 

European  looms.  But  the  language  he  was  learning  more  and 
more  to  love  was  Greek.  It  was  to  become  almost  as  easy  to 
him  as  his  native  tongue.  It  was  for  it  he  was  to  give  up  his 
coat  of  many  colours  by  which  he  had  been  distinguished  from 
his  brethren.  If  the  languages  of  the  East  (and  the  remark  is 
chiefly  applicable  to  the  Persian)*  in  their  variegated  splendovir 
were  his  toga  prcetexta,  the  Greek  in  its  snow-white  purity 
may  he  said  to  have  been  his  toga  virilis,  which  still  however 
bore  its  fringe  of  anatolic  purple.  He  clung  to  the  Hehrev/ 
and  the  cognate  dialects,  and  to  the  Hellenistic  Greek,  with 
ever  growing  enthusiasm  and  unconquerable  affection. 

Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  of  these  contributions  is  tlie 
one  on  the  "  Historical  Statements  of  the  Koran,"  f  though 
the  one  on  "  De  Sacy's  Arabic  Grammar  "  J  is  of  the  same  gen- 
eral character,  and  exhibits  the  same  sort  of  philological  and 
critical  ability ;  and,  besides  the  remarks  more  strictly  germane 
to  the  subject  of  De  Sacy's  volume,  is  distinguished  by  a  lu- 
minous exposition  of  the  relation  between  the  Arabic  and  the 
Hebrew.  The  article  on  "Hebrew  Grammar"  is  also  very 
learned  and  able,  discovering  a  thorough  acquaintance 
with  the  writings  of  Jahn,  Storr,  Buxtorf,  Gesenius,  Lee, 
Michaelis,  Hoffman,  and  Ewalcl.  The  article  on  "  Gibbs's 
Manual  Lexicon,"  is  a  short  but  appreciative  notice  of  tlie 
admirable  vade-mecum  put  forth  by  the  Yale  Professor,  for  the 
benefit  of  Hebrew  and  Chaldee  students,  in  the  year  1832. 

It  is  interesting  in  this  connection  to  note  the  fact  that  Mr. 
Alexander  was  afterwards  a  pupil  of  Gesenius  and  Nord- 
heimer,  and  a  bearer  of  despatches  between  De  Sacy  and 
Freytag. 

The  article  ou  "  Hengstenberg's  Vindication  of  the  Book 


*  I  am  aware  that  the  Persian,  though  written  iu  Arabic  characters,  is  not 
one  of  the  Semitic  languages. 

f  Bib.  Rep.,  1832,  p.  195. 

^  Bib.  Rep.,  1832,  p.  543.  "Graramairc  Arabc,  a  Tusago  dcs  cloves  do 
I'ecole  speciale  des  langucs  orientales  vivantcs ;  avec  figures.  Par  M.  le  Baron 
Silvestre  de  Sacy,"  &c.,  &c.    '-Paris;  iraprime  par  autorisation  du  Roi,"  &c. 


Mr.  23.] 


THE    KORAN.  267 


of  Daniel,"  *  is  equally  attractive  on  similar  as  well  as  on  very 
different  grounds.  Mr.  Alexander,  as  we  shall  presently  see, 
was  afterwards  somewhat  intimately  assooiated  with  this 
Coryphaeus  of  Evangelical  criticism  in  Germany,  both  as  his 
pupil  and  friend.  He  probably  owed  more  as  a  commentator 
to  Hengstenberg  tlian  to  any  other  man,  unless  it  was  Calvin. 
He  was  an  early  convert  to  the  outlines  of  Hengstenberg's 
Messianic  theory,  as  v/ell  as  to  his  general  views  as  to  the 
structure  of  prophecy ;  and  though  he  discarded  many  of  his 
particular  opinions  and  interpretations,  believing  them  to  be  in 
some  instances  palpably  incorrect  and  in  others  mere  visionary 
crotchets  ;  and  while  he  never  yielded  himself  up  to  the  slav- 
ish guidance  of  any  teacher ;  he  yet  held  this  great  scholar  in 
the  most  exalted  estimation,  for  his  learning,  his  bold  saga- 
city, his  strength  of  will  and  breadth  of  mind,  his  independence 
of  judgment,  vigour  of  logic,  soundness  of  view,  and  eminent 
jnety.  His  own  work  on  the  Psalms  was  in  large  part  a  repro- 
duction in  another  form,  of  Hengstenberg's  ;  and  while  in  his 
"  Isaiah  "  he  often  mentions  the  great  German  only  to  difter 
from  him,  he  never  mentions  him  in  terras  that  are  inconsistent 
with  the  highest  respect  and  admiration. 

But  the  article  on  the  Koran  is  the  one  in  which  Mr.  Alex- 
ander seems  to  have  exerted  the  whole  force  of  his  mind,  and 
gives  what  is  possibly  the  best  coup  cVceil  that  can  now  be 
had  of  the  grasp  and  reach  of  his  acquisitions  in  Arabic 
literature.  In  this  article  he  not  only  corrects  many  of  the 
numerous  blunders,  loose  translations,  and  wrong  translations, 
into  which  Sale  has  wittingly  or  unwittingly  fallen,  but  takes 
"  the  Perspicuous  Book"  to  pieces  precisely  as  a  watcli- 
maker  takes  to  pieces  a  watch,  rearranging  and  systematizing 
the  historical  portions  of  the  volume  on  a  plan  of  his  own. 
It  must  have  been  a  gigantic  toil,  but  it  was  a  labour  of  love. 
The    same   faculty  of  minute   analysis   which  he  afterwards 

*Bib.  ReD.,  18?)2,  p.  48.  "Die  Antlientie  des  Daniel  und  die  Integritaet 
des  Sachaijah,  Erwie=en  von  Ernst  Willielra  Ilengsteuberg,  Dr.  der  Pliil.  und 
dcr  Thcol.  der  letzt.  ord.  Prof.  Berlin,  18;31,  8vo." 


268  MOHAMMEDANISM.  [1832. 

brought  to  bear  upon  the  gospels  of  Mark  and  Matthew,  is 
here  brought  to  bear  upon  certain  obscure  or  controverted 
passages  of  the  Mussulman's  Bible. 

But  Avhat  lends  a  popular  interest  to  the  article,  and  im- 
presses upon  it  a  strongly  distinctive  character,  is  the  fact 
that  it  also  exhibits  a  complete  view  of  Mohammedanism  and 
its  relation  to  Christianity,  and  makes  known  the  author's  own 
conceptions  of  the  great  deceiver  of  Islam.*  The  reader  will 
be  richly  rewarded  by  a  perusal  of  the  following  extracts  : 

"The  Moliammedaa  religion  is,  in  some  respects,  the  most  re- 
markable of  all  false  religions.  Tlie  specious  simplicity  of  its  essen- 
tial doctrines,  and  its  perfect  freedom  from  idolatry,  distinguish  it  for- 
ever from  the  gross  mythology  of  classical  and  oriental  paganism. 
But  besides  these  characteristics,  it  displays  a  tliird,  more  interesting 
still.  We  mean  the  peculiar  relation  which  it  bears  to  Christianity. 
Wiiether  it  happened  from  a  happy  accident  or  a  sagacious  policy,  we 
tliink  it  clear  that  Islam  owes  a  vast  proportion  of  its  success,  to  the 
fact  that  Mohammed  built  upon  another  man's  foundation.  Assuming 
the  correctness  of  the  common  doctrine  that  the  impostor  was  a  bril- 
liant genius,  though  a  worthless  libertine,  and  that  his  book  is  the  off- 
spring not  of  insane  stupidity  but  of  consummate  contrivance,  there 
certainly  is  ground  for  admiration  in  the  apparent  union  of  simplicity 
and  efficacy  in  the  wliole  design.  The  single  idea  of  admitting  freely 
the  divine  legation  of  the  Hebrew  seers,  and  exhibiting  himself  as  the 
top-stone  of  the  Edifice,  the  Last  Great  Prophet,  and  tlie  Paraclete  of 
Christ,  has  certainly  the  aspect  of  a  master-stroke  of  policy.  Besides 
concilititing  multitudes  of  Jews  and  soi-disant  Christians  at  the  very 
first,  this  circumstance  has  aided  the  imposture  not  a  little  ever  since. 
It  relieves  tlie  Moslem  doctors  of  the  necessity  of  waging  war  against 
both  law  and  gospel."     *     *     * 

Every  discrepancy  is  at  once  conveniently  resolved  into 
corruption  in  the  text. 

*  It  is  interestmg  to  compare  the  impressions  of  this  youn;,'  scholar,  im- 
pressions mainly  derived  either  from  admitted  facts  in  the  history  or  else  from 
the  naked  text  of  the  Koran,  with  the  results  of  modern  criticism  and  the  in- 
vestigations of  such  thorough -going  workmen  as  Mommsen.  A  very  striking 
view  of  these  results  ia  embodied  in  an  article  entitled  "  Mahomet "  in  the  Ed. 
Rev.  for  1866. 


Mt.  23.] 


THE    FALSE    PROPHET.  269 


"  It  is  not  tlie  policy  of  Islam  to  nrray  itself  against  tlie  JeAvi^h  and 
the  ChrisUun  dispensations,  as  an  original  and  iudepeudent  sy.-tem ; 
but  to  assume  the  same  position  in  relation  to  the  Go-pel,  which  the 
Gospel  seems  to  hold  in  relation  to  the  Law— or  in  other  words,  to 
make  itself  the  grand  denouement  of  that  grand  scheme  of  which  the 
old  and  new  Testaments  were  only  the  preparatory  stages.  Indeed, 
if  we  were  fully  satisfied  that  the  Rasool  Allah  *  had  any  plan  at  all, 
we  should  be  disposed  to  account  for  it  in  this  way.  He  was  ac- 
quainted with  three  forms  of  religion,  Judaism,  Christianity,  and  Pa- 
ganism. Disgusted  with  the  latter,  he  was  led,  we  may  suppose,  to 
make  some  inquiries  into  the  points  of  difterence  between  the  Jews 
and  Christians.  This  he  could  not  do  without  discovering  their  singular 
relations  to  each  other."  *  *  *  "  This  fact  might  very  readily  sug- 
gest the  project  of  a  new  dispensation — a  third  one  to  the  Christian, 
and  a  second  to  the  Jew.  Tlie  impostor  would  thus  be  furnished  with 
an  a'gument  nd  liominem  to  stop  the  mouths  of  both.  To  the  Jews  he 
could  say,  Did  not  Moses  tell  your  fathers  tliat  a  prophet  should  rise  up 
in  the  latter  days,  greater  than  all  before  him?  I  am  he.  Do  you 
doubt  it  ?  Here  is  a  revelation  just  received  from  Gabriel.  Do  not  all 
your  sacred  books  predict  the  coming  of  a  great  deliverer,  a  conqueror, 
a  king?  I  am  he.  In  a  few  months  you  shall  see  me  at  the  head  of  a 
thousand  tribes  going  forth  to  the  conquest  of  the  world. 

"  If  this  was  the  ground  really  taken  at  first,  how  striking  must 
have  been  the  seeming  confirmation  of  these  bold  pretensions,  when 
Mohammed  and  his  successors  had  in  fact  subjected,  not  Arabia  only, 
but  Greece,  Persia,  Syria,  and  Egypt. 

"To  the  objection  of  the  Christians,  that  the  line  of  prophets  was 
long  since  completed,  he  could  answer.  Did  not  Jesus  come  to  abrogate 
or  modify  the  law,  when  its  provisions  were  no  longer  suited  to  the 
state  of  things?  Even  so  come  I,  to  supersede  the  Gospel— not  to  dis- 
credit it  but  to  render  it  unnecessary,  by  a  more  extensive  and  authori- 
tative doctrine.  So  far  from  being  Antichrist  (as  some  no  doubt  ob- 
jected) I  am  the  very  comforter  whom  Jesus  promised. 

"  That  such  sophistry  might  easily  have  undermined  the  faith  of 
renegadoes  and  half-pagan  Christians,  is  certainly  cocceivable.  Whether 
this  was  in  fact  the  course  adopted  in  the  infancy  of  Islam  will  admit 
of  a  doubt.  Be  that  as  it  may,  it  is  certain  that  the  Impostor 
considered  it  expedient  to  incorporate  the  leading  facts  of  Sacred  his- 

*  The  Apostle  of  God.  We  are  not  aware  that  Mohammed  ever  called  him- 
self a  prophet. — J.  A.  A. 


270  THE    PEHSPICUOUS    BOOK.  [1832. 

tory  into  his  revelation,  so  far  as  they  were  known  to  liim.  That  liis 
knowledge  of  the  subject  was  imperfect,  need  not  excite  our  wonder. 
The  sources  which  probably  supplied  his  information,  could  scarcely  be 
expected  to  remit  a  purer  stream  than  that  which  irrigates  the  pages 
of  the  Perspicuous  Book." 

In  illustration  of  the  way  in  which  he  could  combine  learn- 
ing, exegesis,  irony,  keen  criticism,  wit,  humour,  sarcasm,  cau- 
tion, moderation,  strong  writing,  and  knock-down  argument, 
m  the  same  paragraph,  I  adduce  the  following  : 

"  One  thing  more  in  this  account  of  the  creation  may  deserve  our 
notice,  '  He  said  to  the  heaven  and  earth.  Come,  either  obediently  or 
against  your  will.'  This  was  obviously  intended  as  a  match  for  that 
inimitable  sentence  '  God  sa;d,  Let  there  be  light  and  light  was.'  One 
can  hardly  help  smiling  at  the  Irish  sublimity  of  poor  Mohammed's 
masterpiece,  the  alternative  proposed  to  two  nonentities,  and  their 
sagacious  choice.  It  is  but  just,  however,  to  admit,  that  the  language 
may  be  considered  as  aldressel  to  the  heavens  and  the  earth  after 
they  were  created ;  but  before  they  were  arranged  and  beautified." 

What  follows  sheds  a  new  light  on  the  Arabian  tales  with 
Avhich  we  have  all  been  familiar  from  our  childhood : 

"The  Genii,  we  are  told  in  the  chapter  of  Al  Hejr  [c.  xv.]  were 
made  of  suUleJire,  as  Sale  translates  it.  The  original  words  are  nar 
semum,  the  latter  term  properly  denoting  the  hot  wind  of  the  desert 
called  simoom  by  travellers.  There  is  something  poetical  in  this  idea, 
which  would  no  doubt  strike  the  fervid  fancy  of  a  Bedouin  with 
mighty  force." 

It  is  not  proposed  to  follow  out  the  writer  along  the 
various  ramifying  lines  of  this  intricate  but  often  alluring  in- 
vestigation. The  concluding  words  of  this  article,  however, 
convey  such  ocular  proof  of  his  capacity  as  a  critic  and 
philologist,  and  as  a  writer  of  flexible  and  muscular  English, 
and  show  him  in  so  many  various  attitudes  and  lights,  that  it 
seems  proper  to  reanimate  thcin  from  the  dust  which  always 
envelopes  the  bound  volumes  of  anonymous  periodical  litera- 
ture.      His    inventive    turn,   or    shall   I   say   his    planning 


^^.23.]  THE    STUDY    OF    ARABIC.  •       271 

faculty,  which  was  always  so  prolific  of  new  schemes  and 
suggestions,  finds  full  play  in  this  learned  essay.  His  views 
re^p'ecting  translated  grammars  will  strike  many  pei^sons  as 
novel  and  worthy  of  attention.  His  witty  allusion  to  the 
Chinese  tailor  is  characteristic.  There  is  indeed  an  air  of 
light-hearted  gaiety  about  the  whole  performance.  This  was 
always  his  mood  when  he  was  in  full  health,*and  was  interested 
in  his  work.  He  took  the  same  joyous  satisfaction  in  his  folio 
Targums  and  Oriental  dictionaries,  that  a  sportsman  does  in 
his  Ijorses  and  dogs.  His  favourite  studies  were  always  an 
enthusiasm  with  him  ;  he  was  either  in  love  with  a  pursuit  or 
had  taken  a  disgust  for  it ;  and  was  never  more  ready  to  break 
out  into  fun  than  when  he  was  most  busy,  and  his  mind  was 
excited  by  his  toils. 

"We  shall  add.  a  few  words  with  respect  to  the  study  of  Arabic. 
It  is  highly  desirable,  on  various  accounts  that  a  knowledge  of  this 
noble  and  important  language  should  become  more  common.  Biblical 
learning  and  the  missionary  enterprise  alike  demand  it.  What  we 
most  need,  is  a  taste  for  the  pursuit,  and  a  conscientious  willingness  to 
undertake  the  task.  The  great  deficiency  is  not  so  much  in  grammars, 
as  in  men  to  study  them.  We  observe  that  Mr.  Smith,  the  American 
missionary  at  Malta,  has  declined  to  undertake  an  English  version  of 
Ibn  Ferhat's  grammar.  His  views  are  such  as  might  have  been  ex- 
pected from  a  man  of  sense  and  learning.  It  may,  indeed,  be  stated  as 
a  general  truth,  that  translated  grammars  are  as  likely  to  be  hinder- 
ances  as  helps.  A  grammarian  cannot  possibly  explain  the  phenomena 
of  a  foreign  language,  except  by  appealing  to  the  structure  of  his  own 
or  of  that  in  which  he  writes.  Now  as  every  language  has  its  peculiar- 
ities, both  great  and  small,  no  two  can  stand  in  the  same  relation  to  a 
third.  Latin  and  French  agree  where  French  and  English  differ.  The 
same  form  of  speech  in  Latin,  therefore,  which  must  be  explained  to 
English  learners,  may  be  as  clear,  without  elucidation,  to  the  French- 
man, as  if  founded  upon  some  fixed  law  of  nature.  Give  the  latter  the 
same  comments  that  you  give  the  former,  and  you  not  only  do  not  aid 
him,  but  you  really  confound  him.  For  we  need  not  say  that  the  at- 
tempt to  explain  what  is  perfectly  intelligible  must  have  that  effect. 
The  same  remark  may  be  applied  to  another  case.  For  a  familiar 
instance,  we  refer  to  Josse's  Spanish  Grammar,  as  translated  into  Eng- 
lish by  Mr.  Sales,  of  Cambridge.     The  original  work  was  designed  for 


272  -  FOREIGN    GRAMMARS.  a832. 

Frenchmen,  and  as  the  translator,  vrc  believe,  is  himself  a  Frenchmnn, 
many  rules  and  statements  in  themselves  just,  and  in  tlieir  proper 
places  useful,  are  vv^hoUy  unintelligible  to  the  English  reader.  Analo- 
gous ca^s  will  occur  to  every  scholar,  abundantly  proving  that  tlio 
servile  transfer  not  of  language  merely,  but  of  rules,  arrangements, 
proofs,  and  illustrations,  is  unfriendly  to  tlie  only  end  which  grammars 
should  promote.  While  we  believe,  Avith  Dr.  Johnson,  that  the  practice 
of  translating  (in  the  proper  sense,  and  on  an  extensive  scale)  is  injuri- 
ous to  the  purity  of  language,  we  likewise  consider  it  injurious  to  the 
interests  of  sound  and  thorough  scholarship.  To  avoid  the  former  evil, 
we  would  substitute  the  transfusion  of  thoughts  for  the  translation  of 
words.  To  remedy  the  latter,  we  would  have  bihngual  scholars  to 
stud}',  sift,  digest,  remodel,  reproduce.  By  this  we  should  avoid  the 
needless  introduction  of  an  uncouth  terminology  and  the  practical 
paralogism  of  attempting  to  explain  ignotum  per  ignotius.  By  this 
means  too,  a  freshness  would  be  given  to  our  learned  works,  very  unlike 
the  tang  contracted  by  a  passage  over  sea.  This  too,  would  serve  to 
check  the  strong  propensity  of  young  philologists  towards  a  stagnant 
acquiescence  in  the  dicta  of  their  text-books,  which  is  always  attended 
with  tlie  danger  of  mistaking  form  for  substance,  and  forgetting  the 
great  ends  of  language  in  the  infinitesimal  minutiaaof  a  barren  etymol- 
ogy. In  Germany,  that  great  philological  brewery,  the  extreme  of 
stagnation  has  been  long  exchanged  for  that  of  fermentation,  and 
although  we  do  not  wish  to  see  the  eccentricities  of  foreign  scholarship 
imported  here,  we  do  believe  that  much  of  their  advancement  may 
be  fairly  traced  to  their  contempt  of  mere  authority,  their  leech-like 
thirst  for  indefinite  improvement,  and  their  i)raclice  of  working  up  the 
materials  of  their  learning  into  new  and  varied  forms  without  much 
regard  to  preexistent  models.  Let  us  imitate  their  merits  and  avoid 
their  faults.  Let  us  mount  upon  their  shoulders,  not  grovel  at  their 
feet.  Let  us  take  the  stuff  which  they  provide  for  us,  and  mould  it  for 
ourselves,  to  suit  our  own  peculiarities  of  language,  habit,  genius, 
wants,  and  prospects.  Let  our  books  be  English,  not  Anglo-French  or 
Anglo-German.  Let  us  not  make  them  as  the  Chinese  tailor  made  tlie 
tar's  new  jacket,  with  a  patch  to  suit  the  old  one. 

"To  return  to  grammars — though  what  we  said  above  may  seem 
directly  applicable  only  to  those  written  in  one  language  to  explain  an- 
other, it  applies  d  fortiori,  to  what  are  called  native  grammars,  which 
are  merely  designed  to  reduce  into  systematic  form  the  knowledge  pre- 
viously gathered  by  empirical  induction.  To  those  who  have  become 
familiar  v^ith  a  language  in  the  concrete  by  extensive  reading,  such 


^T.  23.]  FOREIGN    GRAMMARS.  2'73  ' 

works  are  highly  useful  and  need  no  translation.     To  beginners  they 

are  useless;  for  they  presuppose  the  knowledge  which  beginners  want. 

Besides,   they  are  ^intranslatahle^  as  Mr.  Smith  justly  atfirms — with 

special  reference,  indeed,  to  Bahth  El  Mutalib^  of  which  we  know 

nothing  but  through  him.     We  may  add,  however,  that  even  if  that 

work  admitted  of  translation,  it  would  scarcely  throw  more  light  upon 

the  subject  than  De  Sacy's  lucid  digest  (pre-eminently  lucid  after  all 

deductions,  drawbacks,  and  exceptions)  the  fruit  of  most  laborious  and 

long  continued  study  of  numerous  authorities — a  work,  too,  which  has 

had  more  indirect  influence  on  biblical  philology  than  many  are  aware 

of* 

"When  De  Sacy  has  been  mastered  and  exhausted,  he  may  very 

fairly  be  condemned  and  thrown  aside.  To  those  who  would  prefer  a 
shoi-ter  grammar  and  the  Latin  tongue,  Eosenmtiller's  book  may  be 
safely  recommended.  It  is  Erpenius  rewritten,  with  improvements 
from  De  Sacy.  Meanwhile  we  look  with  some  impatience  for  the 
forthcoming  work  of  Ewald,  whose  acuteness,  ingenuity,  and  habits  of 
research  afford  the  promise  of  a  masterly  performance.!  It  must  be 
owned,  however,  that  we  do  not  need  reading-books,  or  Renders,  fir 
beginners.  Most  of  the  chrestomathies  prepared  in  Europe  appear  to 
presuppose  some  acquaintance  with  the  Koran.  For  us  this  will  not 
answer.  Here,  where  the  study  is,  at  most,  but  nascent,  we  need  an 
introduction  to  the  Koran  itself.  We  have  often  thought  that  a  selec- 
tion of  historical  passages  from  that  book,  reduced  to  order,  with 
grammatical  notes  and  a  vocabulary,  would  answer  the  ends  of  a 
chrestomathy  for  mere  beginners  most  completely.  It  is  highly  im- 
portant that  the  learner's  first  acquaintance  with  the  written  language, 
should  be  formed  upon  the  Koran.  Amidst  all  the  dialectic  variations 
of  a  tongue  w^hich  is  spoken  from  the  great  Sahara  to  the  Steppes  of 
Tartary,  there  is  a  large  proportion  both  of  words  and  phrases,  every- 
where the  same.  These  are  the  words  and  phrases  of  the  Koran, 
which  religious  scruples  have  preserved  from  change,  and  religious  use 

*  No  one  we  think  who  is  familiar  with  De  Sacy's  noble  work  can  fail  to  re- 
cognise its  agency  in  giving  form,  perspicuity,  and  richness  to  the  famous 
Lehrgeb^^de  of  Gesenius.  J-  ^-  -^• 

f  There  is  in  addition  to  the  works  referred  to  by  Mr.  Alexander,  a  valua- 
ble and  very  compendious  handbook  by  Tregelles.  There  is  also  a  grammar  of 
note  by  Caspari.  It  has  been  translated  into  English  by  William  Wright, 
Assistant  in  the  MS.  Department,  British  Museum,  and  pubhshed  by  Williams  & 
Norgate,  Covent  Garden,  London,  1862.  It  must  be  imported,  and  is  a  beauti- 
fully printed  and  yet  really  cheap  octavo. 
12* 


274  FAMILIARITY   WITH    CURRENT   ARABIC.  [issa 

made  universal!}'  familiar.  Ho  who  is  acquainted  with  the  language 
of  the  Koran,  has  the  means  of  oral  access  to  any  Arab,  and  to  almost 
any  Massnlman.  He  may  not  understand  as  yet  the  many  variations 
of  the  vulgar  from  the  sacred  tongue,  much  less  the  local  diversities  of 
speech;  but  he  has  the  foundation  upon  wliich  these  rest,  the  stated 
formula  from  which  they  are  mere  departures.  lie  will  also  have  ac- 
quired a  measure  of  that  knowledge,  with  respect  to  facts  and  doc- 
trines, which  no  man  can  dispense  witli,  who  would  eitber  vanquish  or 
convert  the  Moslem." 

The  writer  of  the  iiboye  could  be  no  smatterer  ;  lie  certain- 
ly must  have  felt  the  firm  ground  of  true  and  thorough  knowl- 
edo-e,  of  a  learning  as  solid  as  it  was  extensive,  beneath  his 
feet.  We  need  not  wonder  then,  if  Mr.  Wa^sh  should  con- 
found this  nameless  young  man  who  wrote  the  Persian  article 
in  the  Quarterly  with  the  well-known  theological  professor  at 
Princeton,  and  suppose  him  to  he  one  of  thematurest  oriental- 
ists in  the  country.  He  was  one  of  the  maturest  orientalists  in 
the  country  !  "  The  study,"  as  he  says,  "  was  then,  at  most, 
but  nascent."  Mr.  Alexander  had  few  companions  at  that 
day  in  those  tropical  voyages  among  the  spice-islands,  or  in 
these  violent  inroads  upon  the  domain  of  the  false  prophet. 
Persian  was  a  greater  luxury  to  him  than  Lalla  RoolA.  He 
had  been  reading  Arabic  from  the  time  he  w^as  nine  or  ten 
years  old,  and  had  been  familiar  with  the  Koran  ever  since  he 
knew  anything  about  the  langunge.  He  had  read  it  through 
at  least  four  years  previously,  and  had  committed  parts  of  it 
to  memory.  He  could  write  Arabic  letters  (Arabic  epistles,  I 
mean)  with  the  same  rapidity  and  apparent  ease  that  he  could 
Enn-lisli.  He  had  a  great  talent  for  forming  the  characters  of 
a  foreign  language.  He  wrote  the  Hebrew  with  singular  ele- 
o-ance.  The  letters  were  made  small  and  uniform,  and  looked 
nearly  as  well  as  print.  Some  of  his  Arabic  is  in  the  beautiful 
current  hand  in  which  accomplished  dragomans  write  I'Arabe 
vulgaire:*  sometimes  it  is  carefully  copied  from  the  style 
which  is  seen  in  printed  books;  more  commonly  it  is  in  the  same 

*  See  fac-similc  in  Byron's  poetical  works.     Murray,  181.5,  vol.  i.  '.  30a. 


^T.23.] 


HEIS'RY   VETHAKE.  275 


general  style  but  dashed  off  with  the  masterly  negligence  with 
which  a  man,  who  feels  at  home  in  it,  dashes  off  a  familiar  let- 
ter in  his  native  tongue. 

The  young  adjunct  professor  lived  at  this  time   in   the 
house  of  Mr.  Henry  Vethalce,  the  professor  of  natural  philo= 
sophy.     The  building  was  situated  at  a  point  precisely  in  a 
line  with  the  college  and  towards  the  dwelling  of  the  Presi- 
dent.    On  the  other  side  of  the  college  stood  the  steward's 
hall.     It  was  now  and  there  that  Mr.  Alexander  gave  his  heart 
to  God  according  to  the  terms  of  the  everlasting  covenant. 
Mr.  Alexander  had  a  decided  admiration  for  his  associate,  as 
was  the  case  with  all  others  who  knew  him.     Henry  Veth- 
ake  was  an  accomplished  man,  and  in  a  great  variety  of  ways. 
His  forte  was  probably  political  economy,  though  in  his  time 
he   honoured   and  graced   many  different  chairs.     He  was  a 
scholar  of  the  type  that  is  best  known  on  the  continent  of  Eu- 
rope.    He  was  a  native  of  Prussia,  having  come   with   his 
parents  to  the  United  States  when  he  was  yet  a  child.     His 
boyhood  was  passed  in  New  York,  where  he  afterwards  re- 
ceived his  academic  degree  from  Columbia  College.     His  first 
post  as  a  teacher  was  in  this  institution.     Subsequently  he  ac- 
cepted the  professorship  of  mathematics  and  natural  philoso- 
phy in  Queen's  (now  Rutgers)  College,  New  Brunswick,  N.  J. 
In  the  year  1817  he  was  chosen  to  be  the  occupant  of  the 
chair  of  mathematics,  natural  philosophy  and  chemistry,  in 
he  Colleo-e  of  New  Jersey.     He  seemed  for  some  time  to  be 
the  sport  of  changes.     The  next  year  his  department  was  di- 
vided and  he  became  the  professor  of  mathematics  and  me- 
chanical philosophy.     Two  or  three  years  later  he  resigned 
his  chair  at  Princeton  and  went  to  Carlisle,  Penn.,  as  professor 
of  the  same  branches   in  Dickinson  College.     There  he  re- 
mained till  t]ie  autumn  of  1829.     The  following  year  he   re- 
turned to  Princeton  and  was  for  two  years  professor  of  natural 
philosophy  in  the  college.     After  the  lapse  of  two  more  years 
he  again  resigned  his  chair  at  Princeton  and  accepted  one  in 
the  IJniversitv  of  New  York,  then  just  established.     Two  or 
three  years  after  he  was  elected  to  the  presidency  of  Wash- 


276  COLLEGE   MANNEES.  0832. 

ington  College  in  Lexington,  Rockbridge  county,  Virginia. 
He  remained  there  about  twelve  months. 

The  last  thirty  years,  or  more,  of  his  life  was  spent  m 
Philadelphia,  amidst  the  congenial  society  of  men  of  letters, 
and  chiefly  in  connection  with  the  University  of  Pennsylvania, 
in  -which  institution  he  was  at  first  the  professor  of  mathe- 
matics, and  afterwards  the  Provost  of  the  University.  At  the 
time  of  his  death  he  held  the  same  chair  in  the  Polytechnic 
School,  or  College,  of  Philadelphia. 

Dr.  Vethake  was  a  man  of  varied  attainments  both  in 
science  and  literature,  and  an  excellent  teacher.  He  was  Avithal 
an  amiable  man  and  a  good  companion.  As  a  writer  he  is 
chiefly  known  as  the  author  of  certain  contributions  to  the 
science  of  political  economy.  He  prepared  a  supplementary 
volume  for  an  edition  of  the  American  Encycloposdia,  published 
some  years  ago  in  Philadelphia.  The  daily  society  of  such  a 
man  must  have  been  a  great  treat  to  the  bashful  linguist. 

Professor  Burrowes*  of  Easton  writes,  that  -when  lie  entered 
Princeton  College  in  the  antumn  of  1830,  Mr.  Alexander  was  adjunct, 
professor  of  languages,  living  in  the  college  and  acting  as  tutor.  His 
room  was  on  the  fourth  floor  of  the  old  college  building,  next  to  the 
bell,  and  over  what  was  then  the  chapel.  He  occupied  afterwards  the 
front  room  on  the  left  of  the  entry  of  a  house  then  standing  on  the  now 
open  space  between  the  college  and  tlie  old  Library.  "As  my  room," 
he  says,  "  was  on  the  same  entry  witli  his  in  college,  he  looked  in  on 
us  daily  in  the  visits  made  by  the  tutors  to  the  rooms  of  the  students. 
There  was  a  marked  difference  between  the  air  with  which  the  other 
tutor  threw  wide  open  the  door  in  his  visits,  and,  pausing,  looked 
around  to  see  if  any  of  the  inmates  had  escaped  since  his  last  trip ; 
and  the  quick  movement  with  which  the  door  was  opened  barely 
enough  to  let  us  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  fresh,  ruddy,  liandsome  face  of 
Professor  Addison,  and  then  closed  again  and  he  was  gone.  On 
one  occasion  a  member  of  our  class,  pleasant  and  compani(niab]e,  but 
not  in  danger  of  hurting  himself  with  study,  came  into  our  room  just 

*  The  Rev.  Geo.  Burrowes,  D.D.  Professor  of  Biblical  Instruction  in  La 
fayette  College. 


^T.23.]  ANECDOTES.  2Y^ 

after  the  professor  had  passed,  mortified  and  saying-"  I  >vill  try  here- 
after to  avoid  Professor  Addison  in  his  rounds.     As  I  passed  him  m 

the  entry  he  said  to  me,  '  Mr. ,  you  seem  a  bird  of  passage  -I  find 

yon  always  on  the  wing.'  "  Even  then,  though  a  young  man  hardly 
one  and  twenty,  this  writer  remembers  that  he  carried  with  him  great 
influence,  and  commanded  unbounded  respect.  "No  student  ever 
dreamed  of  playing  on  him  any  of  the  pranks  of  which  the  other 
tutor  had  so  bountiful  a  share.  His  great  reputation  for  one  of  his 
years  had  thrown  a  something  around  him  that  caused  hiin  to  be 
looked  up  to  with  a  kind  of  awe  by  the  poor  hard-working  herd,  plod- 
ding our  way  along  through  jagged  passes  of  the  hill  of  science,  over 
which  we  felt  he  had  swept  wiih  an  eagle's  wing." 

He  mentions  an  amusing  instance  of  tliis  feeling.  There  were  two 
rooms  in  the  refectory,  in  one  of  which  was  a  cheaper  table  where  were 
gathered  most  of  the  pious  students.  The  young  professor  took  the 
head  of  the  table  in  this  room.  "  I  noticed  that  his  end  of  the  table 
was  for  some  reason  deserted  ;  and  found  that  these  good  men,  most 
of  whom  were  candidates  for  the  ministry,  had  crowded  away  from 
him  to  a  most  respectful  distance,  because  they  were  absolutely  afraid 
of  him.  They  appeared  to  have  the  impression  that  he  could  not 
stoop  from  his  lofty  perch  to  anything  short  of  Persian  and  Arabic 
roots.  They  seemed  to  look  upon  him  as  they  might  look  on  a  Leyden 
jar  heavily  charged,  as  likely  to  give  a  dangerous  shock  to  any  one 
coming  too  near."  No  shadow-  of  dislike,  he  is  satisfied,  had  anything 
to  do  with  this  strange  avoidance.  "The  thing  was  amusingly  ridicu- 
lous, when  the  reason  was  known.  He  doubtless  never  knew  any- 
thing of  it."  Seeing  the  way  in  which  the  table  had  been  cleared  at 
the  professor's  end—"  really  an  instinctive  tribute  to  his  great  reputa- 
tion"—tlie  writer  says  he  took  a  vacant  seat  next  to  him,  and,  "to  the 
surprise  of  the  others,  found  this  young  man  of  whom  they  were  so  shy, 
to  be  gentle  and  pleasant,  possessing  great  powers  of  conversation,^and 
in  his  conversation  most  suggestive  and  instructive.  I  regret  tliat  I  did 
not  make  a  record  of  some  conversations  then  had  with  him. 

"  Indeed,"  he  continues,  "both  he  and  his  brother,  Dr.  James  W. 
Alexander,  were  such  men  that  it  was  hard  to  come  in  contact  with 
them  without  receiving  some  influence  making  itself  felt  in  an  enliven- 
ing power  on  the  mind  and  heart.  A  single  remark  by  Dr.  James  in  a 
morning  walk  before  I  went  to  college,  made  an  impression  on  me 
through  life.  He  suggested  the  importance  of  resolving  to  read  at  least 
one  verse  of  tlie  Greek  Testament  every  day ;  to  read  the  Psalraj 
through  once  a  month  according  to  the  division  in  the  Book  of  Common 


278  PUBLIC    PRAYERS.  [1832. 

Prayer ;  and  to  read  a  chapter  daily  in  the  book  of  Proverbs,  which 
will  tate  us  through  them  once  a  month.  The  suggestion  was  a  simple 
one  ;  but  the  enduring  etiects  have  been  among  the  most  valuable  on 
my  religions  life." 

While  sitting  at  the  college  table  with  Professor  Addison  Alexander 
he  could  not  avoid  noticing  "how  little  indulgence  he  gave  his  appe- 
tite. He  carried  in  his  countenance  every  appearance  of  the  best 
health,  and  was  of  full  liabit  of  body  ;  but  he  ate  less  than  any  person 
I  have  ever  known.  One  slender  meal  a  day  was  all  his  healthy  appe- 
tite seemed  to  crave.  At  the  otlicr  meals  in  the  refectory  he  would 
preside,  but  take  nothing.  The  powers  of  his  body  were  made  tribu- 
tary to  tlie  wnnts  and  higher  ministry  of  the  mind ;  and  they  received 
no  induVence  on  his  part  any  further  than  was  necessary  for  keeping 
the  material  enginery  in  fit  condition  for  the  demands  of  the  service 
needed  by  the  activity  of  the  soul."  * 

lie  cannot  forget  the  impression  made  on  him  as  a  student,  by  the 
prayers  of  Professor  Alexander  while  officiating  at  morning  prayers  in 
the  college  chapel.  "It  was  not  that  there  was  any  attempt  at  display, 
or  fine  language.  Like  his  father  before  him,  everything  of  this  kind 
he  despised.  The  simplicity,  fitness,  and  comprehensiveness  of  the  lan- 
guage constituted  its  beauty  and  its  power.  It  was  the  utterance  o 
the  feelings  of  humble  piety  in  abasement  at  the  feet  of  Jesus,  by  a 
mind  which  grasped  those  subtle  feebngs  with  the  precision  of  a  giant's 
strength,  and  expressed  them  in  words  of  a  transparency  and  fitness 
that  genius  only  can  command."  And  when  he  attended  the  meetings 
of  the  Philadelphian  Society,  a  gathering  of  pious  students  only,  he  was 
struck  with  tlie  same  -characteristics  of  his  language.  "  Had  it  been 
pcs-ible  to  evaporate  the  ideas  from  the  words,  it  seemod  as  though 
there  would  linger  a  nameless  beauty  and  music  still  among  the  words. 
His  language  flowed  easy  and  gentle ;  though  strong,  a  stream 

'  Strong  without  rage,  without  o'eiflowing  full ' — 

full  of  the  clearest,  richest  good  sense  and  piety." 

The  writer,  like  most  others,  thinks  it  was  a  wonder  that  a  man 
who  had  mingled  with  the  world  so  little,  could  know  so  much  about  it ; 
and  fchat  one  who  had  so  lately  become  pious,  could  pour  out  such  a 
flow  of  sober,  clear,  rich  good  sense  to  professing  Christians.  "Good 
writing,"  he  says,  "and  good  discourse  is  the  embodying  of  good  sense 
in  good  language.   In  all  this,  he  was  even  from  that  early  age  pre-emi- 

*  I  am  under  the  impression  that  he  took  some  of  his  meals  at  home. 


Ji;T.23.]  MODESTY    AND    SKILL    AS    A    TEACHER.  279 

nent.  To  him,  this  was  natural  He  could  not  help  it.  He  could  not^ 
if  he  would,  have  used  any  other  than  this  clear,  appropriate,  precise 
expressive,  unapproachable  language.     Of  him  I  felt  it  was  not  true— 

Ut  sibi  quivis 
Speret  idem  ;  sudet  multum,  frustraque  laboret 
Ausus  idem  : 
For  you  had  no  disposition  to  try.     You  felt  io  listeain^,  that  try  as  you 
might,  you  could  never  hope  to  attain  such  a  mastery  of  language." 

The  vigour  and  clearness  of  his  mind  were  apparent  in  the  class  room. 
He  was  a  great  teacher.  The  secret  of  successful  instruction  is  to  in- 
terest and  rouse  the  mind  of  the  student  to  work  for  himself.  This  ho 
did.  "  He  benefited  his  class  not  by  loading  them  down  with  usslesg 
lumber,  like  an  ass  sinking  under  his  panniers  ;  but  by  stimulating  and 
quickening  their  dormant  energies.  He  was  quick;  sometimes  per- 
haps too  quick  for  the  grade  of  scholarship  in  colhge- classes  as  they 
then  were;  and  like  all  men  of  energy  such  as  his,  seemed  to  slower 
and  more  plodding  minds,  at  times  a  little  sharp:  forgetting  under  the 
impulse  of  bis  own  fulness  and  entiiusiasm,  the  great  interval  ihere  was 
between  his  own  talents  and  attainments,  and  the  talents  and  attain- 
ments of  those  before  him.  In  any  accidental  case  of  this  kind,  a  mo- 
ment's reflection  was  sufficient  to  bring  into  exercise  his  lofty  mag- 
nanimity, which  soothed  any  wounded  feeling." 

The  writer  adverts  to  the  fact  that  some  men  are  fond  of  making 
an  ostentatious  display  of  their  learning.  To  this  the  professor  never 
stooped.  "With  a  memory  of  marvellous  power  and  all  the  vari.d 
riches  of  his  great  acquisitions  at  instant  command  with  ease,  he 
brought  forth  from  his  treasures  only  what  was  needed  for  putting  in  a 
proper  light  before  the  class  the  point  requiring  explanation,  and  what 
the  grade  of  scholarship  in  his  students  needed  and  could  appropriate 
with  advantage."  In  his  instructions  in  college,  he  says,  the  same 
characteristics  appeared  that  are  visible  in  his  commentaries — "the 
results  of  the  richest  and  most  varied  learning  sifted  from  everything 
extraneous,  and  concentrated  on  the  direct  point  at  issue,  always  with 
reference  to  the  wants  and  degree  of  advancement  of  those  under  in- 
struction. He  was  the  last  man  to  suspect  of  Ilezekiah's  weakness  in 
showing  '  the  house  of  his  precious  things,  the  silver,  and  tlie  gold,  and 
all  that  was  found  in  his  treasures.'  All  his  intellectual  treasure  of 
whatever  kind  that  might  he  needed,  was,  however,  forthcoming  Lt  the 
right  moment;  and  that  too,  refined,  recoined,  and  bearing  his  own 
imperial  impress  and  superscription." 


280  THE    TRENTON   PASTOR. 


[1832. 


If  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Burrowes  is  worthy  of  credence,  no  man 
could  commiind  more  respect.  "  He  was  respected  for  his  abil- 
ities and  attainments ;  and  then  his  quick  wit  made  those  disposed  to 
trespass  feel  there  was  a  power  behind  the  throne  with  which  it  was 
perilous  to  meddle.  Self-conceit  and  presumption  found  instinctively 
their  levid,  and  were  satisfied  to  keep  it."  In  keen  delicate  wit  and 
sarcasm  he  Ava«,  in  the  writer's  estimation,  unsurpassed.  "This  was 
never  used  unnecessarily  ;  it  was  kept  as  a  power  in  reserve.  Like  the 
colossal  spectre  touched  by  the  wand  of  the  magician  in  the  Arabian 
tale,  the  unlucky  wight  of  large  dimensions  in  his  own  conceit, 
shrivelled  up  into  pitiable  littleness  under  the  touch  of  this  polished 
sha't.  In  his  writiuirs  a  passing  flash  of  his  sarcasm  often  carries  more 
power  than  a  labored  argument.  It  may  come  like  lightning  from  a 
cloudless  sky;  an  unexpected  flash,  and  the  airy  towers  and  battlements 
of  pretension  and  sophistry  have  disappeared." 

Mr.  Alexander's  eldest  brother  returned  from  Vii-gnna 
about  the  time  that  the  young  philologist  accepted  the  posi- 
tion at  Patton's  school.  He  was  elected  pastor  of  the  congre- 
gation at  Trenton  in  the  autumn  of  1828,  and  preached  his 
first  sermon  to  the  Trenton  people  on  the  10th  of  January 
1829. 

The  letters  of  the  Trenton  pastor  to  Dr.  Hall  and  others, 
and  his  copious  private  diaries,  and  ephemerides,  of  this  pe- 
riod, are  not  only  profoundly  interesting  for  their  own  sakes 
and  because  of  their  connection  with  the  contemporary  his- 
tory, but  give  many  a  passing  glimpse  of  the  life  and  manners 
of  that  day,  as  avcII  as  of  the  new  teacher  Mr.  Patton  had  in- 
duced to  join  him  at  Edgeliill,  and  who  soon  after  became  a 
sort  of  tutorial  professor  in  the  college,  and  a  few  years  later 
buried  himself  from  the  obserA'ation  of  the  idle  villagers  of 
Princeton,  among  strange  people  and  strange  scenes  across  the 
seas. 

Besides  finishing  the  books  commenced  the  last  year,  Mr. 
Alexander  read,  during  the  winter  of  this  year,  Kleinert  on 
Isaiah,  ^schines,  Hariri,  (with  Arabic  schoira,)  Luther's  Let- 
ters, Rosenmiillcr  on  Isaiah,  and  ISTeander  on  the  Primitive 
Church. 


MT.2S.-i  NEWSPAPER    SCRIBBLINGS.  281 

On  Feb.  20  he  began  to  read  the  Psahiis  again  with  some 
degree  of  critical  attention;  supplying  the  vowels  in  the  un- 
pofnted  text,  and  using  the  pointed  text  as  a  commentary. 
"  This,"  he    says,    "  is   my   general    plan    for  Hebrew  study 

now." 

During  the  months  of  Dec.  1832  and  Jan.  1833,  he  wrote 
forty  articles  for  the  Presbyterian,  of  which  his  brother  was 
then  the  editor.* 

*  I  am  able  to  give  the  titles  of  these  little  articles,  from  a  paper  in  the 
author's  handwriting,  labelled : 

♦'  PARAGRAPHS   CONTRIBUTED  TO    THE   PRESBYTERIAN,"    (by  J.  A.  A.).    "  IN    1832- 

33. 
Date  of  Writing. 

1.  Nov.  27,  1832.  On  Verbal  Orthodoxy.       ^         ^  j^^ 

2.  The  Biblical  Repository,    'i^  ''^''^;     '  "J^ 

3.  Nov.  29.  The  Art  of  Reading.  ,     -       ^jbs/ 

4.  Soliloquies  in  Church.       ^c.  ''2  ,    '  ^■^*"    ■  f '■"  ^ 

5.  Nov.  30.  Learning  and  Religion.      "  1-^^ 

6.  "  Moderation. 

7.  "  Princeton.  ^    7, 

8.  "  Oxford  and  Cambridge,    f^  <^ 

9.  Dec.  1.  Excerpts. 

10.  "  Anecdote  of  Gellert. 

11.  "  German  Criticism. 

12.  "  Guardian  Angels.        W"',    ""■-' 

13.  "  Mode  of  Printing  Poetry. 

14.  Dec.  3.  Loyalty. 

15.  "  Hastings. 

16.  "  Public  Worship. 
lY.       "  Introductions. 

18.  "  Formality  in  Preaching. 

19.  Dec.  5.  African  Colonization.  ^ 

20.  "  Charles  I.  and  Scotland, 

21.  "  College  Discipline. 

22.  Dec.  10.  Excerpts. 

22.  "  Pascal. 

23.  "  Dante. 

24.  "  Imitation. 

25.  Dec.  17.  Theological  Libraries. 

26.  "  The  Sonna. 


282  PROGRESS    IN    STUDIES. 


0832. 


Date  of  Writing. 

27.  Dec.  18.  The  Sanhedrim  of  Paris. 

28.  Dec.  24.  An  Article,  Prejudice. 

29.  Jan.  5.,  1833.  A  Sheet. 

50.  Jan.  13.  An  article  siged  Simon. 

51.  Jan.  15.  An  article  signed  Pf/er. 

32.  Jan.  16.  An  article  signed  3IcI) 

33.  Jan.  17.  A  paper  signed  Holofernes. 

34.  Jan.  18.  A  Churchjard  Dialogue  signed  S.  D.  A. 

35.  Jan.  21.  An  article  signed  Motes. 

36.  Jan.  22.  Arf  article  on  Plain  Preaching. 
37    Jan.  23.  An  Editorial  on  Imitation. 

38.  Jan.  24.  An  Editorial  on  Missionary  Facts. 

39.  Jan.  25.  An  Editorial  on  the  Advantages  of  Presbyterianism. 
40    March  1,             Translation  of  an  article  on  Cyril  Lucaris. 

W.  S.  Martien  to  J.  A.  Alexander,  jj^ 

To  40  articles  at  $1 *^q  ^q 

Received  payment." 


CHAPTER  IX. 

JSTevee  was  there  a  greater  mistalve,  than  that  Professoi 
Addison  Alexander  did  not  care  to  know  about  the  busy  world 
beyond  the  limits  of  his  study  and  class  room;  and  lie  was 
now  resolved,  with  ParnelPs  hermit,^-  "to  find  if  books  or 
swains  report  it  right."  Mr.  Alexander's  acquaintance  with 
the  learned  and  critical  labours  of  Germany,  and  his  knowl- 
edge of  the  valuable  mental  discipline  afforded  by  her  uni- 
versities, had  greatly  stimulated  in  him  the  curiosity  which 
every  enlightened  American  feels  with  respect  to  Europe,  and 
had  awakened  in  his  breast  a  strong  desire  to  cross  the  seas, 
and  spend  some  time  in  foreign  travel,  and  in  the  search  for 
intellectual  improvement  in  the  foreign  schools.  His  friends 
all  thouo-ht  well  of  the  scheme,  and  his  father  and  those 
who  were  on  his  return  to  be  his  coadjutors  in  the  seminary, 
heartily  approved  of  it. 

The  Rev.  Rezeau  Brown,  who  was  animated  by  similar 
views,  and  still  more  by  a  wish  to  corroborate  his  shattered 
health,  made  every  preparation  to  accompany  him  ;  but  was 
destined,  as  we  have  seen,  for  a  shorter  voyage  .to  a  better 
country.  He  was  too  unwell  to  start,  and  soon  after  breathed 
bis  last.  This  was  a  heavy  blow  to  Mr,  Alexander  ;  though  the 
voyage  to  Europe  was,  in  his  case,  an  accomjolished  fact  before 
he  heard  of  his  friend's  death. 

Several  distinguished  gentlemen  communicated  with  Dr. 

*  "  To  clear  this  doubt,  to  know  the  world  by  sight, 
To  find  if  books  or  swains  report  it  right, 
For  yet  by  swains  alone  the  world  he  knew, 
Whose  feet  came  wandering  o'er  the  nightly  dew." 
— rarnell.  The  Hermit.     London,  Strand,  John  Bell,  IV'74.     p.  161. 


284  SAILS   FROM   NEW   YORK. 


[1832. 


Alexander  on  the  subject  of  his  son's  projected  voyage.  Here 
is  an  extract  irom  a  letter  of  the  lion.  William  C.  Rives,  of 
Virginia,  relating  wholly  to  this  topic.  Mr.  Rives  had  been 
the  United  States  Minister  to  France. 

Castle  Hill,  April  12th,  1833. 
My  Dear  Sie, 

*    *     *     You  will  perceive  tliat  instead  of  a  letter 

to  Baron  de  Sacy,  with  whom  I  have  not  the  pleasure  of  a  persona 

acquaintance,  I  have  written  one  to  the  Baron  deFerrusac,  who,  having 

heen  a  long  time  at  tlie  head  oHhe  Bulletin  Univcrsel,  &c.,has  familiar 

relations  with  the  whole  corps  of  literati  at  Paris,  and  whom  I  liave 

particularly  requested  to  make  your  son  acquainted  with  Mcnsieur  de 

Sacy.     The  deaths  of  the  Connt  Cliaptal,  Baron  Cuvier,  &c.  during  the 

last  summer,  have  narrowed  conslderahly  the  circle  of  my  acquaintance 

with  the  savans  of  France,  or  I  should  have  added  other  letters  to 

memhers  of  that  fraternity.     Those  which  I  have  written  to  General 

Lafayette  and  Mr.  ISTiles,  our  late  Charge  d'affaires,  will,  however,  amply 

and  more  efficiently  supply  the  deficiency. 

I  am,  my  dear  sir,  most  truly,  Faithfully  yours, 

W.  C.  EIVES. 

On  the  10th  of  April,  1833,  having  resigned  for  that  pur- 
pose his  chair  in  the  college,  Mr.  Alexander  sailed  from  Nevr 
York,  in  the  ship  Samson,  Captain  Chadwick,  for  London. 
While  making  his  final  preparations  for  the  voyage,  he  re- 
mained a  day  or  two  with  Dr.  Benjamin  H.  Rice,  who  had 
married  his  father's  sister ;  and  was  attended  by  one  or  two 
of  liis  kindred  to  the  quay.  Daring  Mr.  Alexander's  absence, 
Dr.  Rice  removed  from  New  York  to  Princeton,  and  became 
the  pastor  of  the  Presbytei'ian  church,  at  that  time  the  only 
church  in  the  place,  though  the  building  of  an  Episcopal  church, 
which  was  subsequently  put  up,  was  then  in   contemplation. 

The  following  letter  to  his  mother  was  intended  to  cheer 
her  on  his  departure.     It  had  been  looked  for  with  impatience. 

Snip  Samsox,      ) 
5  o'clock,  Wednesday,  April  10,  1833.  \ 
Mr  Deak  Mother  : 

Here  comes  your  pilot-lcttcr.     I  have  as  yet  had  no  means  of  ascer- 


^T.  24.] 


SHIP   SAMSON.  285 


taining  whether  I  am  proof  against  sea-sickness,  the  weather  being  so 
extremely  mild  and  the  water  so  smooth.  Capt.  Chadwick  is  one  of 
the  pleasantest  men  that  I  have  ever  seen.  Dr.  Cox  pleases  me  well 
thus  far.  He  is  frank  and  cordial,  but  not  obtrusive.  He  has  read  me 
whole  passages  from  his  hook  already  and  told  me  things  without  num- 
ber. Our  party  includes  Mr.  Cloy,  Secretary  to  the  Prussian  Embassy, 
on  his  way  to  St.  Petersburg,  two  officers  of  the  English  army,  two 
other  Englishmen,  two  Canadians,  and  a  Frenchman.  We  have  thirty 
steerage  passengers,  mostly  English  people  going  home.  There  are 
chickens,  ducks,  and  a  cow  on  board.  Dr.  Cox,  the  English  officers, 
and  I,  have  the  ladies'  cabin  to  ourselves.  The  Captain  is  positive  that 
we  shall  reach  London  before  the  "  first  proximo,"  and  seems  to  an- 
ticipate fair  weather  throughout.  Clay  asked  me  if  I  had  relatives  at 
Princeton— said  he  knew  a  Mr.  Alexander  in  Virginia. 

I  must  go  above  now  and  see  what  is  passing  there.  Farewell,  be 
of  good  cheer,  as  I  am  and  shall  try  to  be. 

Love  to  all  and  every  one.  J.  A.  A. 

During  his  year's  absence,  Mr.  Alexander  kept  a  minute 
journal  of  all  that  befell  him.  We  shall  select  here  and 
there  from  his  diary  interesting  facts,  without  attempting 
to  give  a  continued  history  of  his  daily  life.  He  was  much 
interested  in  the  movements  of  the  captain,  the  mate  and  the 
pilot,  when  they  reached  the  Needles.    I  give  his  own  words : 

"  In  the  midst  of  our  exulting  expectations  of  a  speedy  landing,  we 
were  becalmed  just  outside  of  the  Needles.  By  the  bye,  the  chief  mate 
is  a  sturdy  Yankee,  and  stands  up  for  America  with  laudable  intrepid- 
ity. As  he  was  eating  his  supper  to-night  with  the  other  mate  and  the' 
pilot  at  the  foot  of  the  cabin  table,  I  heard  him  speaking  with  great 
scorn  of  the  English  game  laws,  and  the  absurdity  of  a  man's  not  be- 
ing suffered  to  shoot  on  his  own  grounds,  without  a  certain  amount  of 
property.  He  also  mystified  the  old  pilot  about  panthers  and  other 
beasts  in  America,  in  a  very  amusing  style.  He  was  at  dinner  to-day 
when  the  weather  changed,  and  the  pilot  gave  the  orders  for  manffiuv- 
ring,  &c.  The  captain  hearing  the  noise,  ran  up,  looked  about  him, 
countermanded  the  pilot's  orders,  asked  him  what  he  Avas  about,  &c., 
and  assumed  the  command  himself;  yet  all  this  was  done  with  perfect 
equanimity  of  temper.  I  never  knew  indeed,  till  I  came  to  sea,  how 
far  peremptory  decision  and  even  rigour  could  be  blended,  with  uniform 
good  humour.     It  is  a  fact,  however,  that  both  Chadwicks  scold  the 


286  ENGLISH    STAGE    COACH.  [I83a 

sailors  witliont  a  change  of  countenance.  The  seconcl  mate  scolds 
the  senmen,  the  first  mate  t'le  sec-'ond  and  the  captain,  all  together, 
without  any  ma ni testation  of  siirjirise  or  disi'ontent.  But  to  reiurn  to 
the  pilot;  he  was  once  a  slaver  on  the  coast  of  Guinea,  j  nd  <till  speaks 
with  satisfaction  of  his  former  eiiormi;ies.  His  son  was  lately  detected 
in  smiigu;ling,  and  was  condemned  to  live  years  service  in  a  mm-of-war. 
The  old  man's  dialect  and  manner  are  to  me  entirely  new  and 
strange." 

Here  is  a  lively  description  of  an  English  stage  coach,  as 
these  vehicles  were  thirty-five  years  ago ;  which  may  be  read 
before,  or  after,  those  of  Irving,  Dickens,  and  De  Quincey. 

'•Just  irangine  that  you  see  us  at  the  door  of  the  hotel,  snrrounded 
by  some  six  or  seven  men  each  asserting  the  immense  superiority  of 
his  or  his  master's  coach  and  directly  contradicting  wiiat  the  others 
said.  The  'Rockett  is  much  the  fastest  coacli,  sir — we  shall  be  in  by 
half-past  five.'  'The  Rockett  charges  extra  for  baggage,  sir — the  Reg- 
ulator never  does.'  '  We  go  at  nine,  sir — we  shall  be  in  first.'  '  Wb 
go  at  ten,  sir — but  we  arrive  before  the  others.'  'How  can  you  lie 
so?  you  are  unable  of  fpenking  the  truth.'  During  our  negotiations, 
we  changed  our  scene  of  action.  One  was  taking  us  off  to  see  his 
coach,  when  lo  !  another  turned  iis  back  hy  his  representative,  and  tlius 
the  thing  proceeded  until  I  began  to  think  our  situation  rather  ludic- 
nius,  and  told  Dr.  Cox  tiiat  if  he  pleased,  I  would  assume  the  respon- 
sibility of  deciding  at  once,  which  I  forthwith  did,  in  fiivor  of  the  Reg- 
ulator, the  9  o'clock  coach,  which,  in  the  course  of  ten  niinutes  was  at 
the  door. 

"  The  coach,  when  it  took  us  up,  had  only  a  pair  of  horses ;  but  while 
we  stopped  at  another  inn  to  receive  our  con)i)lemeiit  of  passen  ers, 
two  horses  were  added;  forming  the  noidest  quaternion  of  steeds  that  I 
ever  saw  attached  to  a  puldlc  conveyance.  The  harness,  too,  has  the 
appearance  of  being  perfectly  new;  and  to  complete  tlie  picture,  a 
'gentleman,'  dressed  in  a  black  frock-coat,  with  drab  trousers  and 
gaiters,  took  his  seat  as  coachman." 

He  continues  to  describe  the  ride  through  English  country. 

""We  now  paid  our  fare  (ISs.),  and  were  dunned  by  a  lad  who  pre- 
tended that  he  had  'loaded  our  luggage'  at  the  QueLec  hutel ;  though 
we  all  agreed  in  saying  that  we  had  never  seen  his  face.     A  handsome 


^T.24.]  PORTSMOUTH    TO    LONDON.  287 

young  man,  about  my  age,  took  his  seat  beside  tbe  cnachman,  and  we 
set  off  at  a  smart  pace  through  the  streets  of  Portsmouth.  This  being 
the  first  time  that  I  bad  travelled  in  the  old  world,  I  kept  both  my  eyes 
wide  open  in  search  of  novelties.  The  first  thing  that  struck  me  was 
the  antique  look  of  the  houses,  built  of  dn-ty  brick,  as  little  like  the 
brick  of  Philadelphia  or  New  York  as  you  can  well  imagine.  The  next 
thing  that  struck  me  was  the  variety  of  cost;ume.  Here  was  a  man  in 
pantaloons,  there  one  in  breeches,  yonder  one  in  gaiters;  further  on 
was  one  in  a  shirt  or  frock,  &c.,  &c.  Soldiers  we  saw  at  every  corner ; 
young  and  old;  and  I  was  much  surprised  at  the  smartness  of  their 
appearance;  their  red  coats  and  white  trousers  seemed  to  have  just 
proceeded  from  the  tailor's  hands.  A  ride  of  any  sort,  after  our  voyiige, 
would  have  been  a  luxury;  but  such  a  ride  as  we  were  now  to  enjoy 
was  more  than  luxurious;  it  was  luscious.  In  the  outskirts  of  Ports- 
mouth we  began  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  English  cultivation ;  little  gardens, 
exquisitely  neat,  grass-plots  of  the  most  delicious  green,  hedges  and  trees 
and  shrubbery — all  combined  to  make  it  overpowering.  The  milestones 
glided  by  us  with  surprising  spee;!,  and  yet  the  motion  of  the  coach  w;is 
all  but  imperceptible.  It  was  only  when  I  looked  at  the  horses  that  I  felt 
convinced  of  our  impetuous  progress.  The  coachman  made  much  enter- 
tainment by  his  dignified  and  gentlemanly  air.  There  was  not  the  least 
degree  of  that  vulgar  swagger  which  our  'drivers'  commonly  display  ; 
he  did  not  crack  his  whip  once,  and  very  seldom  lashed  the  horses, 
though  when  he  did,  he  did  It  with  a  boldness  quite  alarming,  lie  was 
loaded  with  commissions  In  the  shape  of  bundles,  letters,  &c.,  both  from 
Portsmouth  and  from  places  on  the  road.  These  he  frequently  took  up 
without  stopping  at  all;  just  as  he  paid  his  toll,  while  at  full  speed.  We 
changed  horses  sis  or  seven  times,  with  great  rapidity  and  elei:an^e. 
Besides  the  variety  of  scenery,  the  frequent  interchange  of  jrrain  field-', 
pasture  grounds  and  commons,  we  were  pleased  with  the  sight  of  fi  ic!<s 
and  herds,  and  the  app^rance  of  the  country  people.  What  s'ruck  me 
particularly  in  the  latter  was  their  fresh,  healthy  appearance;  I  do  not 
mean  mere  ruddiness.  Indeed,  I  was  mistaken  in  my  preconceptions. 
My  ideas  of  English  health  and  heartiness  were  associated  with  images 
of  grossness.  I  find,  however,  that  in  the  country  the  people  at  large, 
and  especially  the  women  and  'children,  are  remarkable  for  a  clear, 
transparent  complexion,  smooth  full  skin,  and  smiling  countenance.  I 
am  forcibly  struck  with  the  contrast  between  the  boys  whom  we  met  in 
wagons  and  on  foot,  and  the  young  rustics  of  New  Jer-ey.  I  think 
I  may  say  with  truth  that  every  one  whom  we  met  was  fresh  and 
handsome." 


288  HOUSE    OF    COMMONS.  [1831. 

His  first  visit  to  the  House  of  Commons  was  not  altogether 
satisfactory. 

"  As  the  Doctor  and  I  walked  along  the  street  at  night,  we  felt  a 
curiosity  to  know  where  the  House  of  Commons  was.  The  Doctor  there- 
fore asked  a  gentleman  who  passed  us.  lie  replied  '  This  is  it.  I  will 
show  you  the  way ;  hut  you  can't  get  in  without  an  order  from  a 
member.'  'I  was  not  aware  of  that,  sir;  we  are  strangers.'  'If  you 
wish  to  go  in,  I  will  give  you  an  order  witli  pleasure.'  '  Are  you  a 
member,  sir?'  'Yes — for  Ireland."  He  then  took  us  in  through  a 
number  of  halls  and  passnges  lined  with  two  rows  of  persons  waiting 
for  admission,  or  something  else,  to  a  little  office  on  one  side,  where  he 
wrote  an  order.  '  Admit  the  bearer.  P.  Lalor.'  He  gave  this  to  Dr. 
Cox  and  said  that  he  would  go  and  get  one  for  me;  as  no  member  can 
can  give  more  tlian  one.  While  he  was  gone,  we  were  knocked  about 
by  the  door-keepers,  &c.,  telling  us  to  stand,  now  on  this  side  and  then 
on  tliat.  At  last  he  returned  and  took  us  up  through  a  labyrinth  of  pas- 
snges to  a  small,  dark  lobby  in  which  a  number  of  persons  were  crowd, 
ed  round  two  doors.  Into  one  of  these  we  at  length  contrived  to 
peep,  and  had  the  happiness  of  seeing  Mr.  Manners  Sutton,  in  his  robe 
and  wig.  Mr.  Lalor  gave  Dr.  Cox  his  card  and  said  that  he  took  a 
particular  interest  in  Americans,  and  would  be  glad  to  do  us  any  service 
in  his  power." 

lie  was  a  little  more  fortunate  at  Exeter  Hall. 

"  As  I  was  going  in,  a  policeman  at  his  door  asked  me  the  colour  of 
my  ticket.  I  told  him  I  had  none.  '  You  cnn't  go  in  without  one,' 
said  he.  'Do  they  sell  them?'  said  I.  'O  no,' says  he,  'if  you  wish 
to  go  in,  I  think  I  can  get  you  a  place.'  He  then  took  me  round  the 
corner  into  a  postern  door,  got  a  ticket  from  the  porter,  and  conducted 
me  up-?tairs,  saying — '  This  is  not  customary,  but  I  don't  like  to  see  a  re- 
spectable person  turned  away.'  In  a  moment  I  found  myself  in  a  sort 
of  gallery  opposite  the  platform  where  the  speakers  and  other  leading 
personages  sat.  I  soon  recognized  Dr.  Cos,  who  had  gone  out  while  I 
was  dressing.  Lord  Bexley  presided.  A  note  was  read  from  Teign- 
mouth,  and  then  an  abstract  of  the  report  by  the  Kev.  Mr.  Brandram, 
one  of  the  Secretaries.  The  Bishop  of  Winchester  then  rose,  dre^sed 
in  a  frock  coat  and  black  apron.  He  was  followed  by  J.  J.  Gurney, 
the  Quaker.  Then  can)e  Dr.  Cox,  then  a  member  of  Parliament,  then 
Baptist  Noel,   then  Dr.  Morrison,  then  Lord  Mountsanford,  then  the 


^T.  24.] 


EDWAUD    IRVING.  289 


Bishop  of  Chester.     All  the  speakers  were  applauded  more  or  less  by 
stamping,  chipping  of  hands,  and  occasionally,  cries  of  '  hear.'  " 

Mr.  Alexander's  passion  for  coiirts  and  juries,  judges,  wit- 
nesses and  barristers,  was  much  indulged  in  England.  Here  is 
a  description  of  the  High  Court  of  Chancery,  and  what  he  saw 
there. 

"  A  gnide  introduced  us  to  the  High  Court  of  Chancery— a  room 
not  near  so  large  as  the  court-room  at  Trenton,  but  handsomely  fitted 
up.  Here  we  saw  Lord  Brougham,  and  had  the  satisfaction  of  hearing 
him  utter  a  few  words.  I  think  I  could  have  recognized  him  by  the 
pictures  I  have  seen,  though  they  are  all  caricatures.  He  has  a  very 
intellectual  physiognomy,  and  much  sarcastic  expression  in  the  twitch- 
ing of  his  face.  Here,  for  the  first  time,  I  saw  the  counsellors'  robes 
and  wigs.  In  the  latter  I  was  agreeably  disappointed;  they  are  by  no 
means  so  grotesque  as  I  supposed.  After  hearing  Sir  Edward  Sugden 
plead  awhile,  we  left  the  court,  and  in  the  hall  met  counsel  without 
number  in  their  gowns  and  wigs.  As  the  courts  all  sit  at  once,  the 
lawyers  are  obliged  to  pass  incessantly  from  one  to  another,  with  their 
green  bags  and  enormous  briefs." 

The  name  of  Edward  Irving,  who  was  now  one  of  the  lions 
of  London,  had  recently  become  familiar  to  the  two  Americans, 
and  they  were  both  eager  to  see  and  hear  him.  The  following 
account  by  the  younger  of  the  two,  tallies  precisely  with  that 
given  by  Lockhart  in  the  life  of  John  Wilson  *  by  Mrs.  Gordon, 
and  with  that  subsequently  printed  by  Dr.  Cox.  It  possesses 
a  curious  intei'est  now. 

"After  breakfast,  having  learned  that  Edward  Irving  was  to  hold  a 
meeting  at  half-past  eleven,  we  resolved  to  go ;  but  Avithout  expecting 
to  hear  the  tongues ;  as  they  have  not  been  audible  of  late.  Mr.  ISTott, 
who  had  called  before  breakfast,  conducted  us  to  Newman  street,  where 
Irving  is  established  since  he  left  the  house  in  Regent  square.  As  we 
walked  along  we  saw  a  hidy  before  us  arm  in  arm  with  a  tall  man  in 
black  breeches,  a  broad-brimmed  hat,  and  black  hair  banging  down  his 
shoulders.  This,  Mr.  Nott  informed  us,  was  Irving  himself  with  his 
cara  sposa.     We  followed  them  to  the  door  of  the  chapel  in  ISTewman 

*  See  "  Christopher  North."     W.  J.  Widdleton,  18G3.     p.  2ll. 
13 


290  HIS  CHURCH.  :im, 

street;  where  Dr.  ISTott  left  us,  and  wcwent  in.  Tha  chapel  is  a  room 
of  moderate  size,  seated  with  plahi  modem  beuclies,  like  our  recltatiou- 
rooms.  The  end  opposite  the  entrance  ia  semicircular,  and  filled  with 
amphitheatrical  seats.  In  front  of  these  there  is  a  large  arch,  and 
immediately  beneath  it  a  rcading-dcsli  in  the  shape  of  an  altar,  with  a 
large  arm-chair  beside  it.  From  this  point  there  are  several  steps 
descending  toward  the  body  of  the  house,  on  which  are  chairs  for  tho 
elders  of  the  church.  I  mention  these  particulars  because  I  think  the 
pulpit  and  its  appendages  extremely  well  contrived  for  scenic  eflfects. 
The  following  diagram  may  give  some  faint  idea  of  the  appearance." 

Here  follows  a  carefully  drawn  picture  of  the  dais  and 
chairs. 

"  Soon  after  we  were  seated,  the  chairs  below  the  pulpit  were  occu- 
pied by  several  respectable  men,  one  of  them  quite  handsome  and  well 
dressed.  Another  man  and  a  woman  took  their  seats  upon  the  benches 
behind.  While  we  were  gazing  at  these,  we  heard  a  heavy  tramp 
along  the  aisle,  and  the  next  moment  Irving  walked  up  to  the  altar, 
opened  the  Bible,  and  began  at  once  to  read.  He  has  a  noble  figure, 
and  his  features  are  not  ugly;  with  the  exception  of  an  awful  squint. 
His  hair  is  parted  right  and  left,  and  hangs  down  on  his  shoulders  in 
affected  disorder.  His  dress  is  laboriously  old  fashioned — a  black 
quaker  coat  and  small  clothes.  His  voice  is  harsh,  but  like  a  trumpet ;  it 
takes  hold  of  one  and  cannot  be  forgotten.  His  great  aim  appeared  to  be 
to  vary  his  attitudes  and  appear  at  ease.  He  began  to  read  in  a  standing 
posture,  but  had  scarcely  finished  half  a  dozen  verses  when  he  dropped 
into  the  chair  and  sat  while  he  read  the  remainder.  He  then  stepped 
forward  to  the  point  of  his  stage,  dropped  on  his  knees  and  began  to  pray 
in  a  voice  of  thunder;  most  of  the  people  kneeling  fiiirly  down.  At 
the  end  of  tho  prayer  he  real  the  GGth  Psalm,  and  I  now  perceived  that 
his  selections  were  designed  to  have  a  bearing  on  the  persecutions  or 
his  people  and  himself.  The  chapter  from  Samuel  was  that  relating  to 
Shimei.  He  then  gave  out  the  66th  Psalm  in  verse;  which  was  sung 
standing,  very  well,  Irving  himself  joining  in  with  a  mighty  bass. 
He  then  began  to  read  the  39th  of  Exodus,  with  an  allegorical  exposi- 
tion, after  a  short  prayer  for  Divine  assistance.  Tho  ouches  of  the 
hreast-plate  he  explained  to  mean  the  rulers  of  the  church.  While 
he  was  dealing  this  out,  he  was  interrupted  in  a  manner  rather  startling. 
I  had  observed  that  the  elders  who  sat  near  him,  kept  their  eyes  raised 
to  the  sky-light  overhead,  as  if  wooing  inspiration.     One  in  particular' 


^T.  24.] 


"  TONGUES."  291 


looked  very  w-ild.     His  face  was  flusliecl,  and  he  occasionally  turned  up 
the  white  of  Lis  eyes  in  an  ominous  style.     For  the  most  part,  however, 
his  eyes  were  shut.     Just  as  Irving  reached  the  point  1  have  mentioned 
and  was  explaining  the  ouches  ;  this  elder  of  ye  church  who  sat  in  the 
chair  marked  P  on  page  48,  burst  out  in  a  sort  of  wild  ejaculation,  thus  : 
'  Taranti-hoiti-faragmi-sauti '  *;    '  O  ye  people— ye  people  of  ye  Lord, 
ye  have  not  the  ouches— ye  have  not  the  ouches-ha-a-a  ;  ye  must  have 
them— ye  must  have  them-ha-a-a;  ye  cannot  hear— ye  cannot  hear!" 
This  last  was  spoken  in  a  pretty  loud  whisper;  as  the  inspiration  died 
away  within  him.     When  he  began,  Irving  suspended  his  exposition  and 
covered  his  face  with  his  hands.     As  soon  as  the  voice  ceased,  he  re- 
sumed the  thread  of  his  discourse,  till  the  '  tongue'  broke  out  again  '  in 
unknown  strains.'     After  these  had  again  come  to  an  end,  Irving  knelt 
and  prayed,  thanking  God  for  looking  upon  the  poverty  and  desolaiion 
of  his  church  amidst  her  persecutions.     After  he  had  finished  and  arisen 
from    his   knees,   he   dropped  down  again  saying— 'one  supplication 
more'— or  'one  thanksgiving  more.'     He  now  proceeded  to  implore 
tlie  Divine  blessing  on  the  servant  who  had  been  ordained  as  a  prophet 
in  the  sight  of  the  p.eople.   After  this  supplementary  prayer,  he  stood  up, 
asked  a  blessing  in  a  few  words,  and  began  to  read  in  the  Cth  John  about 
feeding  on  Christ's  flesh.     In  the  course  of  his  remarks,  he  said— "The 
priests  and  churches  in  our  day  have  denied  the  Saviour's  flesh,  and  there- 
fore cannot  feed  upon  liiin.     '  He  then  prayed  again  (w ith  genuflexion) 
after  which  he  dropiied  into  his  chair,  covered  his  face  with  his  hands 
and   said  — '  Hear,  now,  what   the   elders  have  to   say  to  you.'     No 
siioner  was   ths  si^.nal    given  than    tlie   'tongue'  bfgan    anew,  and 
fur  sevtral  minutes  uttered  a  flat  and  silly  rhapsody,  charging  the  cliurch 
with  unf.dthfnlness  and  rebuking  it  therelor.      The  '  tongue'  having 
finished,  an  elder  wlio  sat  above  him  rose,  with  Bible  in  hand,  and 
ma.ie  a  dry  but  sober  speecii  about  fViith,  in  which  there  was  nothing, 
I  believe,  outre.     The  handsome,  well-dressed  man,  whom  I  have  nn  n- 
tioned,  atlrving's  Ifft  hand,  now  rose  and  came  forward  with  his  Bible. 
His  first  words  were— "  Your  sins  which  :>re  many  are  forgiven  you.' 
His  discourse  was  incoherent,  thougli  not  wild,  and  had  reference  to  tlie 
persecutions  of  the  church.     Tlie  last  preacher  on  the  occasion  was  a 
decent,  ministerial  looking  man  in  b^ack,  who  discoursed  on  oneness  with 
Chri-t.     A  pnpcr  was  now  handed  to  Irving  which  he  looked  at,  and 
then  f  11  upon  his  knees.     In  the  midst  of  his  prayer  he  took  the  paper 
and  read  it  to  the  Lord,  as  he  would  have  read  a  notice.     It  was  a 

*  I  do  not  pretend  to  recollect  the  words.    —J.  A.  A. 


292  COACH-RIDE   FROM    OXFORD.  [1833. 

tliank?giving  by  Harriet  Palmer  for  the  privilige  of  attending  on  tlieso 
services  to  day.  Afier  the  prayer,  they  sang  a  Tsahn,  and  then  the 
meeting  was  dismissed  by  benediction.  The  hnpression  made  on  my 
mind  was  one  of  unmingled  contempt.  Everything  which  fell  from  Irv- 
ing's  lips  was  purely  flat  and  stupid,  without  a  single  flash  of  genius,  or 
the  slightest  indication  of  strength  or  even  vivacity  of  mind.  I  was  con- 
firmed in  my  former  low  opinion  of  him  founded  on  his  writings.  Mr. 
Nott,  who  knew  him  when  he  was  in  Glasgow,  says  that  his  first  6clat 
in  London  was  owing  to  the  notes  which  he  had  taken  of  Dr.  Chalmers' 
conversiti.)u;  and  that  when  he  was  cast  upon  his  own  resources,  he 
appeared  in  his  real  character  as  a  dunce.  Dr.  Cox  and  I  flattered  our- 
selves that  he  observed  us,  and  preached  at  us.  I  saw  him  peeping 
through  his  fingers  several  times,  and  I  suppose  he  was  not  gratified  to 
see  us^gazing  steadfastly  at  him  all  the  time,  for  he  took  occasion  to 
tell  the  people  that  it  would  profit  them  nothing  without  the  circum- 
cision of  the  ear.  This  he  defined  to  be  the  putting  away  of  all  im- 
pertinent curiosity  and  profane  inquisitiveness— all  gazing  and  prying 
into  the  mysteries  of  God,  and  all  malicious  reporting  of  his  doings 
in  the  church.  We  were,  afterwards,  given  to  understand  that  one  of 
the  elders  was,  probably,  the  lion.  Spencer  Percival." 

The  ride  in  the  stage  coach  from  Oxford  was  a  very  pictu- 
resque and  agreeable  incident  to  look  back  to.     He  says : 

"  You  never  see  here,  as  in  America,  a  long  string  of  stages ;  but 
there  is  a  perpetual  succession  of  coaches  ;  so  that  you  can  choose  your 
hour  in  almost  every  ca?e.  I  do  not  know  how  many  passed  the  Mitre, 
bound  either  to  or  from  London,  while  I  was  wailing ;  and  you  must 
recollect,  my  dear  readers,  that  an  English  stage  coach  under  sail  is  a 
majestic 'siglit.  The  number  of  passengers  above,  below  and  around; 
the  pile  of  luggage  on  the  roof,  and  the  tremendous  speed  at  wliich  they 
are  driven,  make  these  vehicles  a  really  sight-worthy  spectacle.  At 
length  the  Union  arrived,  but  to  my  dismay  the  inside  was  full.  This, 
however,  is  not  so  shocking  in  England  as  in  America,  where  much 
disappointment  would  be  seriously  felt.  The  bookkeeper  of  the  coach 
ofiice  assured  me  that  the  next  coach  would  be  along  in  fifteen  minutes, 
and  so  it  was.  There  were  only  a  gentleman  and  lady  inside,  so  that  I 
got  in  very  comfortably.  Off  we  went  at  a  tremendous  rate,  over  the 
Oxford  pavement ;  o.u-  guard  shaking  the  houses  with  his  trumpet.  The 
silent  but  well  lighted  streets  through  which  we  rattled,  and  the  moon- 


MT.n.-\  DASHING   COACHMAN.  293 

lit  fields  thi-ongli -which  we  afterwards  glided,  made  me  quite  romantic 
till  sleep  overcame  me,  and  I  dreamed  of  home." 

Here  is  a  pen-and-ink  drawing  of  the  dashing  coachman 
who  gave  him  the  best  notion  he  has  ever  had  of  the  character 
of  Jehu. 

"  Our  coachman  was  of  a  different  class  from  those  I  had  seen — 
younger,  more  dashing,  and  extremely  reckless  in  his  air  and  manner. 
Ill  driving  he  was  a  perfect  Jehu ;  indeed,  I  never  entered  into  Jehu's 
character  before.  The  coach  horses  are  invariably  spirited,  and  there 
is  always  (afc  least  so  far  as  I  have  seen)  one  that  is  ungovernable :  this 
is  obvious  from  the  cautious  manner  in  which  the  vicious  horse  is 
brought  out  and  put  into  the  harness,  and  the  mysterious  hints  whicli 
are  given  to  the  coachman  by  the  hostlers  and  '  horsers.'  Again,  if 
there  is  any  delay  between  the  gearing  of  the  horses  and  the  starting 
coach,  two  men  at  their  heads  can  scarcely  hold  them  at  all.  "When 
they  do  start,  it  is  all  at  once  and  fortissimo.  When  any  of  the  steeds 
begins  to  play  the  fool,  the  coachman  increases  their  speed,  and  brings 
them  to  reason  by  galloping  up  hill." 

"  On  the  way  we  took  up  an  old,  old  man,  and  when  he  alighted 
a  woman  had  to  take  him  in  her  arms.  A  toll-gate  tacksman  put  his 
wife  into  the  coach.  'Who's  that,  Jeremy  ?' said  the  coacliman.  'A 
friend  of  mine,'  quoth  he.  'She's  na  rinnin  awayet?'  'Na.' 
Between  two  and  three  we  hove  in  sight  of  Ediuboro'.  Villas  and 
country  seats  began  to  make  their  appearance,  and  through  the  haze 
whicli  hung  upon  the  atmosphere  we  began  to  discern  the  steeples  of 
'Auld  Reekie.'  I  sliall  make  no  attempt  to  describe  my  first  impres- 
sions*. I  feld  as  if  I  were  in  another  world.  Hills,  valleys,  gardens, 
palaces — all  brouglit  together!  The  castle  frowning  from  its  cliff,  the 
unfinished  Parthenon  on  Calton  Hill,  the  splendid  churches,  and  the 
long,  lofty  ranges  of  stone  building — well,  what  of  them?     Nothing." 

He  saw  an  odd  thing  in  Edinburgh  to  which  he  thus  refers  : 

"  The  first  projecting  house,  a  little,  old,  low  and  narrow  one,  was 
once  the  residence  of  Johx  Knox,  whose  image  and  superscription  arc 
still  upon  the  wall,  with  the  date  of  his  birth  and  death,  and  the  nnmo 
of  God  in  Greek,  Latin  and  English.  It  is  now  occupied  by  a  fashiona- 
ble hairdresser  and.  wigmaker ! ! !  named  Dryden! !  I 

» 

It  would  be  tedious  to  follow  him  through  mazes  which 


294  VISITS    PROF.  LEE.  [1838. 

have  been  exhausted  by  the  guidebooks.  I  prefer  to  retain 
the  ibllowing  vivid  description  of  the  celebrated  view  from 
Calton  Hill: 

"  I  now  left  Ilolyrood,  and  ascended  Calton  Hill  by  an  elegant  car- 
riage road,  winding  spirally  around  it.  Every  turn  presented  a  new 
scene,  or  a  modification  of  it,  but  from  the  top  I  belieLl  one  of  unspeakable 
magnificence.  On  one  side  lay  the  New  Town  like  a  map,  regular,  spa- 
cious, splendid,  interspersed  with  trees  and  gardens;  on  another  stretched 
the  liills  of  Fife,  the  Frith  of  Forth,  and  the  German  Ocean ;  on  another 
lay  a  beautiful  slope  of  rich  and  cultivated  land:^,  bounded  by  lofty 
mountains.  Last  but  hot  least,  I  had  before  me  the  Old  Town,  magnifi- 
cent 'Auld  Reekie.'  The  New  Town  is  very  noble  in  its  way,  and  equal 
to  any  other  place  I  ever  saw ;  but  if  it  were  demolir-hcd,  the  old  town 
would  be  a  wonder  still.  The  total  absence  of  wood  and  brick,  the 
loftiness  of  the  house-,  a'ldt'.ie  ine-iuditias  of  ths  ground,  re.nler  it  strik- 
ing to  the  eye  beyond  description.  I  am  a  fuol  to  say  as  much  as  I  do 
about  it." 

His  visit  to  the  house  of  Professor  Lee,  the  late  orientalist, 
should  not  be  omitted.  He  was  directed  thither  by  the  coach- 
porters. 

"The  situation  is  a  very  pleasant  one — retired  but  not  remote.  A 
genteel  servant  lad  opened  the  door,  and  carried  up  my  name;  he  then 
returned  and  conducted  me  into  the  study.  A  momeiit  after  the  Pro- 
fessor came  in,  dressed  in  cap  and  gown  ;  he  read  Mr.  Home's*  letter, 
asked  me  a  few  questions,  and  then  invited  me  to  walk  with  him  to  tiie 
Library,  which  he  said  would  close  very  soon.  On  the  way  he  talked 
about  German  theology.  Professor  Stuart,  Gesenius,  &c.,  &g.  In  the 
Library  he  showed  me  the  Beza  MS.  ^'hile  I  was  looking  at  it,  a  man 
came  up  and  said :  '  Professor  Lee,  will  you  please  to  step  to  the  Yice- 
Chancellor's  ? '  '  Bless  me,'  said  he,  '  I  quite  forgot  it.'  He  then  asked 
a  librarian  in  attendance  to  show  me  the  Burckhardt  MSS.,  and  went 
off,  saying  that  he  would  return  in  a  few  minutes.  I  saw  no  more  of 
him.    We  were  soon  after   turned  out,  and  the  doors  shut." 

From  England  ho  passed  over  into  France.  He  was  mud 
impressed  wiUi  what  he  believed  to  be  the  genuine  politeness 

*  Author  of  the  "  lutroduction." 


^T.  24.  J 


LAFAYETTE.  295 


of  the  French.     On  the  road  from  Calais  to  Paris  they  were 
surprised  by  an  invasion  of  French  beggars. 

"  On  setting  out,"  lie  says,  "  we  were  assaulted  by  a  host  of  beggars. 
Such  an  assortment  of  cripples,  dwarfs,  '  malheureus'  and  '  affliges,' 
I  never  saw  before.  The  French  beggars,  however,  are  nothing  like 
the  English.  The  former  are  so  amusing  that  I  laugh  all  the  time  they 
are  addressing  me ;  they  look  as  if  they  were  joking  and  ready  to  burst 
into  a  laugh.  At  last,  we  got  off.  As  we  drew  nearer  to  Paris,  our 
postillions  became  more  and  more  grotesque.  Once  during  every  stage 
they  stop  before  an  inn,  and  a  dram  is  brought  them,  of  about  a  table- 
spoonful  of  brandy.  Some  took  cider  in  preference,  and  one  pure 
water.  The  conductor  drank  notbing  but  beer,  except  a  little  wine  at 
dinner.  In  the  night  we  passed  through  Clermont,  where  Massillon 
was  bishop;  soon  after  which  I  fell  asleep." 

Few  things  in  liis  journal  are  more  interesting  than  the 
following  description  of  a  call  he  made  upon  old  Gen.  Lafayette. 
He  had  learned  from  a  Mr.  Curtis  that 

"  Gen.  Lafayette  intended  to  leave  town  to-morrow,  for  which  cause 
he  and  Mr.  Adams  urged  me  to  go  and  deliver  my  letter.  I  accord- 
ingly hired  a  cab  by  the  hour,  and  drove  first  to  Meurice's ;  where  I 
paid  my  bill ;  the  man  refusing  to  take  the  fraction  as  a  franc  (five  sous) 
I  then  went  to  No.  6  rue  d'Anjou,  St.  Honor6,  and  held  the  following 
dialogue  with  the  porteress:  'Est-ce  I'hotel  du  G6n6ral  Lafayette  ? » 
'  Non,  monsieur,  il  demeure  ici,  mais  Thotel  n'est  pas  a  lui.'  '  Mais 
est-il  ici  V  '  Oui,  monsieur,  montez  au  gauche.'  I  mounted  au  gauche 
accordingly,  and  rang  a  bell.  The  door  was  opened  by  a  servant,  who 
informed  me  that  the  General  could  not  be  seen;  but  the  next  moment, 
asked  whether  I  was  an  American.  On  hearing  that  I  was,  he  said  ; 
'Entrez  done,  monsieur,  entrez,'  and  ushered  me  through  a  vacant 
apartment  into  another,  where  about  a  dozen  people  were  seated. 
These,  I  found,  were  persons  who  had  appointments  with  the  General. 
They  were  mostly  plain,  common-looking  people;  one  was  a  soldier, 
and  one  a  woman.  The  rule, '  First  come,  first  served,'  was  very  rigidly 
observed.  While  one  was  in  the  'presence,'  the  master  of  ceremonies 
would  ask  the  next  his  name,  and  then  announce  it  as  he  entered.  I 
waited  at  least  an  hour;  had  I  foreseen  what  happened  I  should  not 
har\'e  gone  at  all,  but  when  once  there  I  was  resolved  to  get  something 
for  my  pains.  Once,  indeed,  I  did  propose  to  leave  the  letter,  saying 
that  perhaps  it  was  too  late  for  the  General  to  receive  me,but  the  major- 


296  A  VISIT.  11833. 

domo  said :  '  Non,  non ;  c'cst  C'gal ;  vons  allcz  entrez  tout  a  I'heur.' 
At  last  my  turn  came,  and  he  took  Mr.  Rives's  letter  in.  A  few  minutes 
after  he  came  out,  and  invited  me  to  enter.  I  passed  throngli  another 
vacant  room  iuto  the  General's  hedroom :  as  I  entered,  he  was  tottering 
towards  an  inner  door,  to  shut  it.  When  he  turned  round  he  advanced, 
took  me  by  the  hand,  and  placed  me  on  the  sofa  Avhere  he  sat  himself, 
saying  that  he  was  very  much  pleased  to  see  me.  '  How  long  are  you 
in  Paris,  Mr.  Alexander? '  I  wish  to  preserve  as  much  of  his  conversa 
tion  as  I  can.  '  Did  you  leave  your  father  and  other  friends  at  Princeton 
well  ? '  I  then  said  that  I  supposed  he  remembered  Princeton  very  well. 
'Yes,  indeed,'  said  he,  'many,  many  years  before  you  were  horn.  I 
don't  know  whether  you  remember,  but  when  I  came  to  Princton  I 
found  my  diploma  signed  by  Dr.  Witherspoon :  it  had  been  waiting  for 
me  forty  years ;  and  it  was  publicly  delivered  to  me.'  '  Yes,'  said  I, 
'  and  I  was  present ;  I  was  a  boy  at  school.'  IIo  then  made  me  many 
offers  of  service,  and  on  my  asking  how  I  could  get  into  the  Chamber 
of  Peers  he  wrote  me  a  letter  to  the  Count  de  Somerville,  Grand  Eefe- 
rendaire  of  the  Chamber,  requesting  him  to  give  me  a  ticket.  "When  I 
rose  to  go  he  shook  hands  with  me,  and  said  he  would  be  happy  to  do 
me  any  service  when  I  came  to  Paris  again.  lie  also  requested  me,  on 
my  return  to  America,  to  give  his  respects  to  my  father  and  his  other 
friends  at  Princeton." 

The  General  did  not  forget  his  promise  to  his  Princeton 
visitor. 

"  I  was  just  dressed  when  some  one  knocked  at  my  door,  and  in 
came  Mr.  Dunscomb  Bradford  (Acting  American  Consul)  with  a  letter 
from  General  Lafayette,  who  has  been  searching  in  vain  for  my  address, 
which  I  did  not  give  him,  as  I  thought  that  he  was  going  out  of  town: 
The  letter  was  directed:  'A  Monsieur  Joseph  Addison  Alexander,  a 
Paris.'  It  enclosed  a  note  with  these  words  in  the  General's  own  hand : 
'Gen'l  Lafayette's  compliments  to  Mr.  Alexander,  and  sends  him  a 
diplomatic  ticket  for  tlie  Chambre  des  Paris— friday  evening."  With, 
in  this  note  there  Avas  another  in  these  words:  'Les  h«issiers  et  gar 
diens  proposes  ii  la  Chambre  das  paris  introduiront  dans  la  tribune 
diplomatique  jusqu'a  la  fin  de  la  session  Monsieur." 

One  day  after  visiting  the  flower  garden  of  St.  Denis,  and 
other  places  of  interest,  he 

"  Kepaired  to  the  fountain  of  the  Palais  Eoyal,  where  I  was  soon 


^T.24.]  RELIGIOUS    SERVICE.  .  297 

nfter  joined  by  Mr.  Jenks,  and  we  went  together  to  the  Ecole  Royale  des 
Langues  Orientales  Vivnntes.  There  we  sat  and  tattled,  'till  Monsieur 
Caussin  Percival  came  in,  Mr,  Jenks  reciting  to  him  in  vulgar  Arabic. 
The  other  two  pupils  did  not  come.  I  then  went  with  Mr.  Jenks  to  his 
ludgings  in  the  rue  la  Pelletiere.  There  he  showed  me  some  Turkish 
firmans." 

One  Sunday  in  Paris  he  heard  Mr.  Wilkes  preach  from  the 
words — 

'The  foxes  have  hole?,'  &c.  "  He  arrived  at  11  o'clock  last  night. 
His  prayers  were  beautiful,  and  his  discourse  though  rambling  con- 
tained some  noble  passages.  "VVe  were  introduced  to  him  after 
sermon.  Mr.  Stoddard  and  I  now  proceeded  to  the  Palais  Eoyal  and 
dined  at  PSrigord's.  We  then  went  to  No.  9  rue  de  Clery,  where  I 
sat  with  Mr.  Stoddard  until  half  past  7,  when  we  went  to  the  Oratoire, 
and  lieard  M.  Monod  expoimd  the  preface  and  first  petiiion  of  the 
Lord's  Prayer.  He  is  -wonderfully  brisk  and  rapid  in  aU  that  he 
says  and  does ;  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  he  is  the  most  '  efiicient ' 
man  among  the  evangelicals.  He  is  also  clear  and  earnest  in  dis- 
course ;  but  quite  inferior  to  Audubez  in  unction,  and  to  Grandpierre 
ia  eloquence." 

Here  is  an  account  of  a  Church  in  Munich,  and  of  the  man- 
ners of  the  Roman  Catholic  worshippers  : 

"  By  the  way,  we  went  into  the  'Students'  Church,'  or  University 
chapel,  and  saw  a  part  of  the  High  Mass  service.  It  is  the  only  plain 
Catholic  church  that  I  ever  saw.  The  music  was  grand.  I  never 
heard  fiddles  and  trumpets  used  in  worship  before.  The  German 
Catholics  enter  into  the  imposture  with  more  intensity  of  feeling  than 
any  others.  The  lower  people  whom  I  see  in  the  churches  here,  seem 
to  go  through  their  perlormances  with  a  sort  of  solemn  enthusiasm. 
I  saw,  too,  in  one  of  the  churches,  a  card  suspended  on  which  was 
painted  an  apostrophe  to  the  worshippers.  It  was  really  affecting,  and 
displayed  a  degree  of  earnestness  and  tenderness  very  unlike  the  hollow 
barrenness  of  Popish  Christianity  as  I  have  seen  it  elsewhere.  One 
sentence  as  far  as  I  can  recollect,  ran  thus  :  '  God  have  mercy  upon  you, 
poor,  forsaken,  unhappy  souls.  The  merciful  God  have  mercy  upon 
you  for  the  sake  of  the  mortal  anguish  (Augst  der  Blutsch  witzender 
Jesus.)  '    This  last  phrase  cannot  be  translated." 


298  TRAVELLING    COMPANIONS.  [1833. 

What  is  next  to  be  related  took  place  on  or  near  the  ter- 
race of  the  Cathedral  Church  at  Berne. 

"  While  I  was  looking  at  the  edifice,  a  young  man  of  intelligent  coun- 
'tcnance,  but  rather  beggarly-dressed,  accosted  me  ia  French  and  talked 
about  the  architecture  of  the  church.  As  he  proceeded  to  ask  me 
questions  about  tlie  town,  I  told  him  that  I  was  a  stranger—'  You  are 
a  Frenchman,  perhaps?'  'No.'  'A  German?'  '  No.  I  come  further 
than  that.'  'Further  than  that?  Are  you  Prussian?'  'Ko,  further 
than  that.'  '  From  Paissia  ? '  '  Further  than  that.'  He  next  guessed 
America,  but  could  hardly  believe  that  I  was  born  there,  as  I  seemed 
to  him  too  white.  He  asked  me  a  number  of  questions  about  America, 
and  then  informed  me  that  he  wns  a  mechanicien,  but  was  familiar  with 
all  branches  of  science.  He  drew  from  his  pocket  two  drafts  and  ex- 
planations of  inventions  of  his  own.  He  is  travelling  through  Switzer- 
land on  foot,  he  says,  spending  his  father's  money." 

On  Thursday  the  first  of  August  he  found  a  place  in  a 
coach  going  to  Lausanne  by  the  way  of  Freyburg.  His  own 
account  is  graphic : 

"  I  had  scarcely  taken  my  seat  when  the  Englishman  arrived;  and  it 
was  well  that  I  knew  him  to  be  such,  for  I  should  never  have  guessed 
it.  He  was  a  tall,  thin,  sickly-looking  young  man  with  a  large  mous- 
tache and  a  complexion  darker  than  that  of  Italy  or  Spain.  I  broke 
the  ice  at  once.  'Do  you  speak  English,  sir?'  'Yes  sir;  are  you 
English  ? '  '  No,  I  am  an  American.'  '  Oh,  that  is  the  same  thing.'  I 
was  as  much  struck  with  the  dignified  inildne-s  of  his  manners,  as  I 
had  been  with  the  color  of  his  skin.  But  he  soon  explained  both  by 
saying,  that  he  had  served  six  years  in  the  East  Indies,  had  come  home 
with  the  liver  complaint,  and  was  travelling  for  his  health.  I  have  never 
met  with  a  military  man  since  I  came  to  Europe  who  was  not  a  gentle- 
man. It  is  a  fact  that  even  the  common  soldiei's  are  particularly  gentle 
and  obliging  in  their  manner  when  accosted.  My  new  acquaintance 
pleased  me  particularly  well.  He  talked  some  Hindostance,  and  an- 
swered many  questions  which  I  put  respecting  India." 

While  in  Geneva  he  wrote  an  immense  si  eet  upon  every 
sort  of  topic  to  his  brother  James,  in  a  hand  wonderfully  minute 
and  compact,  which  is  one  of  the  finest  of  the  few  extant  speci- 
mens of  his  writing  in  the  old-fashioned  free  and  easy,  collo- 


^T.24.]  LETTER.  299 

quial,  epistolary  style.  In  the  course  of  it  he  takes  occasion 
to  refer  to  his  grovving  attachment  to  republican  institutions 
and  to  I'resbyterian  government ;  and  then  descants  upon  the 
manners  of  John  Bull,  European  music,  an  old  Swiss  heggar, 
the  transcendental  philosoj)hy,  the  Munich  library ;  and  in  art- 
lessly pathetic  terms,  acknowledges  his  unabated  love  and 
frequent  prayers  for  his  correspondent.  Some  of  Gray's  let- 
ters when  abroad  are  not  wholly  unlike  this.  There  are 
remarkable  revelations  of  character  and  disposition  in  this 
letter.  I  can  give  but  a  part  of  this  interesting  document, 
which  bears  date  Geneva,  August  14th,  1833. 

"  My  Dear  Bkothee: 

Tbongh  1  have  just  dispatched  a  sort  of  catholic 
epistle  to  the  family  at  large,  yourself  included,  you  will  not,  methinks, 
object  to  a  more  specific  personal  address.  Your  letter,  dated  June  26, 
I  have  read  repeatedly,  and  thank  you  kindly  for  the  news  and  coun- 
sels which  it  furnislies.  There  is  a  vein  of  melancholy  feeling  running 
through  it  which  at  first  affected  me  by  sympathetic  contagion  ;  but  I 
soon  recovered.  On  some  points  where  we  once  agreed,  we  agree  no 
longer ;  and  among  the  number  there  are  two  at  least  which  have  to 
do  with  your  epistolary  sadness.  In  the  first  place,  I  have  got  new 
feelings  with  respect  to  politics.  I  no  longer  look  at  the  details  of  our 
democracy  with  shame  or  loathing.  I  have  dismissed  the  habit  of 
regarding  our  republic  as  the  certain  prey  of  premature  destruction. 
The  other  point  on  which  my  feelings  have  experienced  a  change  is 
Preshyterianism.  Everything  that  I  have  seen  in  England,  Scotland, 
France  and  Switzerland,  gives  a  rational  confirmation  to  my  hereditary 
confidence,  and  thus  converts  a  prejudice  into  a  strong  conviction. 
Look  at  the  various  systems  of  church  polity,  and  inquire  to  what 
extremes  they  run,  and  you  will  find  these  various  and  opposite  ex- 
treme^,  almost  without  exception,  shunned  and  remedied  by  scriptural 
Preshyterianism.  The  extremes  of  clerical  and  popular  power,  the 
extremes  of  strict  and  loose  communion, the  extremes  of  pomp  and  mean- 
ness as  to  forms,the  extremes  of  rigor  and  license  as  to  doctrine,  the 
extremes  of  superstition  and  irreverence  as  to  sacred  things,  the  extremes 
of  learning  without  piety,  and  the  converse,  among  ministers — all  these 
are  held  at  arm's  length  by  the  wise  yet  simple  constitution  of  our 
church, 

"  Two  nights  after  my  arrival  at  Geneva,  having  spent  the  daylight 


300  SINGING   SCHOOL.  [1833. 

in  the  public  walks,  I  was  sauntering  homeward,  or  rather  inn-ward, 
when  a  bell  began  to  ring.  Eecollecting  that  it  v,'as  the  first  Monday 
in  tlie  month,  I  imagined  that  some  of  the  evangelicals  might  bo  observ- 
ing the  monthly  concert.  I  accordingly  followed  the  sou-nd,  till  it 
brought  me  to  the  door  of  the  Egli^^e  de  la  Fusterie,  one  of  the  principal 
city  churches.  The  house  was  lighted,  and  a  number  of  persons  were 
standing  round  the  doors.  '  Qu'est-co  que  c'est !'  said  I  to  one  of  them, 
'  Monsieur,  c'est  un  chant;  vous  pouvez  bien  entrer.'  The  door  resisted 
my  attempt,  but  a  moment  after  it  was  opened  from  within.  The  door- 
keeper asked  whether  monsieur  was  a  foreigner,  and  invited  him 
to  ascend  into  the  tribune.  Monsieur  ascended  accordingly,  and 
looking  down,  saw  the  body  of  the  church  filled  with  well  dressed 
men  and  boys,  while  a  great  number  of  ladies  were  collected  round 
the  pulpit.  Over  the  '  clerk's  desk '  was  a  large  blackboard  with  a 
piece  of  music  scored  in  chalk.  Before  it  stood  a  man  with  a  long 
stick  in  his  hand,  with  which  he  touched  every  note  as  it  was  sung. 
I  said  to  myself,  'This  is  noble — a  congregational  singing-school 
on  a  splendid  scale.  It  was  not  in  vain  that  Farel  and  Calvin  insisted 
on  the  introduction  of  psalmody.'  I  was  more  and  more  delighted 
as  I  watched  the  skilful  and  eflicient  manner  in  which  the  leader 
managed  the  performance;  he  did  not  sing  himself,  but  beat  time  for 
the  Avhole,  by  occasional  directions,  by  clapping  his  hands,  stamping 
his  feet,  &c.,  regulated  the  forte  and  piano  to  perfection.  "When  a  mis- 
take was  made  he  stopped  them  and  corrected  it.  Nothing  that  I  ever 
read  or  heard  went  half  so  far  towards  making  me  believe  that  a  whole 
congregation  might  be  taught  to  sing.  Here  was  the  proof  auricular 
and  ocular  before  me,  and  as  I  listened  to  the  majestic  swell  of  that 
majestic  instrument,  the  human  voice,  I  asked  myself  why  the  paltry 
organ  above  the  pulpit  was  nut  thrown  out  of  the  window.  I  even 
went  so  far  as  to  premeditate  an  article  for  the  Presbyterian^  lauding 
the  zeal  with  which  the  modern  Genevese,  from  infancy  to  hoary  hair, 
apply  themselves  to  psalmody,  and  calling  upon  the  Christians  of  America 
to  follow  their  example. 

"  My  illusion  was  dispelled  by  a  young  man  who  sat  by  me  in  the 
gillery,  and  politely  oftered  me  half  of  his  music-book.  This  encour- 
aged me  to  talk;  sol  asked  him  whether  it  Avas  an  ordinary  thing. 
He  said,  '  yes,  it  took  place  every  week.'  '  It  is  for  the  service  in  the 
church? '  said  I  interrogatively.  '  Oh,  non,  monsieur,'  said  he,  with  a 
look  of  surprise.  He  then  proceeded  to  inform  me  that  about  two 
months  ago  a  societ>  was  formed  here  for  the  purpose  of  learning  and 
practising  the  national  songs  of  Switzerland;  that  the  number  of  mem- 


Ml.  24.] 


SWISS    SONGS.  301 


bers  was  about  twelve  bundred,  and  tbat  tbis  was  one  of  tbeir  weekly 
meetings.     Thougb  sucb  an  association  would,  in  otber  circumstances, 
bave  interested  me  deeply,  I  was  so  disappointed  on  discovering  my 
mistake,  tbat  I  felt  disposed  to  slight  the  whole  afiair.     I  might  as  well 
bave  felt  disposed  to  walk  on  my  bead ;  for  in  a  few  minutes  tbey 
dispatched  tbeir  evening's  task,  and  began  to  sing  some  airs  wbicb  tbey 
bad  previously  learned.    The  words  of  tbe  songs,  the  wild  pathos  of  tbo 
melodies,  tbe  richness  of  tbe  barmony,  tbe  appearance  of  tbe  people, 
the  bistorical  associations,  mixed  together,  formed  a  compound  that 
was  really  intoxicating.     "What  sball  I  say?     I  will  bave  tbe  magna- 
nimity to  leave  it  undescribed.     One  of  the  choruses  sank  so  deep  into 
my  ears  and  brains,  tbat  I  can  never  forget  it ;  and  if  ever  we  meet 
again  I  engage  to  sing  it  con  amove  for  your  benefit.     It  is  a  very  good 
specimen  of  tbe  qualities  whicb  distinguisb  tbe  Swiss  airs,  and  wbicb  I 
cannot  otherwise  describe  tban  by  saying  that  tbey  are  expressively 
monotonous.     Tbis  is  eminently  true  of  tbe  Eanz  des  Vacbes  whicb 
I  beard  upon  Mount  Kigi.     It  kept  time  precisely  witb  the  jingling  of 
tbe  cowbells,  and  sounded  as  if  the  minstrel  bad  been  making  variations 
to  tbe  ding-dong.  At  the  same  time  it  was  wild,  plaintive,  and  unearthly. 
I  believe  I  am  talking  about  tbe  Kanz  des  Vacbes,  thougb  tbat  is  not 
tbe  subject  of  my  story.     The  words  of  tbe  song,  or  ratber  chorus, 
wbicb  I  bave  engaged  to  sing,  were  tbese :  '  Serrez  vos  rangs,  enfans  de 
Helvetie !     Les  oppresseurs  ne  sauraient  les  ouvrir.     S'il  faut  tomber 
tombons  pour  la  patrie !  Pour  savoir  vivre,  il  faut  savoir  mourir.'  How 
can  the  poor  fellows  wbo  bave  just  gone  off  to  Bale  sing  tbis  on  tbe  eve 
of  battle  ?     How  can  they  talk  about  oppressors,  wben  tbeir  business  is 
to  separate  two  bands  of  figbting  bretbren?     IJnbappy  Switzerland! 
God  grant  ber  a  good  deliverance  !     As  you  are  gifted  witb  a  good  deal 
of  musical  imagination,  I  invite  you  to  employ  it  in  composing  a  tune 
or  tunes  to  the  above  words,  wbicb  shall  be  at  once  monotonous  and 
expressive,  for  tbe  purpose  of  comparing  your  invention  with  the  real 
air  (unless  you  know  it  already)  wben  we  meet  again.    I  bave  attended 
a  second  meeting  of  tbe  Societe  du  Chant  National.     Tbey  did  not  sing 
Serrez  vos  rangs,  but  they  sang  another  air,  wild  and  lively  even  to 
enthusiasm,  containing  a  eulogy  on  Switzerland.     '  Ses  bautes  mon- 
tagnes,  ses  belles  campagncs,  sont  tout  notre  amour.'     Tbis  was  sung 
witb  amazing  spirit ;  as  was  anotber,  a  solemn  fugue,  perbaps  a  dirge,  in 
wbicb  tbere  was  a  solo  by  a  female  voice,  aUernating  witb  a  sepulchral 
bass  by  150  voice=,  and  terminating  in  a  wild,  musical  shriek  by  all 
tbe  parts  together.     Tbis  was  tbe  last  piece,  and  was  followed  by  a 
thunder  of  applause  from  tbe  performers  tbemselves,  or  as  a  man  wbo 


302  VISITS    MERLE.  [1833. 

Bat  by  me  explained  it,  '  une  explosion  patriotiqne.'  I  have  since 
reflected  tliat  I  was  too  hasty  in  abandoning  my  inchoate  argument. 
Though  tliis  was  not  a  school  of  psalmody,  it  is  equally  relevant  and 
valid  as  a  proof  of  possibilities.  If  twelve  Iiundred  respectable  Genc- 
vese,  little  boys,  old  men,  young  girls,  and  ladies  of  a  certain  age,  can 
be  brought  into  the  harness  by  a  mere  feeling  of  romantic  patriotism, 
what  might  not — ought  not  to  be  done  in  the  American  churches  from 
a  sense  of  duty,  joined  with  a  desire  of  rich  enjoyment.  I  have  used 
the  phra'^e  'romantic  patriotism,' not  without  design.  It  is  a  very 
instructive  fact,  that  in  England  and  America  the  cradle  and  home  of 
fi'ec'dom,  political  advantages  are  things  of  real  life,  and  are  never  asso- 
ciated with  poetical  imageiy ;  while  in  France,  the  favourite  country  of 
mock  freedom,  triumphal  arches,  statues,  pictures,  music  and  declama- 
tory fustian  are  the  insignia  of  liberty.  And  in  general  throughout  the 
continent  of  Europe,  men  seem  to  think  more  of  the  name  of  freedom 
than  of  the  thing  itself.  The  patriotism  that  evaporates  in  song  is  ill- 
adapted  to  contend  with  the  inharmonious  prose  of  tyranny  or  rebellion. 
The  'common  sense'  of  liberty  is  only  known  to  England  and  her 
off-spring — the  h  luglity  mother  and  the  alienated  child.  Are  we  not 
bound  to  pi'ay  for  England's  welfare?  If  she  should  go  to  destruction, 
what  a  stupendous  shipwreck!  But  there  are  more  than  ten  in  Sodom. 
How  impressive  Wilberforce's  funerid  must  have  been  !  The  great  ones 
did  t'lomselves  more  honor  than  the  dead. 

''But  to  conclude  the  chapter  on  music,  I  proceed  to  state  that  the 
psalmody  of  the  French  churches  is,  to  my  ear,  most  monotonous  and 
iiisi[)id.  They  retain  the  old  recitatives  which  are  bound  up  at  the  end 
of  the  French  bibles.  Perhaps  they  sing  the  same  airs  here  as  in  the 
days  of  Farel. 

"  I  suppose  I  mentioned,  in  some  former  letter,  that  M.  Monod,  of 
Pari^,  gave  me  a  line  of  introduction  to  Professors  Gaussen  &  Merlet. 
On  applying  at  the  house  of  M.  G.,  I  understood  that  he  was  staying  in 
tlie  country.  M.  M.  lives  in  the  Eaux  Vives,  a  suburb  of  Geneva.  *  * 
M.  Merle  d'Aubigne  left  his  card  when  I  was  out.  Yesterday  (August 
13th)  I  called  again  at  M.  Gaussen's,  and  found  that  he  was  just  gone 
back  into  the  country.  I  then  set  out  in  search  of  M.  Merle's  abode, 
and  after  asking  directions  of  two  men  and  two  women  in  succession,  I 
arrived  at  his  house,  which  is  beautifully  situated  on  the  water's  edge 
in  full  view  of  the  city,  lake,  and  mountains,  and  surrounded  by  some 
very  pretty  grounds.  Professor  Merle  d'Aubigne  is  a  large,  tine-looking 
man,  between  thirty-five  and  forty,  as  I  guess,  perfectly  French  in  his 
looks  and  manners,  full  of  animation,  and  extremely  courteous. 


^T.24.]  LETTER   FINISHED.  303 

*                     *                     *  *  *  *  * 

"  When  I  know  anything  about  Kant  and  Ids  sncces-ors  on  the 
throne,  you  shall  have  it  I  assure  you.  Meantime  1  turn  to  another 
subject  which  is  rather  more  congenial.  I  am  studying  the  Grtek 
Testament,  with  no  other  commentary  than  the  skies  and  mountains." 
[Part  of  the  letter  is  torn  away  here]  "  *  *  Alp  is  quite  a  useful  aid 
in  understanding  scripture.  I  am  chewing  upon  the  second  of  Matthew 
Avith  laborious  rumination.  My  rule  as  to  quantity  is,  as  little  as  pdssi- 
ble.  This  little  I  turn  upside  down  till  every  latent  implication  lias 
been  shaken  out  and  every  meaning  brought  to  light.  I  ask  myself 
questions  in  Greek,  and  answer  them  in  the  words  of  the  evangile. 
(This  was  the  mode used  at  Munich,  more  than  once  in  conver- 
sation). *  *  The  references  to  the  O.  T.  strike  me  with  peculiar 
force ;  and  the  Messiahship  of  Christ  looms  very  large  through  the 
prophetic  spy-glass. 

"  It  is  a  fact  which  seems  surprising  to  myself,  that  I  have  never  once 
since  tlie  10th  of  April  felt  the  absence  of  ray  books.  For  once  it  seems 
a  pleasure  to  be  bookless.  Or  rather,  I  happen  to  have  one  which  is 
an  equivalent  for  all.  The  si.:ht  of  the  Munich  Library  made  me  sick  of 
books.  *  *  It  was  oppressive  :  it  was  a  silent  insult  to  the  brevity 
of  lite.     The  mind  cannot  be  i-teady  amidst  half  a  million  magnets. 

"  But  methinks  your  patience  will  be  thoroughly  exhausted.  For- 
give whatever  seems  fantastic,  frivolous,  or  foolish.  I  aftect  nothing 
which  I  do  not  at  the  moment  feel.  I  am  cheerful  and  yet  very 
serious.  I  have  reason  to  he  both.  I  thank  you  for  remembering  me 
daily  before  God.  He  may  have  seen  us,  when  we  could  not  see  each 
other,  both  employed  alike.  Christianity  cares  little  for  localities  a>s  such, 
and  superstition  makes  too  much  of  them.  Yet  as  the  scriptures  have 
allowed  ns  to  associate  our  Saviour's  prayers  with  the  brook  Kedron  and 
the  Mount  of  Olives,  why  may  I  not  be  pleased  with  the  reflection  that 
I  have  borre  my  friends  in  mind  upon  the  Thames  and  the  Seine,  the 
Rhine  and  the  Rhone,  the  Iser  and  the  Danube  ?  Why  may  I  nut  say 
that  I  have  [irayed  for  thee,  my  brotiier,  under  the  shadow  of  tlie  Alps  ? 
May  we  both  go  from  strength  to  strength,  till  we  appear  at  last  to- 
gether on  Mt:  Zion  and  drink  of  the  water  of  the  river  of  life  which 
proceeds  from  the  throne  of  God !  Our  way  may  lie  through  deep 
waters,  but  they  shall  not — they  shall  not  overflow  us !  With  the  ten- 
derest  love  to  all, 

"  Yours  truly, 

"Jo3.  Addison  Alexandee." 


S04  VEESES.       -  tl833. 

He  thought  Turin  inferior  to  Munich  and  Philadelphia. 
Even  in  his  travels  he  must  dip  into  a  book  now  and  then. 
Here,  the  book  was  Botta.     He  writes  : 

"  I  have  been  reading  Botta  with  great  satisfaction  ;  I  finished  the 
first  book  to-day.  It  is  a  singular  fact  that  I  should  read  the  Stamp 
Act  for  the  first  time  in  this  howling  wilderness  (Pace  tua  Augusta 
Taurinorum !  ).  I  do  not  admire  Italian.  It  is  very  feeble  and  mawk- 
ish ;  though,  no  doubt,  good  for  music.  How  far  below  Latin  I  I  begin 
to  like  Latiu  ngain." 

The  following  record  is  pleasing  : 

"The  verse  which  I  have  been  studying  to-day  is  Matthew  ii.  10: 
am  astonished  at  tlie  '  new  light '  which  shines  from  the  lamp  of  life. 
Perhaps  it  looks  brighter  in  consequence  of  the  surrounding  darkness. 
Smce  I  wrote  the  last  sentence  I  opened  the  Greek  Testament  and  saw 
these  W^ords: — '"O  ex^fn  Kparfjo-are  axP'^i  ov  I'lV  tj^03.^  I  must  try  to  hold 
my  little  light  fast,  Y>^hat  a  superlative  language  Greek  is !  Since  I 
began  it  anew  in  the  spring  of  1829,  and  read  the  Oyropaedia  and  Ana- 
basis through  without  stopping,  I  have  regarded  it  as  the  first  of  earth- 
ly tongues. 

"  Soft  and  gentle  is  thy  hand, 
Shepherd  of  the  chosen  flock ; 
On  the  ocean,  on  the  strand, 

On  the  mountain  and  the  rock. 
Wandering  in  a  foreign  land 
In  perils  oft,  in  sadness  much, 
I  have  felt  it  to  be  such, 
I,  I  have  known  its  soothing  touch. 
(Caetera  desunt.)  " 

Here  are  more  of  his  Italian  verses,  composed  at  Turin  : 

When  with  aching  head  and  heart, 

I  have  laid  me  down  to  rest. 
Melancholy's  poison  dart 

Deeply  planted  in  my  breast : 
A  voice  has  bid  the  fiend  depart ; 

A  hand — what  h  and  I  need  not  say, 

Has  sought  my  anguish  to  allay, 

And  gently  plucked  that  dart  away. 


^T.24.]  ,  WRITTEN   AT   TURIN.  305 

Sometimes  nature  seems  a  waste  ; 

And  to  my  deludbd  eyes 
All  signs  of  beauty  are  effaced, 

From  the  ocean,  earth,  and  skies ; 
"While  I  seem  miserably  placed, 

Like  one  upon  a  sea-washed  deck, 

An  undistinguishable  speck  - 

Amidst  the  universal  wreck. 

But  when  that  gentle  hand  is  laid 

Upon  my  eyes  to  give  them  sight, 
The  world  at  once  appears  arrayed 

In  living  robes  of  liquid  light ; 
As  if  my  sadness  to  upbraid  : 

Rebuked,  amazed,  delighted,  awed, 

On  land  and  sea  I  look  abroad 

And  bless  the  handiwork  of  God. 

Oft  when  I  have  wandered  long. 

Led  by  some  deceitful  stai% 
And  pause  for  fear  of  going  wrong ; 

Suddenly  I  hear  afar, 
The  echo  of  the  shepherd's  song  : 

The  welcome  and  familiar  sound 

Turns  my  bewildered  feet  around. 

And  guides  them  to  the  pasture  ground. 

And  now  at  length  before  me  lies 

A  valley  dark  and  unexplored  ; 
Bat  through  the  gloom  my  soul  descries 

The  stately  steppings  of  her  Lord ; 
I  hasten  on  in  glad  surprise  ; 

Let  life  recede ;  let  death  draw  near. 

I  cannot,  will  not,  dare  not  fear, 

Hii=  rod  and  statf  are  with  me  here  ! 

Tlie  thought  that  he  was  nearing  Rome  seems  to  have 
proved  inspmng  to  him ;  or  perhaps  it  was  only  the  unwonted 
cup  of  coffee.  After  conning  over  the  stanzas  given  above, 
he  says : 


30  G  POEM.  [18S3. 

"  I  then  proceeded  to  compose  the  following,  on  a  tbemc  which  I 
flelccted  before  leaving  home,  viz  : 

"Be  still  and  know  that  I  am  God." 

As  this  has  been  thought  one  of  his  noblest  productions  in 
metre,  I  make  no  scruple  to  give  it  without  abridgment.  For 
solemn  grandeur  of  meaning,  and  for  nervous  diction  and 
sonorous  music  he  has  perhaps  not  written  anything  that 
exceeds  it, 

I. 

When  fortune  smiles  and  friends  abound  ; 
"When  all  thy  fondest  hopes  are  crowned; 
"When  earth  with  her  exhaustless  store, 
Seems  still  intent  to  give  thee  more ; 
"When  every  wind  and  every  tide 
Contribute  to  exalt  thy  pride  ; 
"When  all  the  elements  conspire 
To  feed  ihy  covetous  desire ; 
"When  foes  submit  and  envy  stands 
Pale  and  abashed  with  folded  hands ; 
"While  fame's  unnumbered  tongues  prolong 
The  swell  of  thy  triumphal  song ; 
"When  crowds  admire  and  worlds  applaud 
" Be  still  and  know  that  I  am  God." 

II. 

"When  crowns  are  sported  with  and  thrones 
Are  rocked  to  their  foundation  stones; 
"When  nations  tremble  and  the  enrth 
Seems  big  with  some  portentous  birth  ; 
When  all  the  ties  of  social  life 
Are  severed  by  intestine  strife ; 
When  human  blood  begins  to  drip 
From  tyranny's  accursed  whip ; 
When  peace  and  order  find  their  graves 
In  anarcliy's  tempi^stuous  waves  ; 
When  every  individual  hand 
Is  steeped  in  crime,  and  every  land 
Is  full  of  violence  and  fraud  ; 
Be  still  and  know  that  I  am  God." 


&T.  24.] 


POEM.  307 


TII. 

When  to  fhe  havoc  man  has  made 
The  elements  afford  their  aid ; 
"Wlien  nature  siclcens,  and  disease 
Eides  on  the  wing  of  every  breeze  ; 
"When  the  tornado  in  its  flight 
Blows  the  alarm  and  calls  to  fight ; 
"When  raging  Fever  leads  the  van, 
In  the  fierce  onset  upon  man  ; 
When  hvid  Plngue  and  pale  Decline 
And  bloated  Dropsy,  form  the  line  ; 
While  hideous  Madness,  shivering  Fear 
And  grim  Despair,  bring  up  the  rear  ; 
When  these  thy  jndgments  are  abroad: 
"Be  still  and  know  that  I  am  God." 

IV. 

When  messages  of  grace  are  sent, 
And  mercy  calls  thee  to  repent; 
When  through  a  cloud  of  doubts  and  fears 
Tlie  Sun  of  Righteousness  appears; 
When  thy  reluctant  heart  delays 
To  leave  it's  old  accustomed  ways ; 
When  pride  excites  a  storm  within, 
And  pleads  and  fights  for  every  sin ; 
Be  still,  and  let  this  tumult  cease  ; 
Say  to  thy  raging  passions,  "  Peace !  " 
By  love  subdued,  by  judgment  awed  : 
"  Be  still  and  know  that  I  am  God," 

"I  began  another  poem  in  the  night  which  I  did  not  finish.     Le 

voici ! 

I. 

When  by  strong  love  and  sorrow  led, 

The  women  hasten  to  appear 
Where  their  departed  Master's  head 

Was  1  "id  npon  its  rocky  bier, 
Desiring  there  once  more  to  shed 

The  sweet,  but  sweetly  bitter  tear; 

The  joyful  words  which  met  their  ear, 
Though  by  the  lips  of  angels  said, 


308  TRAVELLING   COMPANIONS.  [1833, 

Like  idle  tales  to  them  appear: 
"  lie  i3  arisen  from  the  dead — 
He  is  not  liere  !  " 


Yet  when  they  saw  the  cold,  hard  bed, 

For  his  sake  to  their  bosoms  dear  ; 
And  saw  their  Master's  body  fled, 

And  the  cast  grave-clothes  lying  near ; 
They  in  their  turn  to  others  said, 

"With  mingled  ^yonder,  joy,  and  fear : 
"  He  has  arisen  from  the  dead — 

lie  is  not  here!  " 

This  is  without  doubt  the  sweetest  and  most  delicate  of  all 
his  scriptural  pai'aphrases. 

On  tlie  way  from  Florence  he  had  an  adventure  with  an 
old  priest,  a  young  Franciscan  friar,  and  some  seculars,  the 
account  of  which  is  very  entertaining. 

"After  I  had  waitel  an  hour  or  two  the  vettura  came  to  the  door 
and  I  got  in.  On  the  back  seat  there  was  an  elegant  old  gentleman,  in 
ecclesiastical  costume,  with  a  red  ribbon  round  his  hat.  I  asked  him 
whether  he  spoke  French.  He  answered,  in  Italian,  that  he  had  never 
practised  it.  On  the  seat  opposite  to  him  there  was  a  huge  pile  of 
bundles,  bags,  .&c.  He  laughed  and  siid  he  had  taken  two  places,  one 
for  himself  and  one  for  his  things.  "We  drove  along  the  street  called 
Porta  Rossi;  and  stopped  before  a  coffee-house,  where  a  boy  got  in 
about  fifteen  years  of  age,  dressed  in  velvet,  whicli  is  very  common  here 
among  the  lower  orders.  "We  stopped  again  before  a  church,  where  a 
young  Frnnciscan  friar  joined  us  and  a  young  priest.  The  latter  sat 
inside  with  the  old  priest  and  me.  The  Franciscan  and  the  boy  sat  in 
the  cabriolet.  We  did  not  get  away  till  after  12  o'clock.  I  found, 
from  the  conversation  in  the  coach,  that  the  young  priest  was  in  some 
way  dependant  on  the  old  one,  whom  he  treated  with  obsequious 
servility.  His  name  was  Padre  Lulgi  (Father  Louis).  The  Fran- 
ciscan's name  was  Padre  Leonardo,  and  the  boy's  Bartolomeo  Novara. 
The  old  man  was  called  'Monsignore'  by  the  others,  so  that  I  did  not 
learn  his  name.  The  boy  was  going  to  a  convent  in  Rome  to  try 
whether  he  would  like  to  be  a  Franciscan.     He  was  from  Genoa,  Padre 


^T.  24.]  JOURNEY.  309 

Leonardo  from  Port  Maurice  in  Piedmont,  Padre  Luigi  from  Pistoja, 
and  Monsignore  from  Siena.  We  stopped  for  the  night  at  Poggibousi. 
The  old  Priest  and  I  had  rooms  to  ourselves,  the  other  three  '  had  one 
between  them.'  AVe  all  supped  together.  The  two  seculars  were  very 
polite  to  me — the  young  one  officiously  so.  The  ohl  one  was  truly 
kind  and  fatherly.  I  am  very  certain  that  no  Italian  travelling  in 
America,  would  have  met  with  such  treatment  from  any  two  Protes- 
tant ministers.  The  Franciscan  was  civil  but  unpolished.  The  little 
Genoese  had  all  the  native  grace  of  an  Italian  peasant,  with  a  great 
deal  of  intelligence,  modesty,  and  wit.  The  language  was  like  music 
in  his  mouth.  The  Pistoian  spoke  in  a  very  aifected  manner  and  pro- 
nounced c  hard  like  h ;  c  soft,  like  sh;  cuc'mo  he  pronounced  Jcusheeno.^^ 

Wednesday,  Sept.  4. — They  were  called  at  an  early  bour  and  pro- 
ceeded on  their  journey.  The  ecclesiastics  spent  a  large  part  of  the 
time  over  their  breviaries.  Their  manner  of  praying,  however,  was  a 
little  odd.  In  the  course  of  the  morning  they  passed  through  Siena, 
and  stopped  before  a  book-store  while  the  old  priest  bought  a  poem 
lately  publisheJ,  All  of  us  read  it.  It  was  a  satirical  performance, 
lashing  the  priests  among  others.  The  old  man  made  great  sport  of 
the  Franciscan  during  the  ride  to-day,  asking  him  curious  questions  and 
laughing  about  the  idleness  and  voracity  of  the  monks.  He  also  talked 
a  great  deal  to  Bartolomeo,  in  a  humorous  way,  about  his  turning 
friar.  His  object  seemed  to  be  to  disgust  him  with  the  project,  and  I 
therefore  liked  his  raillery  very  well,  though  it  was  rather  unmerciful 
to  the  poor  Francsican,  who  bore  it  with  great  patience  and  good 
humor.  He  seemed  to  be  an  honest,  sincere,  ignorant  man.  Padre 
Luigi  was  a  prim,  affected,  sly,  hypocritical  sort  of  a  body.  His  busi- 
ness seemed  to  be  to  echo  every  thing  Monsignore  said,  by  adding, 
"  vero,-veramento-sicu.ra-va  bene-si-si-gia-gifi."  "We  stopi:)ed  at  noon 
to  breakfast  at  a  village  inn.  The  old  gentleman  took  great  pains  to 
ascertain  what  I  would  like,  and  ordered  it  for  me.  When  it  came 
upon  the  table,  neither  he  nor  the  rest  would  touch  it;  and  I  found 
that  they  were  fasting,  for  they  ate  nothing  but  milk  broth.  At  night 
they  were  more  complaisant,  for  when  we  stopped  at  San  Quirico,  a 
village  of  Tuscany,  they  ate  meat  very  heartily  for  supper.  A  largo 
fine-looking  priest  came  in  while  we  were  at  the  table,  to  pay  his  re- 
spects to  Monsignore.  The  latter,  who  took  all  the  carving  to  himself, 
being  unable  to  divide  a  chicken,  made  the  other  priest,  who  wa? 
sitting  near,  perform  the  operation. 

Thursday,  Sept.  5. — They  were  up  and  off  betimes  again.  AtRadi- 


310  ON   TO   ROME.  [1833. 

cnfixni,  the  last  town  of  Tuscany,  tlieir  passports  were  pignod.  "  The 
offic3i'  was  VM'v  p  ilit3  and  inqiisitive.  At  an  iai),  s mie  distince  far- 
ther, we  sto[)ped  to  bre  ikfa-^t.  I  ate  a  thrush,  (tordella).  Padre  Leo- 
nardo and  Bartnlomeo  ate  anotlier,  wliich  the  old  man  paid  for.  He 
himself  ate  nothing  but  soup,  and  Piidre  Luigi,  of  course,  did  likewise. 
The  vetturhio  told  me  that  my  gnoJs  would  have  to  be  examined  dU 
entering  the  Papal  territories,  and  that  it  would  be  useless  to  fee  the 
officers  be^aasQ  tliey  would  examine  none  the  less.  He  also  told  me 
that  the  old  priest  besides  his  trunk  and  chests  outside,  and  his  pile  of 
bundles  inside,  had  the  boxes  under  the  seats  full  of  things  which  (the  man 
said)  he  was  taking  to  Rome  to  sell.  ISTnne  of  these,  however,  could  be 
touched,  because  he  had  a  lascidte  passdre  ivnra.  the  Rnmin  government, 
which  is  a  very  hard  thing  to  procure;  and  sure  enough,  when  we  crossed 
the  line  and  reached  tiie  cnstom-house,  the  old  gentleman  produced  a  pa- 
per, seeing  which  the  officer  backed  out.  Tlje  vettdrino  now  (anie 
round  and  told  me  that  if  I  would  give  something  to  the  fellow,  he 
thought  I  might  escape  too,  under  the  old  man's  wing.  I  ace  rdingly 
insei'ted  20  cents  into  the  hands  of  the  illustrious  officer,  who  b.^wed, 
and  we  drove  off.  Tliis  was  a  hnppy  riddance,  for  I  dreaded  the  inspec- 
tion very  much,  having  heard  that  in  Romagna  tliey  are  very  trouble- 
some and  captious  in  such  cases.  The  old  gentleman  chuckled  very 
merrily  over  the  affair,  and  seemed  to  enjoy  my  escape  as  much  as  his 
own.  The  first  considei'able  town  that  we  passed  through  afi  ei-  crossing 
the  line  was  Aquapendente;  where  my  pa-sport  was  sealed  and  I  was 
charged  one  paul,  i.  e.  10  cents  precist^ly.  The  old  gentleman,  besides 
continuing  his  gll)es  at  the  Francisran,  played  a  practical  tii  k  upon 
him  toward  the  end  of  our  day's  journey,  which  w.is  very  amusing,  but 
I  must  not  tell  it  here.  At  supper  he  t.ilked  abwitthe  British  and  For- 
eign B  ble  Society,  and  informed  me  that  he  had  been  in  England,  at 
the  time  when  the  Emiieror  of  Russia  and  the  King  of  Prussia  wee 
there.  He  and  the  other  i)riests  talked  about  C'libai^y  and  s  holasiic 
theology.  Bartolomeo  was  a  fixvorite  with  us  all.  I  became,  in  'ce  1, 
\e,vy  much  interrste.l  in  him,  though  we  could  not  talk  toge'.hcr.  His 
speech  was  more  musical  than  any  that  I  have  heard  in  Italy.  The  old 
man  called  him  Fra  Bartolomeo,  and  sometimes  Padre  Bartolomeo. 
His  reverence  seemed  to  know  all  the  tavern-keepers  and  servants  inti- 
mately. Last  night  and  to-night,  at  supper,  the  hind'ady  came  in  to 
kiss  his  hind.  The  one  last  night  Irought  her  daughter  Amabi'e  in, 
ixm\  Ta.^\Q\\QY  %tiy  ''  Baon  appetlto.  Sigiiori.''  I  feel  much  obliged  to 
the  old  gentleman  for  his  kindness  and  real  politeness  to  me  ;  and,  in 
return  for  it,  I  hereby  certify  that  he  is  the  handsomest  old  man  that  J 


^T.24]  VIA   CASSIA.  311 

ever  saw.  His  face,  wliicli  is  truly  Roman,  would  grace  an  antique 
medal ;  his  hair  is  white,  and  his  counti-nance  one  thit  indicates  a  lor.g 
life  of  temperance  and  health.  His  complexion,  strange  to  say,  is  very 
fair,  and  his  skin  smooth  as  a  girl's.  He  wears  a  hlue  frock  coat,  black 
breeches  and  gaiters,  and  a  looped  hat  of  peculiar  form  with  a  red  rib- 
bon round  it. 

Friday,  Sq)t.  6.  It  i-ained  tremendously  during  the  day  with  occa- 
sional intervals  of  sunshine.  I  like  this,  because  it  tends  to  abate  the 
heat  and  purify  the  air,  and  wheu  it  does  rain  I  would  rather  be  in  a 
carriage  than  a  tavern.  Our  vettiira,  however,  began  at  length  to  leak ; 
and  on  arriving  at  Viterbo,  Monsignore  found  a  package  of  sugar  which 
■was  under  our  bench,  fairly  soaked.  He  laughed  very  heartily  and 
spoke  of  it  twice,  as  a  good  joke.  His  equanimity  seemed  really  im- 
perturahle.  At  Viterbo  he  told  the  waiter  that  I  would  probably  like 
some  meat,  but  that  they  would  take  boiled  eggs,  as  it  was  Friday.  I 
ate  a  mutton  chop  at  the  same  table.  We  arrived  at  night  at  Rons'g- 
li(me  amidst  a. pouring  raia  and  found  the  tavern  nearly  lu'.l.  I  got  a 
room  to  myself,  however,  as  did  the  old  man.  This  has  been  the  case 
throughout  the  journey.  As  the  waiter  was  making  my  b.d,  I  asked 
him  whether  he  knew  the  old  priest — '  Oh,  yes,'  said  he,  '  he  is  a 
bishop.'  'A  bishop!'  said  I,  'bishop  of  what?'  'Of  some  little 
town,'  said  he,  '  near  Rome.'  So,  I  have  been  travelling  with  a  bishop 
all  this  time !     Ecco  !  " 

On  Saturday,  Sept.  7,  the  American  traveller  began  to  perceive  a 
change  in  the  face  of  the  country.  First,  the  corn-fields  ciisappearetl, 
then  the  viueyards,  then  the  trees,  then  the  bushes,  till  at  length  the 
motley  party  in  the  coach  was  surrounded  by  a  scene  of  desolation. 
No  houses,  no  enclosures,  no  cultivation,  no  people  for  miles  together. 
"  We  were  now  in  the  blighted  regions  of  the  Maulria.  There  was  a 
strong  smell  of  sulphur  during  some  parts  of  the  journey,  proceeding 
from  stagnant  pools.  It  was  like  passing  through  the  vale  of  Siddim. 
Milestones  began  to  make  their  appearance,  and  at  length  we  came  to 
one  on  which  was  written  VIA  CASSIA.  I  began  to  thiiik  of  Viri 
Romae,  and  grew  sentimental.  Tlie  solemn  dreariness  of  the  surround- 
ing scenery  strengthened  the  impression.  Nor  was  it  diminished  when 
the  bishop  opened  the  window  on  his  side  and  pointing  to  a  weather 
beaten  altar  of  gray  stone,  said—"  Behold  the  tomb  of  Nero  !"  (Ecco  il 
sepolero  di  Neronec).  After  a  while,  vines  again  ma  le  their  appear- 
ance, and  the  road  began  to  be  skirted  by  elms.  We  ascended  an  emi- 
nence and  saw  a  town.  "Roma!"  said  the  bishop.  He  pulle  1  me  to- 
ward the  window  "  Ecco  il  duomo  di  San  Pietro  !"     It  did  not  strike 


312  THOUGHTS    OF    HOME. 


n833 


me  as  very  grand,  and  I  was  surprised  to  see  it  at  one  end  of  the  town 
instead  of  being  in  the  centre.  We  crossed  the  Tiber  on  the  Pons  Mil- 
vius.  A  scum  of  filth  was  floating  on  its  surface.  The  colour  of  the 
water  is  a  dirty  yellow.  We  entered  Rome  about  five  o'clock,  through 
the  magnificent  Porta  del  Popolo.  I  again  escaped  the  custom-house 
by  means  of  the  kind,  though  unscrupulous  old  bishop ;  and  thus  I  have 
got  to  Eorae  without  having  my  trunk  opened,  a  thing  which  rarely  oc- 
curs to  travellers  in  the  public  conveyances.  I  siiould,  no  doubt,  have 
h>st  some  of  my  books,  as  Frazer  did.  We  drove  to  the  'Hotel  del 
I'Europa,  in  the  Piazza  di  Spagna,  where  I  took  up  my  abode.  The 
bishop  and  priest  shook  hands  with  me  very  cordially,  and  the  old  man 
thanked  me  for  my  company.  I  had  not  Italian  enough  to  thank  him 
as  I  wished,  but  he  understood  my  looks.  He  showed  me  to-day  a 
copy  of  the  British  and  Foreign  Society's  Italian  bible  which  he  bought 
in  Florence.  I  wish  that  instead  of  selling  it  he  would  read  it  himself, 
and,  Oh,  that  it  might  convert  him!  And  why  not?  'The  Law  of 
the  Lord  is  perfect  converting  the  soul.'  " 

In  the  coach  he  composed  some  veiy  striking  and  suggest- 
ive blank  verse.     I  give  the  lines  exactly  as  he  wrote  them  :* 

The  wheels  ran  smoothly  on  the  Itali- 
an road,  and  all  within  was  silent.     StiflQy  braced 
or  carelessly  relaxed,  each  traveller  sat,  and  as  he 
sat  he  slept.     All  slept  save  one,  whose  thoughts 
were  wandering  far  beyond  the  seas  in  sweet 
yet  bitter  musing.     For  a  time  the  ocean  dwindled 
to  a  drop ;  and  home — his  father's  fire-side,  and  his 
mother's  form — were  with  him  in  his  exile. 
Even  there  he  felt  himself  at  home ;  and  well  he 
might.     For  the  resplendent  mcon,  which  he 
had  seen  go  down  behind  the  Alps,  was  his 
own  moon,  the  moon  which  he  had  loved 
in  foolish  childhood  ;  and  the  few  bright 
stars  that  still  kept  watch  were 
his  familiar  friends.     The  busy  sprite  who 
had  bewitched  his  eyes,  now  made  hi3 
ears  to  tingle.     Parting  words,  adieus,  and 
benedictions  crowded  back  like  ghosts 
but  not  to  scare  him.     And  with  these 
mingled  the  lasts  sounds  which  had 


^T.  24.J  THOUGHTS    OP    HOME.  dlS 

met  his  ear  as  he  forsook  his  couutry ; 
first  the  hum  of  streets  and  markets,  thea 
the  busy  siir  and  bustle  of  the  port  and  last 
the  voice  of  the  impatient  ocean,  as  he 
chafed  against  the  New  "World.    For  the 
wanderer  loved  that  wild  mysterious 
music,  in  its  swell  and  in  its  dying  fall.     To 
him  it  seemed  as  if  the  strings  of  nature 
had  been  swept  by  an  almighty  hand 
and  forced  to  give  their  diapason  forth. 
These  were  his  thoughts  in  days  long  past; 
and  now  that  he  recalled  those  days,  those 
thoughts  returned ;  and  with  them  came  that 

*  *        *         *         the  sound  itself,  that 
old  familiar  sound.     The  coach  stopped  ;  and 

Itiily  was  forgotten  and  he  seemed  to  stand  once  more  upon 
his  native  beach.     The  coach  stopped  and  the  thought 
that  he  was  still  a  stranger  in  a  strange  land,  all 
at  once  entered  his  soul  like  iron.     The  coach  went 
on;  and  still  that  sound,        *        *        followed 

*  *        hard  after.     Weary  of  a  dream 
which,  like  the  drunkard's  solace,  only 
soothed  in  order  to  torment ;  he  rubbed  his 
eyes  and  strove  to  be  awake.    But  still  the  voice 
of  Earth  and  Ocean  meeting  fiUed  his  ears.     Ho 
is  awake  and  every  other  sense  performs  its 

office.  ****** 

*  *        Thanks  be  to  God,  our  senses  are 
contrived  to  disabuse  each  other;  and  as 

oft  the  ear  reproves  the  eye,  so  now  at 
last,  the  stranger  called  his  eyesight  to 
his  aid  ;  and  looking  forth  saw  what  ?  I- 
talian  vines,  hung  in  festoons  between 
the  trees ;  or  spread  as  a  green  curtain 
over  frames  like  that  which  Moses  reared 
at  Horeb         *        *        *        forming  cool 

delicious  arbours  hung  with  clustering s 

of  gold  and  purple  grapes.     The  scene  was  void 

*  Almost  all  the  verses  which  he  wrote  while  travelling  are  written  like 
prose.     Milton  has  written  verses  in  the  same  way. 
14 


,S14  LEAVE  ROME.  [laaa. 

of  foliage  and  of  fruit ;  but  in  its  barrenness 
there  was  a  cliarm  for  liim  who  now 
surveyed  it.     'Twas  the  sea,     Not  a  Swiss 
hike  or  fish-j^ond,  but  a  sea,  with  ita 
blue  convex  surface  reaching  up  to  the 
well  marked  horizon.     Not  a  lake  nor  yet 
the  mighty  ocean  in  its  wild  immensi- 
ty of  compass  ;  but  a  sen,  whose  waves 
have  language,  and  whose  ragged  coast  from 
every  inlet  and  projecting  point  sends 
back  the  echo  of  a  tliousand  years.     These 
are  the  land-locked  waters  upon  which 
the  old  Phenician  crept  along  the 
coast  with  coward  daring — these  the 
waves,  on  which  Carthaginian 
learned  to  conquer  and  be  conquered. 
It  was  here  that  the  first  plash  of 
Koman  oars  was  heard,  e'er  yet  Duillius 
had  become  a  god    *        *    and  reared 
his  mortal  column.* 

Composed  in  the  coach  between  Viterbo  and  Rome,  Sept. 
7,  1833." 

On  Tuesday,  Sept.  24,  they  were  called  by  the  servant  at  3  o'clock 
in  the  morning.  The  sunrise  was  beautiful,  but  they  were  soon  en- 
veloped in  fog.  They  crossed  the  Po  on  a  pout  volant  and  entered 
the  Austrian  dominions. 

Their  baggage  was  examined  at  the  custom-house  near  the  river, 
and  Dr.  McDonnell,  an  English-speaking  companion,  had  to  leave  a 
trunk  behind  him.  In  the  course  of  the  day,  the  fog  subsided  and  they 
had  delightful  weatlier.  They  breakfasted  at  Ptorego,  and  dined  at  Pa- 
dua. I  now  quote  again:  "The  road  from  Padua  to  the  sea-side  is 
delightful.  It  is  one  long  street  skirted  with  gardens,  parks,  neat  and 
sometimes  splendid  houses.  Tlie  moon  rose  clear  and  the  night  was 
most  superb.  At  Fusina  we  left  the  diligence  and  got  into  a  boat.  We 
stopped  at  a  military  station  in  the  midst  of  the  water  to  show  our 
passports.     Our  first  view  of  Venice  was  rendered  more  impressive  by 

*  An  allusion  to  the  columne  nostrata.  See  Cicero  Tro  Cu.  25.  Oxon.  p. 
455  and  De  Scnect.  13.     rianc.  455. 


iET.24.]  NEW    CHAIR    IN    THE    COLLEGE.  315 

the  ma,c,mificent  moonlig'ir.  "We  entered  the  grand  cana]  and  jxa'^sed  under 
the  Rialto,  We  landed  at  the  diligence  office  and  exchanged  our  pass- 
ports for  tickets.  The  Germans  went  to  a  German  inn.  The  piieit. 
Dr.  McDonnell  and  I  went  in  the  same  boat  to  the  Hotel  de  I'Europe, 
hut  did  not  land,  as  it  was  full.  We  then  went  to  the  Hotel  de  Grand 
Bretagne,  where  we  found  two  vacant  rooms — one  with  two  beds,  the 
other  with  one.  Tiie  priest  took  the  latter*  and  we  were  obliged  to  be 
contented  with  the  former.  It  is  a  very  handsome  one,  with  a  large 
closet  and  a  recess  for  the  beds.  The  floor  is  of  marble.  The  adjoin- 
ing room  is  a  dining-hall  of  magnificent  dimensions.  The  house  ap- 
pears to  have  been  once  a  palace.  I  saw  on  a  card  to-day,  which  was 
attached  to  one  of  my  companion's  trunks,  his  address  thus  given : 
'Rev.  Dr.  MacDonnell,  Bagot  street,  Dublin.'  " 

I  interrupt  the  journal  for  a  moment  to  look  at  an  event  at 
home  which  was  cleej)ly  interesting  to  the  young  traveller. 
On  Thursday,  the  26th  of  September,  the  Rev.  James  W. 
Alexander,  who  Avas  at  this  time  residing  in  Philadelphia,  and 
editing  the  Presbyterian  and  Biblical  Repertory,  went  for  a 
few  days  to  Princeton,  where  he  was  met  and  informed  that 
he  was  elected  to  the  new  chair  in  Princeton  College,  of 
Belles  Lettres.  He  found  all  comfortably  well  on  his  return 
home  the  next  Monday.  I  copy  the  following  f;om  a  detached 
slip  marked  "Private  Journal,"  of  date  of  October  1st. 
It  is  in  the  hand  writing  of  the  elder  brother,  and  evidently 
refers  to  the  event  announced  above.  "  I  have  never  had  an  ap- 
pointment which  fell  in  more  with  my  feelings.  During  some 
days  since  I  had  the  first  inkling  of  it.  I  have  prayed  that  the 
Lord  would  not  suffer  me  to  be  called  unless  it  were  right 
that  I  should  go.  To-day  I  have  been  in  some  pain,  but  blessed 
be  God  I  had  choice  mercies."  On  the  tliird  he  records  the 
arrival  of  good  news  from  home  ;  "  also  a  letter  full  of  happi- 
ness from  my  dear  brother,  J.  A.  A.,  Geneva,  August  1st.  The 
Lord  be  with  thee,  my  brother  !  " 

The  goal  of  the  absent  Professor  was  now  attained,  and 
he  was  soon  to  become  familiar  with  the  daily  life  of  a  German 
ITuiversity.  Llis  first  impression  of  Halle  Avas  not  prepossess- 
ins". 


316 


TIIOLUCK.  [1833. 


"Thursday,  Oct.  23.— Here,  as  elsewhere,  my  first  proceeding  has 
been  to  walk  about  the  town  by  myself,  and  get  a  general  notion  of  it. 
This  I  was  the  rather  disposed  to  do  because  1  mny  pos-ib'y  spend  the 
winter  here.  I  am  inclined  to  tiiink  not,  however,  for  a  dirtier,  mean- 
er, and  more  dismal  town  could  scarcely  have  been  selected  for  the 
seat  of  a  University.  I  saw  but  one  fine  house,  and  on  tiiat  was  in. 
scribed  '  Frankens  Stiptinger.'  Tliere  are  a  great  many  idle  children 
playing  in  the  streets.  I  was  assured  at  Leipzig  that  the  lectures  were 
going  on  here;  but  I  find,  to  my  great  disappointment,  that  they  are 
not  to  commence  for  a  fortnight. 

"  Friday,  Oct.  24.— After  breakfast  I  Avent  with  a  servant  to  Dr. 
Tholuck's.  The  woman  of  the  house  seemed  as  mncli  rej.iiced  t)  hear 
tliat  I  was  an  American  as  if  she  had  been  one  herslf.  I  waited  in  a 
little  side  room  till  the  Professor  entered  and  read  Mr.  Hodge's  letter. 
He  ihinks  I  ought  to  spend  more  time  at  Berlin  than  at  Halle;  but 
that  Halle  should  come  first.  He  informed  me  that  there  are  two 
Americans  here— thenlogical  students— a  Mr.  Ilaverstick,  (f  Philadel- 
plii.i,  wiio  has  been  here  a  year;  and  Professor  Sears,  a  Baptist,  who 
came  a  few  weeks  since.  Dr.  Tholuck  sent  his  maid  to  show  me  Mr. 
Sears's  house.  The  woman  there  seemed  likewise  overjoyed  to  see  an 
American.  Mr.  S.  was  not  in,  but  she  told  me  to  come  at  precisely 
12.  I  did  so  but  he  was  still  out.  I  called  again  at  3,  and  found  liim 
with  a  lieuienant  who  speaks  English.  After  the  latter  had  gone  Mr. 
Haverstick  arrived.  At  6  they  went  with  mo  to  Tholm  k's  door,  as  I 
had  promised  to  Avalk  witli  him.  We  took  a  long  walk  out  of  the 
town.  H*  tdked  about  the  moon,  about  German  wildness,  about 
Enme,  about  Mr.  Hodge,  about  Enudand,  about  Lee,  about  Mr.  Moller 
of  South  Carolina,  about  Professor  Stuart,  about  his  own  book  on  the 
Bergpredigt,  and  another  whiclj  he  is  writing.  We  returned  to  his 
door  about  6  o'clock.  Mr.  Sears  was  to  have  been  there  to  meet  me. 
As  we  did  not  see  him  Tholuck  went  with  me  to  his  house.  He  was 
not  there,  but  we  met  him  in  an  open  space  behind  the  library,  Avhero 
he  and  Tholuck  walked  up  and  down  talking  about  the  studies  which 
Sears  ought  to  pursue.  Tholuck  invited  me  to  dine  wiih  him  to-mor- 
row at  1  o'clock.  I  drank  tea  with  Professor  Sears  and  talked  with 
him  till  9  o'clock,  when  he  walked  home  with  me  to  the  hotel.  I  nra 
almost  persuaded  to  take  up  my  abode  here  and  stay  till  I  am  tired. 

"Friday,  Oct.  25.— ^Vt  1  o'clock  I  went  to  dine  at  Dr.  Tholuck's. 
His  sister,  his  niece,  a  young  man,  and  a  little  boy  were  at  ths  table. 
He  talked  about  the  Christian  Advocate,  Hegel,  Schelling,  presbyterian- 
ism,  monarchy,  the  crown-prince,  and  the  Obertollhausiiberschnappungs- 


-et.24]  von  GERLACH.  317 

narrenschiffe.  He  showed  me  Bagster's  edition  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment (Hebrew).  I  told  him  about  the  man  wlio  borrowed  Walker's 
Dictionary  to  read.  He  laughed  excessively  and  tran?Iated  it  to  the 
youth.  I  then  returned  to  the  hotel  and  soon  received  a  visit  from 
Messrs.  Sears  and  Haverstick.  They  were  going  to  see  Dr.  Eodiger 
about  studying  Hebrew  with  him.  On  their  return  they  took  me  with 
them  to  Mr.  Sears's  lodging-house  where  I  think  of  taking  rooms. 
They  offer  me  a  parlour  and  bed-room,  now  occupied  by  a  captain,  for 
five  and  a  half  Prussian  dollars  a  month.  The  captain,  however,  does 
not  move  till  IsTovember.  Until  that  time  I  am  to  have  another  pair 
of  rooms  almost  or  quite  as  good.  Mr.  Haverstick  left  us,  and  Mr. 
Sears  went  with  me  to  Herr  von  Gerlach's  but  found  tliat  he  and  his 
family  had  gone  out  walking.  I  returned  with  him  to  his  room  and 
drank  tea  with  him  again.  Just  as  we  began,  Herr  von  Gerlack's  ser- 
vant came  in  say  tiiat  he  would  be  glad  to  see  us.  We  went  at  7,  and 
saw  the  Herr,  tlie  frau,  and  her  mother  and  two  sisters.  We  drank 
tea  and  ate  some  nameless  thing  like  hominy  with  vinegar  in  it.  We 
also  had  some  wine.  A  Judge  of  some  sr>rt  came  in  to  take  leave  be- 
fore going  to  Berlin.  Herr  von  Geilach  talked  magnificently  about 
slavery,  roynlty  and  other  matters. 

"Saturday,  Oct.  26.— After  breakfast  I  paid  my  bill  and  caused  the 
porter  to  transport  my  baggage  from  the  Crown  Prince  to  No.  31 
Grosso  Ulriehsstrasse  where  I  took  possession  of  my  stude  and  my  ham- 
mer. The  former  contains  portraits  of  Zwingle,  Melancthon,  two  other 
pictures  and  a  funny  little  clock.  Mr.  Sears  and  I  dined  together  in 
his  rocmi  at  12  o'clock.  In  the  afrernoon  I  read  Hengstenberg's  article 
on  the  Sabbath,  and  looked  over  Tholuck's  commentary  on  the  Berg- 
predigt.  At  half  past  four  we  v/alked  in  the  environs  of  the  town. 
We  then  returned  and  drank  tea. 

"  Sunday,  Oct.  27.— In  the  com-seof  the  morning  Professor  Thcduck 
sent  a  note  requesting  me  to  walk  with  him  at  11.  (It  was  signed 
'Dr.  A.  Thk.')  At  9  Mr.  Haverstick  called  and  we  went  with  him 
U  the  Marktkirche,  where  we  heard  old  Mr.  Fulda  preach  an  election 
.sermon,  and  read  a  long  list  of  deaths,  births  and  intended  marriages. 
At  11  we  went  to  Tholuck's  and  walked  with  him.  (We  all  three 
jumped  over  a  fence).*  He  took  us  into  his  house  on  our  return  to 
lend  Mr,  Sears  a  Hebrew  bible  and  me  a  Hebrew  grammar.  At  2 
o'clock  Mr.  Haverstick  c;il!ed  again  and  took  us  to  the  Ulrichskirche, 
where  we  heard  an  orthodox  sermon  from  a  youth  on  Phil.  iv.  4.   At  4 

*  See  page  321. 


318  DAILY   LIFE    IN    GERMANY.  [1823. 

o'clock  Mr.  Sears  and  I  wont  to  drink  coffee  -with  Mr.  Ilavcrstick  in 
real  '  student  style.'  He  made  the  coffee  himself  and  told  us  that  his 
expenses  are  not  more  than  75  cents  a  week.  He  showed  us  some  of 
his  hefts  and  told  us  a  ghost  story.  We  talked  about  German  pliiloso- 
phj  and  animal  magnetism. 

'"Monday,  Oct.  28. — At  11  o'clock  Mr.  Scars  and  I  went  out.  At  a 
corner  we  met  witli  Mr.  Caiman,  a  teacher  of  English,  liere,  who  showed 
me  where  to  buy  gloves,  and  put  a  piece  of  court-plaster  on  my  face 
where  I  cut  it  in  shaving,  and  borrowed  Tennemann's  smaller  History 
of  Philosophy.  This  latter  I  read  during  the  afternoon.  Eefore  din- 
ner, Baron  Welzien  called  to  invite  us  to  drink  tea  with  him.  After  6 
we  went  accordingly  and  found  there  Mr.  Haverstick  and  Mr.  J3fcut- 
schel,  an  old  gentleman  born  at  Halle,  who  has  been  absent  forty  years, 
eighteen  of  which  have  been  spent  in  Philadelphia,  where  he  now  re- 
sides. He  returns  very  soon.  After  tea  we  ate  apples.  A  soldier 
came  with  a  paper  to  the  lieutenant  and  was  sent  back  for  his  musket. 

"  Tuesday,  Oct.  29. — I  finished  Tennemann's  Hist,  of  Germ.  Philos. 
After  dinner,  Mr.  Sears  and  I  took  a  walk  returning  by  the  Waisen- 
haus.  I  bought  a  quire  of  letter  paper  and  a  list  of  tiie  lectures.  I 
drank  tea  alone.  Mr.  Sears  went  to  Director  Schulze's.  I  was  invited 
too,  through  Mr.  Oalman,  Avho  sat  with  me  some  time  this  afternoon. 

"Thursday,  Oct.  31. — I  read  DeWette's  Introduction  nearly  all  day. 
Before  dinner  Mr.  S.  and  I  took  a  walk  to  'Ludwig's  etcetera.'  On 
our  way  home  we  hired  the  Conversations  Lexicon,  and  I  put  a  letter 
into  tlie  Postoffice.  At  5  o'clock  Mr.  Haverstick,  Mr.  Sears  and  I 
walked  with  Herr  Professor  Dr.  Tholuck  agreeably  to  an  appointment 
which  he  made  last  night. 

"Friday,  Nov.  1. — Mr.  Sears  and  I  went  to  several  bookstores  to  in- 
quire for  Hupifeld's  Dissertation,  Ewald's  Arabic  grammar,  and  Bopp's 
Sanscrit  do.  Mr.  von  Gerlach's  servant  came  to  invite  us  to  drink  tea 
there.  "We  went  an  hour  too  soon.  Tholuck  called  soon  after  but 
stayed  not  long.  Then  came  Haverstick.  Mr.  von  Gerlach  talked 
about  church  and  state. 

"  Saturday,  Nov.  2. — I  read  Hebrew  and  Greek,  and  De  Wette's  In- 
troduction. Mr.  von  Gerlach  sent  two  volumes  of  the  Ev.  Kirch. - 
Zeitung.  In  the  afternoon  Mr.  Beutschel  called  for  Mr.  Sears's  letters. 
Afterwards  Mr.  Haverstick  called  and  told  us  that  Prof.  Meckel  was  to 
be  buried  at  7  with  a  Fackelzug.     We  went  to  see  it  but  saw  it  not. 

"Sunday,  Nov.  3. — In  the  morning  we  went  to  tlie  Domkirehe  and 
heard  Pruf.  Blanc  on  the  first  part  of  John  xv.  He  reminded  me  of 
Dr.  Carnahan.     There  were  many  soldiers  present.     In  the  afternoon 


<Et.  24.] 


PROFESSOR    POTT.  319 


we  went  to  the  Ulricliskirclie  and  heard  Candidat  Valentin  preach  on 
the  words,  '  He  that  cometh  to  me,'  &c. 

"Monday,  Nov  4. — At  10  o'clock  Mr.  Haverstick  called  and  we  all 
went  to  a  room  in  the  Gross  Berlin  and  heard  Tholuck  lecture  on 
'Moral.  Our  dinner  came  too  late,  so  that  we  had  to  lock  it  up  and 
hurry  off  to  the  Waage,  where  we  heard  Tholuck  lecture  on  Galatians. 
"Wo  then  went  to  see  Professor  Pott  and  inquire  about  his  Sanscrit 
lectures,  which  do  not  begin  till  next  Monday. 

"  Wednesday,  Nov.  6. — I  have  heard  Tholuck  lecture  thrice  to-day. 
He  invited  us  to  drink  tea  with  him  Friday  evening.  I  have  been  read- 
ing Numbers,  Judges,  Isaiah  and  Ecclesiastes  in  Hebrew;  Matthew, 
1  Corinthians,  Acts  and  Kevelation  in  Greek ;  DeWette's  Introduction, 
Ewald's  Grammar  and  Botta's  America. 

"  Thursday,  Nov.  7.— I  heard  Tholuck  twice,  and  went  to  hear  him  a 
third  time  ;  but  there  was  no  light  nor  fire,  and  he  postponed  it  until 
Mond.iy. 

"  Friday,  Nov.  8. — I  heard  Tholuck  lecture  twice.  At  night  Mr.  Sears 
and  I  went  to  his  house  and  drank  tea.  Mr.  Miiller  and  Mr.  Stier  of 
Frankleben  were  present.  He  lent  Mr.  Sears  a  bundle  of  Anzeigers 
and  me  a  book  on  Sin  and  Atonement. 

"  Saturday,  Nov.  9. — We  heard  Eodiger  lecture  on  Hebrew  syntax. 
I  went  to  the  police-office  for  an  aufenthaltskarte,  but  did  not  get  it. 
Dr.  Friedliinder  and  Mr.  Fulda  were  in  Mr.  Sears's  room.  Some  Jews 
took  possession  of  the  room  opposite  to  mine. 

"  Sunday,  Nov.  10. — Luther's  birthday  (350  years  old.)  Tholuck 
preached  in  the  Uh-ichskirche  to  a  great  congregation.  '  Ein  feste  burg- 
ist  unser  Gott ' — was  sung  with  a  posaunenspiel.  Mr.  Sears  was  in- 
vited to  dine  to-day  at  Director  Schulze's,  but  declined  because  it  was 
the  Sabbath.  We  walked  with  Tholuck  in  the  afternoon.  The  quar- 
tei'ly  fair  has  begun  to-day. 

"Monday,  Nov.  11. — We  attended  Tholuck's  lecture  on  ethics  at  10. 
At  2  we  went  to  hear  Dr.  Fuch,  but  tlie  room  was  not  open.  At  4 
we  went  to  hear  Dr.  Pott,  but  he  had  begun  before  we  got  there. 

"Tuesday,  Nov.  12. — I  have  heard  four  lectures  to-day  ;  two  by 
Tholuck ;  one  by  Fuch,  on  Genesis,  and  one  by  Pott,  on  Sanscrit. 
Tholuck  had  above  a  hundred  hearers ;  Fuch,  fifteen,  and  Pott  four. 
Mr.  Haverstick  brought  me  a  petition  to  the  magistrates,  for  an  aufen- 
thaltsknrte  which  Candidat  Fulda  had  written  for  me.  This  I  signed 
and  delivered  to  the  passport-shop  keeper.  Mr.  Sears  and  I  walked 
through  the  fair.  Our  landlady  went  out  to  buy  me  some  stockings, 
and  Mr.  Sears  some  cake.     I  did  not  like  the  stockings,  and  the  land- 


320       CONTRIBUTION  OF  PROFESSOR  SEARS. 


[1833. 


Indy's  mother  is  to  knit  me  some.     We  have  joined  a  circle  of  newspa- 
per  renders  and  received  t^vo  papers  to-dtiy. 

"Wednesday,  Nov.  13.— At  10,  I  heard  Tholiick  lecture  on  etWc3. 
At  12,  we  dined  on  hare  and  apple-sauce.  At  10,  I  heard  Tholuck  lec- 
ture on  Galatians.  At  11,  Mr.  Sears  and  I  called  again  on  Prof.  Pott. 
At  3,  we  went  to  see  Lieut.  Welzien.  At  5,  we  heard  Tholuck  lecture 
(for  the  third  time)  on  the  Psalms. 

"  Thursday,  Nov.  14.— At  10  and  1,  we  heard  Tholuck  lecture.  At 
2,  Mr.  llaverstick  went  with  me  to  the  Orphanhouse,  where  I  ordered 
some  books.  In  the  afternoon  Mr.  von  Gerlach  came  to  see  ns,  in  con- 
sequence of  which,  we  did  not  hear  Dr.  Pott's  lecture.  He  invited  us 
to  his  house  this  evening ;  hut  we  both  had  colds. 

"Friday,  Nov.  15.— I  have  heard  four  lectures  to-day  ;  two  by  Tho- 
luck, on  Galatians  and  Psalms ;  and  two  by  Wegschneider,  on  1  Corin- 
thians and  Dogmatik.  For  dinner  to-day  they  sent  us  raw  ham,  griiel, 
and  some  stuff  like  salve.  I  received  a  written  summons  to  appear  be- 
fore the  magistrates. 

"  Saturday,  Nov.  16.  Mr.  Sears  and  I  went  to  the  Waege  after  break- 
fast and  heard  Wegscheider  lecture  one  hour,  on  1  Corinthians,  and 
another  on  the  epistle  of  James— the  latter  in  Latin.  At  11,  I  went  to 
the  police-office  and  was  questioned  by  the  magistrate  with  respect  to 
my  profession,  residence,  and  motives  for  stopping  here.  At  1, 1  heard 
Tholuck  on  Galatians." 

Among  the  Americans  he  fell  in  with,  was  a  young  proies- 
sor  who  was  destined  to  high  distinction  in  his  own  country, 
as  the  President  of  one  of  the  colleges  of  the  United  States! 
This  was  Prof  Barnas  Sears,  afterwards  the  Rev.  Dr.  Sears  ot 
Brown  University,  and  at  present  the  respected  Manager  of 
the  Peabody  Fund  in  the  South.  The  two  young  scholars  at 
once  became  intimate,  and  long  after  these  days  Mr.  Alexan- 
der delighted  to  refer  to  his  intercourse  in  Europe  with  "  Pro- 
fessor  Sears."  It  gives  me  pleasure  to  present  to  the  reader  the 
following  letter  from  Dr.  Sears  : 

"  la  December,  I  think,  of  1833,  when  I  was  residing  in  Ealle,  Ger- 
many, I  was  joined  by  Prof.  J.  Addison  Alexander  on  his  return  from 
Italy.  We  lived  in  the  same  house,  not  only  as  Americnns  in  Germany 
—a  tiling  not  very  common  in  those  days— but  as  ardent  young  men  ot 
kindred  pursuits.    We  became  as  intimate  as  brothers.    We  were  youn<» 


^T.24]  WALK   WITH    THOLUCK.  321 

professors  Avho  had  taken  a  similar  course  of  literary  and  theological 
studies,  tliougli  under  different  auspices.  What  a  range  of  intensely 
interesting  toidcs  was  before  us  when  we  began  to  compare  notes  i 
Our  college  studies,  the  gaps  of  wLich  we  had  just  discovered,  and 
were  enthusiastically  endeavouring  to  fill  up;  the  value  of  classical 
studies,  which  we  both  defended  against  the  attacks  of  Grimke  and 
others;  New  England  men,  institutions,  theology,  literature,  diction- 
aries, compared  with  those  of  a  more  Southern  latitude,  on  which  we 
agreed  tolerably  well,  even  theology  and  dictionaries  not  excepted  ; 
American  and  European  scholarship;  the  relative  position  of  England, 
France,  and  Germany  in  this  i-espect;  the  different  German  schools  of 
philology,  philosophy,  and  theology ;  the  men  who  represented  them ; 
Hebrew,  Oriental,  and  Sanscrit  literature.  These  and  other  kindred 
topics  were  discussed  as  earnestly  as  Reconstruction  is  now.  What  a 
chasm  these  thirty-five  years  have  made !  It  is  as  if  an  age  intervened 
between  then  and  now.  The  first  thing  that  struck  me  in  my  new 
friend  was  his  somewhat  voluble  bookish  German.  ATy  German  was 
meagre  but  conversational ;  his  was  copious,  but  labored,  being  man- 
ufactured on  the  spot  from  the  grammar  and  dictionary.  Our  German 
friends  must  have  enjoyed  the  two  specimens.  I  had  been  in  Ger- 
mnny  three  months  and  he  three  weeks.  I  soon  learned  two  traits  in 
his  character:  a  constant  overflow  (in  private)  of  humour  and  drollery, 
and  a  shyness  in  respect  to  going  into  ladies'  company.  Once  we  were 
taking  a  long  evening  walk  to  Giebchenstein  with  Dr.  Tholuck.  The 
Doctor  was  small  of  stature,  of  imperfect  sight,  and  timid  and  nervous 
as  a  woman.  We  came  to  a  very  high  fence,  running  from  a  steep 
rock  a  few  feet  to  the  river.  There  was  no  getting  round  it ; 
and  it  was  already  dark.  We  hoisted  him  up  to  the  very  top 
of  the  fence.*  Prof.  Alexander  being  also  short,  stood  on  tiptoe 
and  tried  to  balance  him ;  while  I  the  taller  one,  was  to  spring  over 
the  fence  and  catch  the  Doctor  before  he  should  fall.  It  was  too 
much  for  my  American  friend.  The  idea  that  we  had  '  such  a  body 
of  evangelical  divinity '  in  our  keeping,  and  that,  for  a  moment,  it  was 
so  ludicrously  poised  in  the  air,  made  him  almost  burst  with  poorly 
suppressed  laughter ;  and  for  a  long  time  lie  would  recur  to  that  scene, 
making  it  appear  like  one  in  Gil  Bias.  We  lived  in  Grosser-Ulrichs- 
Shasse,  where  the  crowds  passed  when  they  poured  out  in  going  to 
the  Pavilions.  I  shall  never  forget  the  fund  of  innocent  humor  with 
which  ho  would  stand  at  the  window  and  make  his  comments  upon 

*  See  page  317. 


322  ANECDOTES.  0833. 

individuals  as  tliey  passed.  It  wns  a  playful  attempt  to  seo  how  many 
amusing,  yet  pertinent,  things  ho  could  say,  without  a  moment's  reflec- 
tion, ahout  liundreds  of  individuals^  the  moment  they  passed.  I  re- 
memher  that  when  his  store  of  wit  seemed  to  he  nearly  exliansted,  ho 
said  of  the  next  one,  '  there,  that  one  ought  to  he  spoken  to,'  and 
finally  closed  with  a  broad  laugh,  as  he  said  the  last  thing  he  could 
think  of,  'that  one  ought  to  ho  slaj)ped!''  "We  attended  Prof.  Pott's 
lectures  on  Sanscrit  literature.  The  founder  of  that  school  of  Pliilolngy, 
F.  l^opp,  Avas  Prof.  Pott's  teacher.  Mr.  Alexander  said,  with  his  usual 
air  of  drollery,  'if  the  Prof,  ever  has  a  son,  he  ought  to  name  him 
Bopp;  we  should  then  have  Bopp  Pott!'  I  should  not  have  men- 
tioned these  little  incidents  but  for  the  impression  that  many  have  that 
he  was  a  sort  of  recluss  who  did  not  know  how  to  unbend.  Ludwig 
von  Gerlach,  since  then  at  the  head  of  the  judiciary  of  Prussia — a  no- 
bleman of  high  rank,  Avas  an  intimate  friend  of  Tholuck's  and  was  con- 
sequently our  friend.  Wishing  to  show  us  a  special  favour,  he  invited 
us  to  witness  his  family  celebration  of  Christmas,  which  was  to  be 
magnificent  for  the  splendor  of  the  gifts  bestowed  upon  the  different 
members  of  the  family,  the  two  strangers  not  being  forgotten.  But 
there  were  two  or  three  female  Vons  included  in  the  arrangement ;  and 
not  all  that  I  could  say  could  induce  our  inveterate  Lai-helor  to  attend. 
This  same  von  Gerlach  was  a  devout  monarchist,  and  looked  with  a 
superstitious  veneration  upon  persons  of  royal  birth.  Hearing  Mr. 
Alexander  say  that  he  had  been  presented  to  the  young  princess  Vic- 
toria, then  heiress  to  the  throne,  he  listened  with  eagerness  to  the  re- 
cital of  the  visit,  and  when  the  interest  of  the  scene  w.as  at  its  height, 
and  von  Gerlach  could  resist  his  curiosity  no  longer,  he  broke  out  and 
said,  'and  how  did  she  appear?'  The  roguish  reply  was,  '.rather 
silly  ! '  The  effect  designed  was  complete.  We  heard  no  more  about 
kings,  and  queens,  and  princes.  Such  instances  of  correcting  an  ex- 
travagant opinion  were  not  uncommon  with  him. 

"  Professor  Friedlander  of  Halle,  was  a  great  antiquary  and  lover  of 
art.  We  were  invited  to  tea  at  his  bachelor's  hall.  So  far  everything 
was  to  my  friend's  taste  ;  and  we  had  a  delightful  social  time.  In  the 
course  of  the  evening,  the  Professor  began  on  the  antiquities  of  Rome, 
and  had  many  questions  to  put  on  the  subject.  Whether  from  in- 
difference or  mere  roguery  we  could  scarcely  tell,  our  young  traveller 
remarked  with  great  gravity  that  there  was  little  to  be  seen  in  Eome 
'  but  priests  and  beggars.'  '  What  a  young  man  '  said  Freidlander,  '  to 
go  to  Rome  and  oome  back  with  such  a  story  I  '  That  sort  of  running 
fire  was  kept  on  bntli  sides  for  a  good  half  hour. 


iET.24.]  THOLUCk's    estimate    of    ALEXANDER.  323 

"  He  made  everything  subservient  to  his  studies.  It  was  his  custom 
when  he  went  from  one  country  to  another,  to  go  to  a  restaurant  and 
there  make  a  beginning  in  the  use  of  the  language,  by  calling  for  every- 
thing at  liap-hazard  that  was  on  the  bill  of  fare,  and  when  it  came  in 
he  would  know  what  it  was.  But  lie  told  us  he  once  got  caught  in 
that  way.  One  morning  at  Rome,  he  gave  one  of  those  chance  or- 
ders, and  what  should  be  brought  him  but  a  huge  crab ;  which  he  paid 
for  without  eating. 

"He  was  much  amused  at  the  custom  among  the  Germans,  cf 
men  kissing  each  other  at  meeting  or  parting.  Pastor  Stier,  author  of 
'The  AVords  of  Jesus,'  and  other  works  on  the  New  Testament,  called 
on  Tholuck  while  we  were  visiting  him.  They  embraced  each  other, 
putting  their  hands  around  each  other's  necks,  looking  each  other 
silently  in  the  face,  then  kissing  one  cheek,  and  after  a  long  pause  kissing 
the  other,  till  at  length  the  good  pastor  broke  out  '  Herr  Je^us!  how 
long  it  is  since  I  have  seen  you!'  Tholuck  admitted  to  us  that  such 
exclamations,  common  among  Christians  in  Germany,  are  irreverent  and 
therefore  objectionable,  altliough  Luther  apologizes  for  thera.  Profes- 
sor Alexander  told  me  afterwards  of  an  amusing  scene  between 
Professor  Hahn,  editor  of  the  Greek  Testament,  then  visiting  at  Leip- 

sic,  and  Professors  E.  Robinson  and ,  who  had  been  studying  under 

Gesenius,  Tholuck  and  others  at  Halle.      Dr.  Robinson  was  somewhat 

cold   and  phlegmatic   in   his   temperament;  Dr. (both  of  them 

young  then,  and  neither  of  them  doctors,)  was,  as  Gesenius  said  of  him, 
'  as  affectionate  as  a  woman.'  When  the  two  Americans  were  about 
to  part  in  Hahn,  he  accompanied  them  to  the  Post-house ;  but  while  he 

was  hugging  and  kissing  the professor,  the  sturdy  New  Eng- 

lander  made  off  with  himself  to  escape  from  the  operation.  I  do  not 
know  how  much  my  friend's  humorous  propensity  led  him  to  add  to 
the  original  picture.  His  stories  are  always  good,  but  had,  I  think,  a 
little  of  himself  in  them — at  least  in  their  colouring.  They  were  told 
for  amusement. 

"  He  Avas  a  great  favourite  of  Tholuck's— more  so  than  any  other 
American  or  English  visitor.*  After  he  left  Halle  for  Berlin,  Tholuck 
often  spoke  to  me  of  him  in  terms  of  the  highest  eulogy  and  admira- 
tion. '  He  is  the  only  man,'  said  he,  '  who  could  alioays  give  me  the 
right   English  word  for  one  in  German,  apparently  untranslatable.' 

*  Professor  Thohick  has  written  a  note  to  the  editor  of  these  memoirs,  in 
which  he  expresses  himself  on  this  subject  in  terms  of  strong  regard  and 
warm  encomium 


324  ANECDOTE    OF    LOUIS    VON    GERLACH.  [1834 

Indeed  these  two  men  were  in  several  respects,  very  much  alike. 
Thej  were  both  fond  of  the  languages,  clas-ical,  ancient  and  modern, 
and  were  adepts  in  them,  being  able  to  speak  I  know  not  how  many  ot" 
tliem,  I  liave  heard  them  both  speak  at  least  tis.  Both  were  great 
readers,  and  remembered  everything  they  re.-.d.  The  studies  of  both 
had  a  wide  range,  especially  in  nil  that  related  to  any  one  of  the  de- 
partments of  theology.  "When  they  were  together,  conversation  did 
not  flag  for  want  of  topics. 

"But  after  all,  wliat  most  struck  me  in  my  daily  companion  and 
friend,  was  the  earnestness  with  wliich  he  gave  his  wliole  soul  to  the 
relif/ions  interests  of  society.  Everything  in  his  mind  centred  in  this 
subject.  Most  of  our  time  was  given  to  topics  connected  with  the 
bearing  of  Christianity  upon  human  society.  Never  did  I  with  any 
man  so  completely  go  over  the  whole  ground  of  all  the  bi'anched  (jf 
theology,  the  present  state  and  prospects  of  the  church  in  Europe  and 
America,  its  struggles  with  foes  and  false  friends,  and  the  work  yet  to 
be  acconi[)lished  by  Christian  scholars,  as  with  him.  The  books  which 
he  published  after  his  return  to  this  country,  are  the  best  commentary 
upon  the  state  of  his  mind  at  the  time  when  he  was  laying  in  hii  stores 
of  knowledge.  To  me  the  recollection  of  those  golden  days,  is  as 
pleasant,  inspiring,  and  elevating  as  it  is  fresh  and  diverting." 

Before  leaving  Halle,  Mr.  Alexander  or  one  of  tlie  other 
Americans  received  his  friends  at  a  little  entertainment,  at 
which  was  present  General  von  Gerlach.  While  they  were 
sitting  round  the  table,  a  grenadier  came  in  with  a  despatch 
for  the  General,  and  whether  overawed  or  not  at  the  sight  of 
the  company,  failed  to  give  the  customary  military  salute. 
The  Prussian  nobleman  forthwith  compelled  the  poor  soldier 
to  go  all  the  way  back  (two  miles)  and  return  in  proper  form. 
Mr,  Alexander  was  wont  to  relate  this  incident  with  lively 
pleasure,  both  as  showing  the  character  of  Louis  von  Gerlach 
and  as  a  sample  of  the  continental  punctilio. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  year  he  went  from  Halle  to  Ber- 
lin.    I  resume  the  extracts  from  his  journals. 

"  Sunday,  Jan.  5. — I  went  to  the  Domkirche  at  11,  and  heard  Strauss 
preach  on  the  gospel  of  the  day,  (Matt,  iii.)  to  a  large  and  fashionable 
audience.  In  the  afternoon  I  heard  Lisco  preach  on  the  same  subject 
to  a  house  full  of  common  people. 


^T.  24.]  KAIIL    RITTER    AND    HENGSTENBERG.  325 

"  Saturday,  Jan.  7.  I  attended  Hengstenberg's  Exegetical  Seminary. 
A  passage  in  Hosea  was  read  and  discussed  in  L:itin. 

"  Saturday,  Feb.  1,  1834.  Continued  Mark  and  Jeremiah.  At  noon, 
heard  Neander  lecture  on  the  monastic  orders.  At  0  o'clock,  heard 
Bopp  on  Sanscrit  grammar.  Bopp  had  four  hearers,  and  Neander  four 
h.,udred,  Ilengstenberg  held  no  seminary  to-night.  I  read  Maimon- 
ides  on  Forbidden  Food,  and  Michaelis's  Orientalische  Bibliolhek. 
Biesenthal  brought  rae  a  very  fine  copy  of  Hinckelmann's  Koran,  to 
look  at.     I  am  afraid  I  shall  buy  it. 

"  January  20. — I  began  to  read  Rabbinical  Hebrew  with  J.  II.  Bies- 
enthal. 

"February  4. — At  9  o'clock  I  went  to  the  university  and  heard 
Schleiermaclier  lecture  on  the  concluding  words  of  the  first  epistle  of  Pe- 
ter. He  explains  6  avTiSiKos  vfiav  BuipoXos,  of  humnn  slanderers, 
and  paniplirase^  the  latter  part  of  the  9th  ver-e,  thus:  'Knowing  that 
the  Jews  who  have  not  embraced  Christianity  suffer  as  much  as  you  do." 
Moreover,  lie  says  that  the  8th  verse  cannot  refer  to  demoniacal  posses- 
sions, beoausa  in  tliose,  instead  of  tlie  devil  devouring  men,  men  de- 
voured the  devil !  The  old  gentleman  is  very  fond  of  Lachmnnn's  New 
Testament,  and  quotes  its  readings  ahiiost  always  witli  approbation. 
At  10,  I  went  to  No.  10  and  heard  Hengstenberg  explain  the  34th 
Psalm.  This  he  thinks  was  composed  by  David,  at  a  later  period,  in 
recollection  of  his  escape  from  Gath.  Tlie  18t.h  verse  he  applies  to  the 
righteous,  not  to  those  mentioned  in  the  preceding  verses.  In  both 
cases  I  think  he  was  wrong. 

"  At  noun,  I  went  to  the  university  and  heard  Neander  on  1  Cor.  xv. 
48-54.     He  examined  and  rejected  Lachmann's  various  reading  in  the 

51st  verse,  viz.,  Trclirey  fxiv  KoiiJiTj'iSrjanfXi'ia,  ov  TTUire?  Se  aXXayrjoop-f^a. 

"  Wedncsilay,  Feb.  5.— From  8  to  9 1  heard  von  Gerlach  introduce  the 
Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.  He  lectures  this  winter  on  '  Introduction' 
only,  nnd  has  a  dozen  hearers.  His  manner  is  lively  and  agreeable.  I 
heard  Hengstenberg  on  the  35th  Ps.,  which  he  thinks  is  not  ^ro/ier^y 
Messianic.  Tholiick  says  that  H.  has  changed  his  mind  of  late  vvitli 
respect  to  the  double  sense,  and  now  admits  a  sort  of  qualified  du- 
plicity. In  the  afternoon,  Biesenthal  came  and  we  read  a  part  of 
M  limonides's  Letter  on  Astrology.  At  six  o'clock  I  went  to  the  uni- 
versity and  heard  Karl  Kitter  lecture  on  the  geograi)hy  of  Palestine. 
He  reads  five  themes  in  the  week  on  geography  in  general,  and  delivers 
ft  public  (i.  e.,  gratuitous)  lecture  every  "Wednesday  evening.  He  draws 
a  map  upon  the  blackboard  as  he  goes  along. 

"  Friday,  Feb.  Y.— I  read  the  22d  chapter  of  1  Samuel,  and  studied 


326  NEANDER   AND    SCIILEIERMACHER.  [1834. 

Aben  Ezra's  prefoce  to  the  Pentateuch.  After  dinner,  I  read  the  37th 
Ps;ilm,  and  tu.i^ged  away  at  Aben  Ezra.  At  5  o'clock,  I  paid  a  visit 
to  Professor  Ik-nstenberj;,  and  found  liim,  as  1  expected,  writing  and 
smoking.  Wo  talked  about  the  Christologie,  about  Hitzig,  Isaiah, 
Rosenraiiller,  Gesenius,  DeWetts,  Hartmann,  Tlioluck,  and  the  '  llal- 
lische  Angelegenheiten.'  He  says  that  he  has  an  article  from  Halle, 
for  the  Kirchcnzeitung,  which  will  make  as  much  noise  as  the  one  in 
1830.  It  is  to-day  in  the  hands  of  the  Censorship,  and  he  is  doubtful 
whether  they  will  let  it  pass.  If  not,  he  will  appeal  to  the  King.  On  a 
former  occasion,  Tholuck  thought  that  the  publication  of  Gerlach's  let- 
ter would  ruin  him  :  but  it  did  him  good.  All  that  is  good,  soys  H.,  in 
Eosenmiiller's  Scholia  on  the  Minor  Prophets,  is  taken  from  the  mar- 
gin of  Micliaelis's  Bible. 

"Feb.  12. — Biesenthal  and  I  read  the  preface  to  David  Kimchi's 
Michlol,  and  part  of  his  preface  to  the  Psalms.  He  also  showed  me 
some  remarkable  passages  in  the  Ohaldee  Paraphrases,  and  especially 
one  at  the  end  of  Ruth.  Moreover  he  told  me  that  if  I  ever  wished  to 
study  the  Chaldee  Paraphrases  critically,  I  must  have  the  na  shn  or 
0iXo^fVoi-,  published  at  Vienna  in  1830.  The  author  is  a  professor 
at  Padua.  At  five  o'clock  went  to  see  Von  Gerlach,  but  found  him  in 
the  entry  talking  to  Ilengstenberg.  He  promised  to  come  and  see  me 
to-morrow,  and  informed  me  that  Schleiermacher  died  to-day  of  an  in- 
flammation of  the  lungs.     He  had  been  ill  five  days. 

"  Thursday,  Feb.  13. — Finished  the  song  of  Moses  in  the  32d  chapter 
of  Deut.  Between  nine  and  ten  Mr.  von  Gerlach  came  to  see  me,  and  told 
me  that  Scheleirmacher  would  be  buried  on  Saturday.  He  a!so  stated 
that  four  men  were  spoken  of  as  his  successors ;  Nitzsch  of  Bonn, 
Twesten  of  Kiel,  Liicke  of  Gottingen,  and  Olshauscn  of  Kunigsberg. 
He  says  moreover  that  Ilengstenberg  lectures  on  the  New  Testament, 
in  consequence  of  an  injunction  from  ministry,  designed,  he  thinks,  to 
blast  his  influence.  We  then  talked  about  the  history  of  the  American 
churches,  and  he  proposed  that  I  should  collect  and  send  him  the  prin- 
cipal authorities  on  that  subject,  receiving  in  return  Germim  books  of 
equal  value. 

"Feb.  14.— I  read  the  42d  Ps.,  and  the  23d  chapter  of  1  Samuel  in 
Hebrew.  Then  I  continued  the  Michlol.  At  night  I  read  Kimchi, 
Michaelis,  and  Guericke;  Colossians  and  Acts.  Biesenthal  came  in  the 
evening  to  say  that  he  would  come  at  12  to-morrow,  as  he  wished  to 
attend  Schleicrraacher's  funeral  in  the  afternoon.  He  brought  a  note  to 
leave  if  he  found  me  not  at  home.  It  was  in  Hebrew,  and  I  have  put 
it  aAvay  among  my  autographs.     Ho  says  that  Ncander  cried  when  he 


^T.  24.]  VISITS    NEANDER.  327 

mentioned  ScLleiermaclier's  death  in  his  lecture,  and  tlie  students  cried 
too.  Neiinder  said,  '  May  it  be  allowed  to  him  at  the  feet  of  the  Lamb 
to  see  that  clearly,  Avhich  he  struggled  after  here.'  The  hist  words  of 
Schleiermacher's  last  lecture  were  'Morgen  wird  dies  klarer  seyn.'  S. 
is  said  to  liave  been  the  real  manufacturer  of 'Lachmann's  edition  of  the 
N.  T.  Lachmann  himself  lectures  on  Horace  and  on  the  history  of 
German  poetry. 

"Fob.  18. — Eead  Deut.  and  Psalms  in  Hebrew;  also  Kimchi  with 
Biesentiaftl.  At  night  I  went  to  see  Focke,  who  invited  me  when  I 
was  there  last  to  call  and  spend  the  evening  without  invitation.  Soon 
after  I  arrived  the  Dean  and  Deaness  of  the  Juridical  Faculty  arrived ; 
and  a  little  later  the  Dean  and  Deaness  and  Grand-Deaness  of  the  The- 
ological Faculty.  Then  came  the  Juslizrath's  brother  and  his  wife.  A 
good  deal  was  said  in  conversation  about  Schleierinacher.  They  say 
that  on  the  day  of  his  death  he  partook  of  the  communion  and  admin- 
istered it  to  his  family.  He  then  repeated  the  Apostles'  creed,  and 
added,  'In  this  faith  I  die.'  His  last  words  were  'Die  Barmherzig- 
keit  Gottes ! '  * 

"  Feb.  21. — At  half  past  four  I  went  according  to  appointment  to  see 
Dr.  Neander.  He  received  me  very  graciously  and  was  very  talkative. 
He  spoke  German  and  I  English,  at  his  own  suggestion.  Part  of  the 
time,  however,  both  spoke  English  and  both  German.  "We  discoursed 
about  America,  England  and  Germany.  He  admires  the  Christian  Ob- 
server very  much  and  asked  me  who  was  the  editor.  He  thinks  we 
ought  to  have  Universities  with  Tlieological  faculties  composed  of  re- 
presentatives from  the  different  sects.  He  laments  the  Einseiiigkeit 
and  Befangenheit  of  the  German  Christians,  and  snys  there  is  not  a 
religious  journal  conducted  in  a  Catholic  spirit.  "When  I  came  away 
he  took  a  memorandum  of  my  lodgings.  I  take  this  opportunity  to 
say  that  I  have  been  agreeably  disappointed  in  Neander.  When  I  first 
came,  Ayerst  told  me  there  was  no  use  in  going  to  see  him,  unless  I 
wished  merely  to  see  him,  for  he  would  stand  still  <ind  look  behind  the 
table  all  the  time.  And  Von  Gerlacli  informed  me  that  when  Mr. 
Luttworth,  of  Paris,  called  upon  Neander  he  did  not  speak  one  word. 
Another  case  of  the  same  kind  has  been  mentioned  since.  When  I 
first  went  to  his  house,  therefore,  I  expected  to  be  in  an  awkward  pre- 
dicnment,  as  I  am  the  last  man  in  the  world  to  hold  up  both  ends  of 
the  discourse.     I  now  record  it,  however,  as  a  fact,  that  Neander  re- 


*  A  few  lines  below  this  occurs  the  poetical  tribute  to  Rezeau  Brown. 


328  BOPP,    RIIEINWALD    AND    NITZSCH.  [1834. 

ceived  me  at  first  with  great  cordiality  and  talked  very  freely.  lie  has 
a  canary  bird  in  a  cage. 

"  Siinilay,  Feb.  23.— At  9  o'clock  I  went  to  the  French  church,  in 
the  Gens-d'armes  Market,  and  heard  M.  le  Pasteur  Henry,  the  biographer 
of  Calvin,  preach  on  the  necessity  of  Christ's  death.  Tl;ere  were 
very  few  present,  besides  a  number  of  children  from  the  charity  schools 
of  tha  '  French  Colony.'     Henry  looks  at  a  distance  like  Ilargons. 

"  February  25.— At  11  o'clock  I  went  with  Biesenthal  to  Professor 
Bopp's.  There  the  Brahmin  and  I  had  a  long  discourse  in  English,  about 
Sanscrit  ami  all  the  Indo-Germanio  tongues.  I  asked  him  questions 
about  English,  and  he  gave  me  a  great  deal  of  information.  He  was 
more  polite  an  1  pleasant  in  his  manners  than  any  man  whom  I  have 
seen  in  Germany.  Most  of  his  pupils  study  Sanscrit  on  account  of  its 
relations  to  clas<ical  philology;  and  he  expects  through  some  of  tliem 
a  great  change  in  the  aspect  of  Greek  and  Latin  grammar.  No  partic- 
ular grarimar  has  yet  appeared  preseoting  the  results  of  the  Indo-Ger- 
manic  researches.  Pott  will  probably  do  something  in  this  way.  Bopp 
spoke  very  highly  of  Pott's  recent  publication. 

"At  7  o'clock  I  went  to  Focke's.  He  asked  me  about  a  phrase  in 
Ivutherford's  Letters.  Soon  after  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ayerst  came,  and  then 
another  laly  whom  I  have  ssen  there  before.  The  conversation  was 
in  English.  We  sang  two  of  Watts's  hymns.  I  read  a  chapter  and  Ayerst 
prayed." 

On  March  the  3nl,  he  left  Berlin. 

"  March  6.— In  Gottingen  we  heard  Ewald  lecture  on  Biblical  His- 
tory. At  11  o'clock  I  went  to  see  Ewald  and  introduced  myself.  I 
shall  say  no  more  of  the  interview  at  present  than  that  I  was  delighted 
witli  the  tout  ensemble  of  the  mnn." 

On  the  Yth  he  left  Gottingen,  passing  through  Cassel,  Mar- 
bury,  Giessen,  Frankfort  on  the  Main,  Weisbaden,  Nassau, 
and  Coblentz,  and  on  the  11th  I  find  him  in  Bonn.  Here  he 
called  on  Prof.  Rheinu'ald,  to  whom  he  had  a  letter  from  Otto 
von  Gerlach.  On  the  11th,  Prof.  Rheinwald  took  him  to  see 
Prof.  Nitzsch,  and  tlien  to  the  house  of  Augusti. 

"  They  were  drinking  tea,  and  we  drank  tea,  after  which  the  fold- 
ing doors  were  opened  and  we  were  taken  in  to  supper.     It  was  near 


^T.24.]        REMIlSriSCENCES    BY    DR.    SAMUEL    MILLER.  329 

11  o'dock  when  we  got  away.     August!  was  very  funny.     At  parting 
he  kissed  me  !  " 

On  the  13th,  he  heard  Nitzsyh*  lecture  on  eschatologij,  the  last 
topic  of  dograatik— Anti-Christ,  the  man  of  sin,  and  Christ's 
second  appearing.  Afterward,  Rheinwald  directed  him  to 
the  works  of  Bleek  and  Sack,  and  gave  him  the  last  volume  of 
his  Repertory  to  take  to  Cousin  in  Paris,  with  a  letter. 

"  At  2  o'clock,  Rheinwald  came  np  to  my  room  and  asked  me  to 
walk.  Two  others  went  along,  a  Professor  in  the  Gymnasium  here, 
and  Simrock,  a  lecturer  on  the  old  German  poets.  "We  went  to  a  gar- 
den and  drank  some  cofFee." 

In  the  afternoon  he  was  taken  by  Rheinwald  to  Freytag's, 
where  he  took  tea  with  the  Professor,  his  wife  and  daughter. 

"He  showed  me  several  of  his  hooks,  and  talked  a  great  deal.  He 
asked  me  to  take  a  copy  of  his  Chrestomathy  to  Do  Sacy,  and  one  to 
Eenaud,  the  keeper  of  the  MSS.,  at  Paris ;  which  I  gladly  agreed  to  do." 

On  the  14th  of  March  he  left  Bonn,f  and  reached  Paris  on 
the  21st,  where  he  remained  in  company  of  Mr.  Patton  and 
other  friends,  visiting  interesting  points  until  April  14,  when 
he  left  for  Havre,  and  sailed  from  thence  in  the  ship  Poland 
for  New  York. 

Among  the  Americans  on  shipboard,  who  had  known  him 
also  in  France,  and  before,  was  Mr.  Samuel  Miller,  now  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Miller,  of  Mount  Holly,  N.  J. 

^r.  Miller  has  communicated  the  following  sketches  : 
"  Fi  om  my  earliest  recollection,  he  was  the  wonder  of  Prinreton  for 
his  linguistic  learning  on  the  one  hand,  and  his  semi-monastic  life  on 

*  "While  this  work  was  going  through  the  earlier  stages  of  preparation,  the 
Imposing  funeral  of  Nitzsch  was  occupying  the  attention  of  foreign  journalists. 
Ilengstenberg  died  while  these  pages  were  in  the  hands  of  the  printer. 

f  Where  he  saw  Cousin  and  De  Sacy.  The  last-nnmod  "  was  very  tall^afve, 
!ind  when  I  came  away  ran  through  half  a  dozen  rooms  to  bow  me  down- 
stairs." Mr.  Alexander  never  forgot  or  neglected  an  errand.  He  culls  the 
Garden  of  the  Luxembourg,  "  my  favourite  spot." 


330        PARIS    AND   PKINCETON   HABITS    CONTRASTED.       0834. 

the  other ;  and  it  seemed  to  bo  commonly  imagined  that  nothing  too 
wonderful  could  be  told  as  to  either  of  these  particulars. 

Thougli  for  almost  a  quarter  of  a  century  I  lived  in  Princeton,  and 
nearly  all  that  time  was  nominally  acquainted  with  Addison  Alexander, 
it  would  bardly  be  right  to  say  that  I  ever  had  an  intimate  acqualntaneo 
with  him.  I  was  a  few  years  younger  than  he,  and  that,  with  bis  re- 
cluse habits,  prevented  any  intimacy.  He  and  I,  in  fact,  had  seldom 
if  ever  exchanged  a  Avord,  beyond  a  ixassing  salutation,  until  I  met  him 
as  a  preceptor,  first  at  Professor  Patton's  Edgehill  School,  then  in  the 
College,  then  in  the  Theological  Seminary. 

At  Edgehill,  he  struck  me  particularly  as  a  very  acute  observer  of 
all  that  was  going  on  about  him.  It  was  difficult  to  elude  his  watch- 
fulness. Of  his  learning  I  could  form  no  competent  judgment,  but  took 
for  granted  that  it  was  prodigious,  as  I  had  always  heard  it  Avas.  Of 
my  college  acquaintance  with  him  I  have  little  definite  recollection  ;  a 
high  estimate,  formed  at  the  time,  of  his  scholastic  qualifications  as  an 
instructor,  chiefly  lingers  in  my  memory. 

Some  years  before  I  met  him  as  a  professor  in  the  Seminary,  it  had 
been  my  happiness— a  real  and  very  great  happiness— to  pass  about  a 
month  with  him  on  shipboard,  returning  from  Europe.  A  day  or  two 
prior  to  our  saihng,  in  the  spring  of  1834,  he  joined  the  party  of  which 
I  was  one,  in  Paris ;  where,  only  a  few  hours  before  our  departure,  I 
walked  with  him  early  in  the  morning  through  the  streets,  which  the 
previous  night  had  been  the  scene  of  a  popular  6meute,  and  were  still 
partially  obstructed  by  ruinous  barricades,  formed  chiefly  of  the  cubical 
paving  stones.  I  found  him  a  most  entertaining  and  instructive  guide, 
acquainted  with  everything  I  wanted  to  know,  and  quite  determined  to 
see  whatever  was  to  be  seen. 

The  previous  evening,  I  had  met  him  at  a  sociable  tea-drinking  at 
the  rooms  of  an  American  friend.  Two  or  three  ladies  were  of  the 
party.  Here  he  reversed  all  my  notions  formed  in  Princeton  of  his 
rigid  self-exclusion  from  society,  particularly  female  society,  by  proving 
remarkably  unembarrassed  and  affable,  in  fact  taking  the  lead  in  free, 
sprightly  conversation  with  all  around  him.  There  can  be  no  doubt, 
however,  that  his  Princeton  and  Paris  habits  in  this  respect  were  as 
far  apart  at  least  as  the  two  places. 

On  shipboard  we  had  a  month  of  something  like  intimacy.  Most 
of  the  gentlemen  were  foreigners,  or  had  wives  to  attend  to  ;  and  wo 
naturally  attended  somewhat  to  each  other.  We  laughed  ourselves 
through  a  preliminary  sea-sickness,  which  perhaps  served  to  get  us  to- 
gether the  more  happily;  and  I  found  the  association  most  entertaining 


^T.24.]      PARIS    AKD    PEINCETON    HABITS    CONTRASTED.      331 

and  profitable.  He  was  fall  of  information,  very  communicative,  won- 
derfully observant,  versatile,  and  humorous.  He  had,  I  think,  his  Ara- 
bic* books  with  him  ;  and  whiled  away  part  of  the  time  in  the  study 
of  them.  Now  and  then  he  would  extemporize  a  little  Latin,  having 
canght  the  infection  perhaps  from  Dr.  Samuel  H.  Cox,  whom  I,  and 
probably  he,  had  met  in  Europe  some  months  before.  A  more  inter- 
esting companion  I  could  not  well  have  found." 

*  One  of  his  smaller  diaries  has  a  third  of  its  space  taken  up  with  a  cata]ogue 
of  Chinese  keys.  It  contains  a  numbered  list  of  210  vocables  or  word-sigus 
There  are  also  several  consecutive  pages  of  Hebrew. 


332  KETURN   TO    PRINCETON.  [1334. 


CHAPTER   X. 

The  time  was  now  at  liand  for  the  absent  scholar  to  return, 
and  to  enter  on  tlie  most  important  business  of  his  life.  There 
was  lively  expectation  iu  the  little  borough  of  Princeton,  when 
it  was  known  that  one  so  well  fitted  by  nature  and  grace,  and 
who  had  made  such  unusual  and  extensive  pi-eparations  to  give 
new  fame  to  the  place  of  his  adoption,  was  coming  home  re- 
freshed by  foreign  travel  and  laden  with  the  honeyed  spoils 
of  European  learning,  Ilis  lather's  family  awaited  the  event 
with  the  keenest  and  most  pleasurable  emotions,  and  stood 
ready  to  welcome  the  wanderer  with  the  warmest  salutations 
of  affection. 

At  the  time  anticipated,  the  happy  voyager  set  his  foot 
once  more  upon  his  father's  threshold,  the  pictureof  health  and 
delighted  animation.  While  abroad  he  had  been  invited  to 
accept  the  chair  of  Adjunct  Professor  of  Oriental  Literature 
in  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Princeton.  I  liave  the  au- 
thority of  President  Maclean,  for  saying  that  "  The  Trustees 
and  Faculty  of  the  College  would  most  gladly  have  done  any- 
thing m  their  power  to  secure  his  services  )jern:ancntly :  yet 
no  one  questioned  the  propriety  of  his  decision  in  this  matter, 
as  all  knew  that  his  studies  and  his  tastes  rendered  him  in  an 
eminent  degree  a  suitable  person  to  be  engaged  in  the  direct 
work  of  preparing  young  men  for  the  duties  of  the  holy  min- 
istry." 

As  to  Mr.  Alexander  himself,  he  does  not  seem  to  have 
hesitated  for  a  moment  in  deciding  in  his  own  mind  where 
the  path  of  duty  lay.  He  was  not  slow  to  see  and  feel 
that  his  liie's  woik, ibr  which  he  had  been  undergoing  so  won- 
derful  a   preparation,  was   to   be   at   the   Tiieological   Sera- 


iET.25.]  THE    NEW    PROFESSOR.  333 

inary.  It  is  undeniable  that  he  vras  passionately  fond  of 
change  ;  but  he  was  also  passionately  fojid  of  science  and  lit- 
erature ;  a  devotee  to  books  and  study ;  and  the  shadow  of  a 
great  institution  of  learning  was  enough  to  keep  him  fixed  in 
his  place.  He  remained  a  teacher  in  the  Theological  Seminary, 
though  he  was  not  without  alluring  invitations  to  go  else- 
where, Irom  this  time  until  the  day  of  his  death,  a  period  em- 
bracing nearly  twenty -five  years.  He  had  given  himself  to 
his  Saviour,  and  he  believed  it  to  be  the  will  of  God  as  plainly 
indicated  by  the  suggestions  of  Providence,  that  he  should 
avail  himself  continuously  of  the  best  means  of  mental  improve- 
ment which  were  at  his  disposal,  with  a  single  eye  to  thor- 
ough preparation  for  the  task  to  Avhich  he  felt  himself  to  be 
called,  viz.  the  exhaustive  study  and  careful  exposition  of  the 
sacred  volume.  To  this  grand  end  he  now  cheerfully  bent  all 
his  faculties,  and  sacrificed  some  of  his  dearest  inclinations. 

He  was  strangely  constituted.  Much  as  he  longed  for  va- 
riety, he  Avas  commonly  contented  to  look  for  it  in  the  perpet- 
ual re-distribution  of  his  books,  and  the  incessant  re-arrange- 
ment of  the  furniture  of  his  room.  If  this  endless  shifting  of 
the  scenery  within  his  own  study,  did  not  suftice  to  please  him, 
he  would  change  his  study  by  removing  to  some  other  apart- 
ment; and  so  on  adlihihim.  This  was  the  case  at  least,  in  Avin- 
ter.  It  was  hard  for  him  to  stay  at  home  during  the  summer 
months.  The  long  summer  vacation  which  was  now  afforded 
him,  was  therefore  the  very  thing  to  meet  and  satisfy  his  desire 
for  travel  and  a  totally  different  set  of  studies. 

Mr.  Alexander  returned  from  Europe  in  May,  and  soon 
after  entered  upon  the  discharge  of  his  duties  in  the  Seminary, 
as  the  assistant  of  Di\  Hodge,  in  the  department  of  Oriental 
Iiiterature.  His  youth,  robust  health,  ])owerful  head,  and  his 
pleasing  and  at  the  same  time  commanding  face,  his  quick  mo- 
tions his  mastery  of  the  art  of  spsech  as  well  as  silence,  his 
precocious  reputation  for  scholarship  as  well  as  for  native  abili- 
ty, his  rigid  seclusion,  his  stern  exacting  discipline,  and  the 
contact  ot  his  fiery  genius,  from  the  Srst  made  a  pi-ofound  impres- 
sion.    The  young  men  were  fascinated.     The  new  pi'ofessor 


334  SEVERITY   IN    THE    CLASS-ROOM.  [1834. 

saw  this  at  once  and  took  advantage  of  it  to  carry  out  certain 
plans  of  his  own  which  till  then  were  novel  in  the  recitation 
rooms  at  Princeton.  Of  course  he  immediately  took  the  reins  in 
his  own  hands,  and,  though  he  did  not  always  ply  the  whip  as 
he  did  at  first,  he  never  suftcred  them  to  slip  from  his  fingers. 
It  is  true  there  vrcre  cases  of  insubordination  ;  but  with  great 
force  of  character  and  with  much  play  of  satirical  wit,  as  well 
as  by  a  candid  acknowledgment  of  error  when  he  was  at  fault, 
he  succeeded  in  putting  down  every  emeute  and  making  fast 
friends  of  some  who  threatened  to  be  deadly  foes. 

The  question  has  sometimes  been  raised,  was  Mr.  Alexan- 
der's severe  and  unforbearing  reproofs  and  sarcasms  in  the 
lecture-roora  consistent  with  the  idea  that  he  had  a  warm  heart 
and  a  tone  of  humble  piety  ?  I  desire  earnestly  to  give  the 
simple  truth  about  this  whole  matter.  If  Mr.  Alexander  was 
cold,  hard,  cruel,  truculent,  and  little  under  the  habitual  power 
of  religion,  as  some  seem  to  have  supposed,  the  fact  must  have 
been  known  to  the  young  men  with  whom  he  mingled  daily, 
and  to  his  colleagues  in  the  Seminary.  We  shall  find  them 
taking  a  very  different  view  of  the  case.  Whatever  may  have 
been  the  promptings  of  his  natural  inclination,  and  I  think  it 
has  been  shown  that  his  disposition  was  frank,  simple  and  gen- 
erous, he  was  a  shining  instance  of  the  power  of  divine  mercy. 
This  has  led  Dr.  Hodge  to  say  : 

"  His  religions  character  was  very  marker!.  He  had  as  much  of  the 
humility  and  docility  of  a  cliild  under  the  teachings  of  the  Word  and 
spirit  of  God,  as  any  man  I  have  ever  known.  He  seemed  to  have  r.o 
diflBculty  in  helieving.  Everything  that  he  found  taught  io  the  scrip- 
tures he  accepted  without  hesitation  ;  and  every  portion  of  the  re- 
ceived canon  was  to  him  jjart  of  the  word  of  God.  The  strength  and 
simplif ity  of  his  faith  are  so  clearly  impressed  on  all  his  commenfaiies 
and  other  writings,  that  they  cannot  escipo  the  notice  of  any  of  his 
readers.  He  was  conscientious,  faithful,  and  punctual  in  the  di^charge 
of  all  his  duties.  He  was  never  ahsent  from  the  lecture-room  or  pul- 
pit when  called  to  he  present,  unless  absolutely  unable  to  attend.  All 
his  students  were  impressed  by  the  tenderness  of  his  conscience.  If 
any  manifestation  of  impatience  escaped  him  in  the  recitation  room, 


^T.  25.]  GROWTH    IN    GENTLENESS.  335 

they  "were  sure  that  the  next  prayer  he  made  in  their  presence  •would 
show  tiiat  he  sought  forgiveness  of  sucli  hipses  fiom  his  Father  in 
Ileaven." 

Surely  even  in  his  natural  disposition  he  was  generous  and 
amiable.  One  of  his  friends  and  colleagues*  is  satisfied  that 
as  a  teacher  he  was  not  easily  and  well  understood.  The 
massive  intellect,  rich  learning,  and  rhetorical  power,  could  he 
always  appreciated.  But  the  rapid  process,  and  apparent 
impatience  of  his  manner,  sometimes  oppressed  and  discour- 
aged the  student.  Often,  he  says,  his  quick  and  curt  correction 
mortiiied  the  stranger,  and  sometimes  left  irritated  feelings. 

"It  was  only  towards  the  end  of  the  course,  when  his  mind  and 
h&art  had  been  measured  out  more  fully,  and  some  radiation  of  kind- 
ness had  been  sure  to  reach  every  one  who  was  worthy,  that  many 
could  attain  to  the  just  admiration  and  love  with  which  his  later  pu- 
pils regarded  him.  Then  it  was  solid.  No  patronizing  air  had  won 
it ;  no  flattery  of  se'.f-love  in  the  learner ;  but  power,  learning,  elo- 
quence, heart,  and  simple  piety." 

But  even  at  the  beginning,  I  may  add  to  the  words  of  this 
skilful  judge  of  character,  he  was  always  comprehended  by 
some,  who  united  with  fair  talents  and  diligence  in  study  a 
little  boldness,  an  unsuspecting  confidence  in  their  superiors,  a 
discerning  generosity  and  sympathy,  and  a  manner  as  far  re- 
moved fi-ora  obsequiousness  on  the  one  hand,  as  intrusive  pre- 
sumption on  the  other. 

It  will  not  fail  to  be  noticed  as  we  go  on,  that  the  men  ot 
the  later  classes  were  in  the  habit  of  repeating  and  exagger- 
ating stories  that  had  come  down  to  them  like  ancient  myths 
or  legends  from  students  of  the  earlier  periods  of  Mr.  Alex- 
ander's professorship,  all  of  which  went  to  show  that  the  ath- 
letic and  fiery  Hebraist  was  terrible  and  even  cruel  to  those 
who  were  so  unfortunate  as  to  attract  his  anger  and  thus  bring 
down  on  themselves  his  witty  repartee.     I  Lave  been  at  nc 

*  The  Rev.  Alexander  T.  McGllI,  D.  D.  Dr.  McGill  became  associated  with 
him  Ions  afterwards. 


336  DR.    LYONS    RECOLLECTIONS.  0834. 

little  pains  to  sift  these  stones  to  the  bottom,  and  have  cm- 
bodied  the  results  ox  my  investigations  in  various  forms,  such 
as  extracts  from  students'  letters,  descriptive  sketches  and 
anecdotes,  running  comments,  and  the  like,  which  will  be  given 
to  the  reader  in  due  order.  The  amount  of  what  truth  I  have 
arrived  at  in  the  premises  is  this :  Mr.  Alexander  made  his 
first  classes  in  Hebrew  work  like  Trojans ;  and  was  often  out  of 
patience  with  gross  negligence,  vanity,  or  dulness,  and  some- 
times treated  the  offenders  without  measure  or  mercy.  But 
he  was  very  peaceable  after  all  was  over ;  and  gradually  he  be- 
came more  and  more  tolerant  and  gentle,  until  towards  the 
last,  his  steady  meekness  was  more  noticeable  than  the  occa- 
sional flashes  of  his  first  or  mistaken  resentment.  His  detect- 
ed errors  he  was  always  ready  to  acknowledge  and  repair.  I 
now  call  attention  to  the  words  of  one  of  his  earliest  pupils. 
Dr.  James  A.  Lyon  of  Columbus,  Mississippi,  was  a  student  at 
Princeton  Seminary  from  1832  to  1836,  and  thus  spent  some 
two  or  three  years  under  the  tuition  of  Mr.  Alexander.  He 
well  recollects  his  first  appearance  in  the  lecture-room. 

"  lie  glided  noiselessly  and  suddenly  into  the  lecture  room,  and  in 
a  moment  was  at  his  chair,  not  in  it ;  for  he  rarely  took  hia  seat  hefore 
he  commenced  with  a  very  short  prayer,  rapidly  uttered,  and  hefore 
the  class  had  all  adjusted  themselves  in  their  seats,  he  had  called  on 
some  student  to  begin  the  recitation.  With  a  glance  of  the  eye,  quick 
as  a  twinkle,  he  seemed  to  comprehend  the  situation,  and  detected  in- 
stantly who  were  present  and  who  were  absent.  The  recitations  were  in- 
variably short,  not  exceeding  three  quarters  of  an  hour.  At  the  close 
of  the  recitation  he  darted  out  of  the  room,  as  his  place  was  near  the 
door,  and  gave  no  opportunity  for  parley  with  the  students." 

In  Dr.  Lyon's  opinion,  which  it  is  but  fair  to  state,  he  was 
not,  in  a  social  point  of  view,  very  accessible,  especially  if  the 
visiting  student  manifested  the  slightest  symptom  of  being  too 
familiar,  or  of  deviating  from  the  exact  subject  of  inquiry. 

"He  took  a  most  unmistakable  method  of  making  a  student  of  this 
kind  feel,  after  he  had  answered  his  questions,  or  given  the  explanations 
nought  for,  that  his  absence  would  be  very  pleasant.     This  he  did  by 


.Et.25.]  manners   in    his    study.  337 

remaining  silent  witli  Lis  eyes  fixed  on  tlic  floor,  at  the  same  time  play- 
ing -tvitli  Iiis  fingers  on  his  chair,  or  engaging  in  a  loud  whistle.  If 
this  did  not  speedily  produce  its  desired  eflfect,  he  would  deliherately 
turn  to  his  tahle  and  resume  his  studies." 

Consequently,  when  the  same  writer  visited  him  in  his 
study,  which  he  sometimes  did,  as  he  was  a  member  of  two  or 
three  of  the  professor's  private  and  special  classes  in  the  study  of 
Arabic,  Cbaldee,  and  the  peculiar  terminology  of  the  Levitical 
ceremonial  law,  he  rarely  took  his  seat  before  he  began  his 
business  ;  never  asked  a  question  which  he  did  not  regard  as 
essential  to  the  point ;  and  the  moment  his  business  was  ac- 
complished, left  the  room.  The  result  was  that  he  was  re- 
ceived without  any  very  visible  signs  that  he  was  unwelcome. 
Occasionally  when  he  rose  to  leave,  the  professor  would  re- 
quest him  to  sit  longer;  which,  however,  he  but  seldord  did. 
"  I  dreaded  "  he  says,  "  his  finger-beat  upon  his  chair,  or  his 
loud  whistle,  which  was  anything  but  music  to  my  ear."  This 
fear  of  him  which  so  many  had  was  unquestionably  the  source 
of  much  of  the  teacher's  embarrassed  restlessness. 

Dr.  Lyon  was  impressed  with  his  exceeding  avidity  for 
study  and  work.  Not  satisfied  with  the  ordinary  daily  recita- 
tions in  the  lecture  room,  Mr.  Alexander  proposed  to  such  of 
the  class  as  were  so  inclined,  to  form  private  classes  with 
him  in  Arabic,  Syriac,  Chaldee,  and  other  departments  of  orien- 
tal learning.  At  first,  several  students  availed  themselves  of 
this  opportunity  of  enlarging  their  fields  of  study.  But  most 
of  them  soon  fell  off,  until  at  length  the  private  class  was  re- 
duced to  three,  Melancthon  W.  Jacobus,  Joseph  Owen,  now 
a  learned  missionary  in  India,  and  Mi*.  Lyon  himself 

"These  private  classes,"  says  Dr.  Lyon,  "seemed  to  be  formed  as 
much  for  his  own  employment  and  improvement  as  for  ours.  He  ap- 
peared restless  and  unhappy  unless  he  had  as  much  work  as  he  could 
do.  lie  was  so  thorough  in  everything  he  studied,  that  he  needed  not 
to  review,  and  therefore  seemed  to  have  an  aversion  to  travelling  over 
the  same  ground  twice.  To  him  nothing  was  so  tedious  as  '  a  twice-told 
tale.'  Hence  he  was  constantly  changing  the  field  of  study ;  and  to 
some  who  were  incapable  of  appreciating  the  magnificence  of  his  mon- 
15 


338  POWEE   OF   SARCASM.  [1834 

tal  powers,  and  the  necessity  there  -sN-as  for  constant  mental  excitement 
he  seemed  Jiclde.'''' 

This  impression  was  very  general  at  all  times,  but  as  Dr. 
McGill,  Professor  Hepburn,  and  others  will  abundantly  show, 
was  not  altogether  just.  He  had  not  yet  mellowed  down  into 
the  tractable  and  sympathising  teacher  he  afterwards  became. 

"  He  was  not  considered  amiable  during  the  first  years  of  his  ser- 
vice in  the  Seminary,  but  on  the  contrary  rather  severe  and  unforbear- 
ing.  The  students  were  afraid  of  him.  How  he  became  afterwards  I 
am  not  able  to  say.  Doubtless,  however,  he  became  more  patient  as 
he  grew  older.  He  was  sometimes  fearfully  sarcastic,  having  no  tol- 
erance for  the  proud,  impertinent,  or  self-conceited,  whom  indeed,  he 
did  not  hesitate  to  cut  in  twain  with  a  word,  or  a  look,  or  a  sneer." 

Mr.  Alexander  was  a  terror  to  the  idle,  and  often  took 
pleasure  in  making  such  expose  their  own  ignorance  and  re- 
veal their  own  lazy  devices. 

"I  recollect  that  on  a  certain  occasion  one  of  the  idlers  was  called 
on  to  recite  in  Hebrew.  As  a  substitute  for  studying  the  lesson  word 
for  Avord,  so  as  to  be  able  to  give  a  correct  translation,  he  simply  mem- 
orized the  English  version.  It  so  happened  that  he  was  called  to  read, 
when  within  three  verses  of  the  end  of  the  chapter.  He  read  one 
verse  of  the  Hebrew,  but  instead  of  giving  the  rendering  of  the  verse 
read,  he  gave  that  of  the  succeeding  verse.  The  professor  said  nothing, 
but  with  a  cruel  smile  on  his  face  exclaimed,  'read  the  next  verse' — 
which  he  did,  still  travelling  ahead ;  '  now,'  said  lie,  blandly,  '  read  the 
last !  '  The  poor  fellow  read  the  Hebrew,  but  looked  up  in  utter  dismay 
:  midst  the  roars  of  the  class,  at  his  humiliating  and  ridiculous  exposure." 

If  we  now  turn  to  the  outer  world,  we  shall  find  there  was 
not  much  change  in  the  situation  of  things  in  the  village. 
Professor  James  Alexander  was  still  occupied  at  the  college. 
Every  fortnight  a  literary  club  met  in  Princeton.  On  alternate 
weeks  there  was  a  sederunt  of  a  strictly  clerical  association. 
The  members  of  the  literary  club  at  this  time  were  Drs.  Alex- 
ander, Miller,  Carnahan,  Ifowell,  Maclean  and  Rice ;  Professors 


^T.  25.]  LITERARY    RECREATIONS.  339 

Dod,  Henry,*  Jaeger  and  Alexander;  and  Tutors  Stephen 
Alexander,!  Hart,t  and  Wilson.  These  were  delightful  reunions 
The  older  brother  of  the  two  Alexanders  especially  enjoyed 
them,  but  the  younger  was  not  indiflerent  to  their  attractions. 
They  were,  strictly  speaking,  literary  soirees,  and  were  the 
means  of  putting  in  circulation  a  good  deal  of  scientific  and 
other  useful  knowledge.  It  was  evidently  this  association 
with  the  savans  of  the  college,  that  set  Mr.  Alexander  about 
the  perusal  of  such  popular  works  as  Herschel  and  Mudie. 
This  is  almost  the  last  we  shall  bear  of  the  exact  sciences. 
He  never  pursued  these  studies  far,  but  I  am  certain  that  they 
entertained  him.  The  reading  of  Oriental  books  was  still  a 
great  hobby  with  him.  Hebrew  Avas  his  atmosphere  and  his 
sunshine.  It  coloured  him,  as  the  leaf  colours  the  silkworm. 
The  Pentateuch  and  the  Psalms,  and  Biblical  archajology  and 
antiquities,  were  his  principal  subjects  in  the  Seminary,  In 
the  afternoon  or  evening,  when  his  eyes  began  to  grow  a  little 
heavy  over  Kimchi  and  Michaelis,  he  had  many  a  lively  chat 
with  one  of  the  old  Romans,  or  Avith  quaint,  comical  Thomas 
Fuller,  or  Spottiswode,  or  Chrysostom,  or  Jerome,  or  the  mar- 
vellous romancers  of  the  Thousand  and  one  Nights. 

Other  and  more  informal  gatherings  offered  their  attractions 
to  those  who  liked  them.  There  was,  of  course,  much  to  draAV 
strangers  to  the  fountains  of  learning  at  and  near  the  college. 
On  Sunday,  August  the  9th,  the  delegates  from  the  Congre- 
gational Union  of  England  visited  Princeton,  and  doubtless 
visited  Dr.  Alexander,  and  could  not  fail  to  excite  the  interest 
of  his  son  Addison,  though  it  is  more  than  probable  that  he 
sought  no  introduction  to  them.  The  foreign  gentlemen  were 
Mr.  Andrew  Reed,  minister  of  Wicklifte  chapel.  Hackney, 
London,  and  Mr.  James  Matheson,  of  Durham,  another  dissent- 

*  Josspu  Henry,  LL.  D.,  of  the  Smithsonian  Institution. 

f  The  present  distinguished  .istronomer  of  that  name — not  related  to  the 
tuhjoct  of  these  memoirs. 

:j;  John  S.  Hart,  LL.  D.,  now  principal  of  the  State  Normal  School  situated 
ill  Trenton,  N.  J.  See  Forty  Years'  Fam.  Letters  for  further  particulars  iu 
reffard  to  this  club. 


340  KNOWLEDGE    OF   EUROrEAN    POLITICS.  [1834. 

ing  minister.  Mr.  Rccd  Mas  known  as  the  author  of  a  Avork 
entitled  "  No  Fiction."  Mr.  Matheson  v/as  the  son  of  Greville 
Ewing,  and  was  said  to  be  a  leader  in  Reform.  It  might  be 
supposed  that  JNIr.  Alexander  missed  no  chance  of  seeing  such 
people  and  increasing  his  stock  of  ideas,  which  had  just  been 
enlarged  so  much  by  personal  observation,  as  to  the  manners, 
events,  and  general  state  of  tilings  abroad.  His  habit  in  this 
respect,  however,  was  somewhat  singular  ;  he  kept  his  room, 
and  saw  only  those  who  called;  but  he  did  not  fail  to  inibrni 
himself.  His  acquaintance  with  the  contents  of  the  German 
periodicals,  with  the  state  of  English  parties,  and  with  the 
genealogy  of  the  crowned  heads,  to  say  nothing  of  the  mar- 
graves, electors, archdukes,  count  palatines,  and  other  titled  no- 
bility of  Europe,  exceeded  anything  I  ever  met  with.  He  seemed 
to  know  these  little  minutia  connected  with  high  life  beyond 
the  Atlantic  exactly  as  a  first-form  boy  at  Eton  is  expected  to 
know  his  quantity.  It  was  just  the  thing  that  suited  him,  to 
wind  in  and  out  through  the  whole  length  of  a  tangled  histori- 
cal succession,  Avhere  the  name  of  a  given  personage  is  often 
changed  and  concealed  by  the  acquisition  of  his  coronet,  and 
to  be  able  to  tell  you  who  was  who.  No  one  knew,  or  surmised, 
better  than  lie  did,  who  at  any  given  moment  was  the  Lord 
Chancellor  of  England,  who  the  Lord  Chief  Justice,  who  the 
Lord  Chief  Baron,  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer,  &c.  &c. 
carrying  the  thing  down,  in  some  cases,  to  lists  of  ordinaiy 
knights  and  baronets,  and  their  seats,  and  even  untitled  mem- 
bers of  parliament. 

Let  us  now  turn  once  more  to  the  Journal.  In  the  absence 
of  Dr.  Hodge,  Mr.  Alexander  now  had  the  third  class  almost 
wholly  to  himself.  He  taught  them  Hebrew  and  archseology. 
They  read  the  Psalms,  which  he  studied  himself  very  carefully 
in  private,  comparing  the  text  with  the  different  versions  and 
commentators.  He  amused  himself  reading  the  Thousand  and 
one  Nights  in  Arabic,  and  learning  Ethioj)ic  grammar.  He 
also  wrote  a  little  daily  for  the  Repertory.  Early  in  July  he 
finished  a  massive  article  on  the  Antiquity  of  the  Pentateuch, 
founded  upon  one  by  Hengstenberg.     This  should  be  read  as 


Mt.  25.]  TPIE    LITERARY  ASSOCIATION.  341 

fin  elaborate  introduction  to  his  work  on  the  Psahns.  He  was 
Dusy,  during  the  same  month,  at  a  review  of  the  Life  of  Roger 
"vYilliams  by  Professor  Knowks.  "History,"  he  writes,  July 
25,  "  is  still  my  amusement."  He  continued  to  be  employed 
pretty  much  in  this  way  throughout  the  summer.  On  Mon- 
days, Tuesdays,  Thursdays  and  Fridays,  he  heard  the  Third 
class  in  the  seminary  recite  each  day — in  the  morning  on  He- 
brew, in  the  afternoon  on  Biblical  antiquities.  In  Hebrew 
they  were  at  this  time  reading  the  Prophetical  Psalms.  On 
Wednesdays  and  Saturdays  he  had  no  recitations.  On  the 
sixth  of  August  he  records  : 

"This  afternoon  I  took  up  Cicero's  "Works,  and  read  the  introduc- 
tory oration  against  Verres  with  a  great  deal  of  pleasure.  I  derive 
more  satisfaction  from  the  classics  than  when  I  had  to  teach  them, 
then  it  was  a  task,  now  I  feel  it  to  be  a  pleasure.  I  was  particularly 
interested  with  the  allusions  to  the  politics  of  Kome — electioneering, 
canva?sing,  intrigue,  &e.,  &c.     How  much  human  nature  is  like  itself!" 

That  evening  the  Literary  Association  met  in  Dr.  Alexan- 
der's parlour ;  it  is  thus  described  by  the  junior  professor : 

"It  is  composed  of  the  faculties  of  the  college  and  seminary,  with 
some  other  literary  characters,  and  is  held  at  the  houses  of  the  members 
in  succession.  Some  subject  is  proposed  at  the  meetings  for  conversa- 
tion, and  occasionally  papers  are  read.  At  this  meeting  Prof.  Henry 
gave  a  verbal  account  of  a  magnetic  needle  which  he  had  invented  for 
the  purpose  of  determining  the  variation.  After  this  there  was  a  free 
conversation  on  the  subject  of  lightning-rods ;  and  it  was  agreed  that 
Professor  Henry  should  furnish  something  in  writing  on  the  subject  at 
the  next  meeting.  The  other  gentlemen  present  were  Professors  Tcirrey, 
Maclean,  Dod,  Alexander  and  Jceger,  of  the  college ;  Professors  Alexan- 
der and  Miller,  of  the  seminary;  Tutors  Hart,  Alexander  and  Wilson, 
cif  IS'assau  Hall,  and  Principal  Wines,  of  Edgehill." 

The  Journal  is  resumed : 

"August  Tth. — I  am  reading  Genesis  in  Hebrew,  with  Bush's  notes, 
for  the  purpose  of  fixing  my  attention.  I  am  also  reading  Jay's  Closet 
Exercisea,  morning  and  evening,  with  much  delight." 


'■^42  REPERTORY    ARTICLES. 


n834. 


The  day  previous  he  finished  the  revision  of  his  article  on 
Roger  Williams.  It  was  now  ready  for  the  press.  The  July 
number  of  the  Repertory,  Avhich  had  just  appeared,  contained 
two  articles  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Alexander  :  one  on  German 
New  Light,  another  on  the  Life  of  Rowland  Hill,'  The  former 
is  learned  and  satirical,  and  the  latter  is  in  his  happiest  and 
sweetest  vein,  and  might  easily  deceive  most  of  the  admirers 
of  his  brother.  A  third,  on  the  Antiquity  of  the  Art  of  Writing 
was  already  in  the  printer's  hands  for  the  October  number,  and 
on  this  seventh  day  of  August  he  began  an  article  on  Guerieke's 
Manual  of  Church  History. 

"My  method,"  he  saj's,  "is  to  write,  tetween  twelve  o'clock  and 
dinner,  seldom  more  than  one  hour — often  less.  In  this  way  I  do  not 
feel  the  labour,  and  keep  something  ;d\vays  ready.  I  am  now  ahead  of 
the  press,  and  if  otiiers  do  their  part  I  shall  not  be  hurried  and  dunned 
for  my  contributions." 

lie  the  same  day  lectured  extempore  on  the  twenty-second 
Psalm.  These  oral  and  unwritten  discussions  were  among  his 
most  ingenious  and  masterly  efforts.  They  were  the  fi-ee  out- 
pourings of  a  mind  that  was  always  full  to  the  brim. 

He  had  been  reading  Ethiopic  grammar  this  summer,  giving 
a  few  spare  moments  to  it  every  day.  He  finished  Otho's  Com- 
pend  on  the  9th  of  August,  and  immediately  framed  a  pui-pose 
to  attempt  the  Psalms  in  Walton's  Polyglot.  He  read,  the 
same  day,  some  chapters  on  Ilerschcl's  Discourse  on  Natural 
Philosophy,  Avith  the  liveliest  satisfaction.  I  find  the  following 
record  for 

"August  20.— Tinished  Herschers  Discourse  on  the  Study  of  Xatural 
Philosophy,  from  which  I  have  derived  much  satisfaction.  Many  tilings 
that  were  once  vague  to  me,  arc  now  distinct.  I  have  derived  a  tole- 
rably clear  idea  of  the  inductive  method;  have  met  with  valuable  hints 
as  to  the  means  of  acquiring  knowledge,  and  above  all,  have  experienced 
an  ngreeable  and  salutary  excitement.  I  have  read  the  book  chietly 
in  the  afternoon,  when  iny  regular  studies  were  concluded.  The  same 
time  I  shall  no\^  devote  to  Miidie's  Popular  Guide  to  the  Observation 
of  Nature,  which  I  began  to-day.     My  other  studies  proceed  as  usual." 


^T.25.]  EVENING    DIVERSIONS.  343 

It  was  commonly  supposed  that  Mr.  Alexander  had  not 
even  the  elementary  knowledge  in  the  natural  sciences.  The 
readier  is  now  aware  that  this  was  an  error.  During  the  sum- 
mer he  had  read  a  selection  of  the  Psalms  in  Hebrew  with  the 
Third  class.  In  private  he  had  studied  Sansciit  and  Ethiopia 
grammar.  In  the  evenings  he  had  been  reading  history,  and 
about  the  end  of  the  summer  had  finished  Fuller's  Church  His- 
tory of  Britain.  He  had  then  taken  up  Spottiswode's  History 
of  the  Church  of  Scotland,  and  read  about  one  half  of  it  very 
closely.  Finding,  however,  that  a  large  proportion  of  the 
work  was  occupied  with  matters  of  mere  civil  interest,  he  had 
confined  himself  thenceforth  to  the  part  which  was  purely 
ecclesiastical.  In  this  way  he  read  the  remainder  of  the  work, 
and  reached  the  end  of  it  about  the  first  of  November.  This 
is  an  exact  resume  of  bis  literary  occupations  for  the  season, 
wath  the  exception  of  a  few  unimportant  rambles  among  the 
Eno-lish  Classics  and  the  Ancients.  Minor  details  are  of  course 
excluded  from  this  summary.  He  also  wrote  on  different  parts 
of  Scripture  for  his  private  use,  five  articles  in  the  Repertory, 
and  one  or  two  little  books. 

The  winter  session  of  the  seminary  opened  on  the  sixth 
of  November.  In  prospect  of  the  duties  of  the  new  term,  he 
records : 

"My  only  regular  public  employment  will  be  the  instruction  of  the 
lower  classes  in  Hebrew.  I  have  a  private  class  in  Arabic ;  in  private 
I  read  two  chapters  in  Hebrew  daily,  making  scholia  on  them  as  I  go 
along,  by  way  of  preparation  for  minuter  study  afterward.  This  method 
I  commenced  on  the  22d  of  September,  when  I  made  a  calendar  for  the 
remaiuder  of  the  year,  assigning  to  every  day  a  chapter  in  the  historical, 
and  one  in  the  poetical  books.  When  I  chance  to  miss  the  lesson  of  a 
day,  I  pass  it  over  and  go  on  to  the  next.  If  at  the  end  of  the  year  I 
like  the  plan  as  well  as  I  do  now,  I  shall  form  a  calendar  for  1835, 
so  as  to  finish  the  Bible  in  a  twelvemonth.  This,  however,  is  not  to 
exclude  the  more  critical  reading  of  other  passages,  and  particularly 
those  which  are  recited  by  the  classes.  My  plan  includes  a  chapter  of 
the  Greek  New  Testament  for  every  day.  This  part  of  it,  however,  I 
have  not  so  fully  executed  as  the  other.     At  this,  as  at  other  times,  I 


344  COLLOQUY   WITH   THREE   BLSHOPS.  [183.1 

leave  some  portions  of  my  plan  of  study  to  bo  gradually  formed  accord- 
ing to  events.  The  only  additional  items  on  which  I  have  resolved  are 
Sanscrit  and  history.  In  the  loriner  I  must  resume  the  grammar — in 
the  latter  I  have  not  yet  fixed  upon  a  suhject." 

Little  incidents  of  the  time  help  to  take  us  back  to 
the  scenes  in  which  he  moved.  The  Episcopal  Church  (Trinity) 
was  consecrated  in  Princeton  towards  the  close  of  Septem- 
ber. Twenty  clergymen  in  all  were  present,  and  among  them 
three  prelates,  Bishops  White,  Ives,  and  Doaoe.  The  venera- 
ble and  beloved  Bishop  of  Pennsylvania  preached  a  sermon  of  an 
hour's  length,  and  was  induced  to  stay  and  attend  commence- 
ment, which  Avas  then  the  last  Wednesday  in  tSeptember. 
That  night  the  Rev.  James  W.  Alexander  drank  tea  with  the 
three  Bishops  at  Professor  Dod's,  and  records  his  pleasure  in 
a  letter  to  his  friend  in  Trenton.  Alluding  to  Bishop  White, 
he  says,  it  Avas  like  being  transported  to  a  purer  air  to  talk 
with  him.  About  this  time  Tutors  J.  S.  Hart  and  Stephen 
Alexander  were  made  adjunct  professors  in  the  College.  The 
Rev.  Dr.  Benjaman  H.  Rice,  who  married  a  sister  of  Dr. 
Archibald  Alexander,  the  brother  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  H.  Ricej 
of  Union  Theological  Seminary,  Virginia,  was  now  pas" 
tor  of  the  Presbyterian  church  in  the  village,  and  sometimes 
made  very  warm  and  powerful  appeals  from  the  pulpit.  He 
had  been  for  years  the  honoured  pastor  of  t-he  Tabb  street 
Presbyterian  church  in  Petersburg,  and  his  memory  is  still 
precious  in  Virginia.  From  Petersburg  he  went  to  Nevv^ 
York  as  pastor  of  the  Pearl  street  church,  and  from  New  York 
to  Princeton.  Coleridge  died  this  year ;  and  the  news  created 
a  stir  in  the  literary  circles  of  academic  Princeton.  Amidst 
these  and  other  changes,  the  new  professor  in  the  Seminary 
moved  on  steadily  in  the  prosecution  of  his  enormous  labours 
as  linguist,  exegete,  lecturer,  review-writer  and  miscellaneous 
reader. 

Few  teachers  have  had  a  greater  fondness  for  keeping  their 
eyes  on  their  pupils  after  the  days  of  tuition  'were  over.  The 
pleasant    gentlemen,  above   all,  and    especially   the   earnest 


jEr.25.:  REMARKS    OF    DR.    SCOTT.  345 

Christians  and  creditable  scholars  were  never  lost  sight  of ;  and 
he  was  always  ready  to  lend  them  a  helping  hand  and  give 
them  brief  but  timely  counsel.  Though  not  fond  of  writing 
letters,  he  has  written  many  to  such  jiersons  and  for  such  pur- 
poses. His  old  students,  many  of  them,  remember  and  speak 
of  this  trait  in  his  character. 

The  recollections  of  one*  who  is  himself  reputed  to  be  the 
master  of  many  languages,  and  among  them,  a  number  of 
those  with  which  Mr.  Alexander  was  acquainted,  can  hardly 
fail  to  prove  interesting.     He  writes  : 

"My  personal  acquaintance  with  Addisou  Alexander  was  short; 
altogether  too  short  for  my  good.  When  I  entered  the  Theological  sem- 
inary at  Princeton,  he  was  absent  in  Europe.  AVhen  he  returned  I  was 
for  some  time  in  his  classes.  It  became  necessary,  however,  for  me  to 
leave  the  Seminary  before  I  had  finished  the  full  course." 

Mr.  Scott  entered  upon  missionary  labors  in  Louisiana, 
but  prosecuted  his  studies,  till  by  the  aid  of  notes  which  he 
obtained  from  the  manuscripts  of  the  Professor  and  from  fel- 
low students  he  completed  the  careful  study  of  all  the  topics, 
themes,  and  authors  usually  embraced  in  the  Greek  course. 

"Having,  as  you  would  suppose,  som3  diflficultics  in  the  way,  espe- 
cially in  prosecuting  Syriac  and  Arabic  in  the  cypress  swamps  of  the 
Mi:-siss'pi)i  and  Red  rivers,  I  sought  Professor  Alexander's  aid,  and  he 
was  kind  enough  to  write  memoranda  of  books  and  suggestions,  and 
remarks  on  the  languages  from  time  to  time :  but  I  think  only  two  of 
the  letters  have  escaped  the  ruins  of  removals  and  of  time."  t 

The  writer  always  admired  him  from  the  first  time  he  ever 
saw  him. 

"  His  warm  heart,  his  breadth,  depth  and  originality  of  thinking, 
and  his  method  of  prosecuting  thought,  and  his  prodigious  learning, 
always  charmed  me." 

Simday  the  19th  day  of  October  was  a  day  darkened  by 

*  Rev.  William  A.  Scott,  D.  D.,  of  New  York, 
f  These  have  perished  or  disappeared. 
15* 


346  DR.  IlILYER.  nssi. 

heavy  clouds.  Mr.  Alexander  read  aloud  to  his  brother 
James  from  Owen,  and  the  whole  of  John  Howe's  sermon  on 
"  Why  hast  thou  made  all  men  in  vain  ?"  which  both  esteemed 
better  than  Robert  Hall's  on  the  same  text.  Their  father  was 
spending  the  day  at  Burlington,  in  company  with  Professor 
Dod.  Monday  was  signalized  by  a  cold  north-wester,  which 
however  did  not  prevent  Mr.  Alexander  from  arranging  his  new 
chamber  in  the  Seminary.  Tuesday  marks  the  date  of  a  visit 
from  Dr.  Hilyer  of  New  England.  He  remembered  seeing  Dr. 
Alexander  in  Philadelphia  about  1800,  just  before  the  latter 
made  his  trip  to  the  eastern  States.  Dr.  Hilyer  was  at  that 
time  in  great  depression  of  spirits  and  did  not  expect  to  live. 
He  heard  the  young  Virginia  clergyman  preach  from  the  text, 
"  Why  art  thou  cast  down  O  my  soul  ?  "  The  announcement 
of  the  text,  he  said,  was  overwhelming  to  him.  The  troubles 
of  the  next  month  was  known  afterwards  as  ''the  dark  day." 
Candle  light  continued  till  nine  o'clock  a.  m.  Dr.  Archibald 
A.lexander  sat  reading  by  a  candle  at  this  hour.  Rain  fell,  and 
a  yellowish  fog  obscured  and  choked  the  atmosphere.  Henry 
Clay  was  in  Princeton  on  the  25th,  These  rapid  touches  may 
serve  to  bring  up  the  picture  of  the  times. 

A  heavy  affliction  was  now  however,  to  darken  the  house 
of  the  elder  brother.  On  Saturday,  December  15,  he  bad  gone 
after  tea  to  his  brother's  new  study  in  the  Seminary,  and  had 
there  spent  an  hour  or  two  in  reading  and  conversation.  On  his 
return  to  his  own  house,  where  he  had  left  his  little  son  Archi- 
bald, he  learned  that  he  had  been  seized  with  a  croupy  hoarse- 
ness. The  disease  was  rapid  and  fatal.  When  the  daylight 
of  Monday  came,  the  father  perceived  with  agony  that  one 
iiio-ht  had  made  him  a  mere  wreck.  He  had  been  a  blooming, 
fresh  and  hearty  little  boy ;  he  was  now  become  pallid,  wan,  and 
hao-o-ard.  Not  lojg  before  he  was  released  from  his  sufferings 
he  tried  to  sing.  He  also  put  up  his  hands  and  said,  "  I  'svant 
to  say  my  prayers."  He  passed  away  with  but  little  pain. 
He  was  the  third  son  of  his  father,  and  Avas  a  great  favorite 
with  his  grandfather,  and  indeed  Avith  the  whole  house.  He 
was  a  little  over  two  years  old.     The  father's  comments  on  the 


^T.25.]  STUDIES    OF    THE    BROTHEHS.  347 

event  ure  recorded  in  his  unpublished  diary.  It  was  he  says, 
"a  lapse  into  slumber.  ^'  *  I  feel  a  blessed  consolation  in  the 
belief  that  this  dear  lamb  is  safely  gathered  into  Christ's 
bosom." 

This  sad  blow  brought  grief  to  the  hearts  of  all  the  re- 
lations, and  among  them  to  one  who  was  thought  by  many  to 
be  hard  and  unfeeling,  but  who  was  as  soft  and  gentle  as  he 
was  strong  and  at  times  imperious.  His  studies  went  on  much 
as  usual,  though  Mr.  Alexander  was  always  varying  the  par- 
ticulars of  his  scheme. 

Mr.  James  Alexander  meanwhile  was  busy  with  his  classes, 
and  writing  for  the  Repertory  and  the  Presbyterian,  of  which 
ncAvspaper  he  was  still  the  editor,  as  well  as  working  for  the 
New  Jersey  Lyceum.  Like  his  brother  at  the  Seminary,  he 
gave  himself  no  rest,  and  made  it  a  point  to  read  all  great  and 
good  books  that  reached  his  hands,  besides  many  volumes  which 
he  could  not  fully  commend.  He  was  a  most  rapid  reader.  He 
was  now  upon  Simeon's  works,  Guericke's  History  of  the  Church, 
Fichte,  Hegel,  Fuller,  Wordsworth,  Neander,  Coleridge's  Aids 
to  Reflection,  David  Russell's  Letters,  Butler's  Lives  of  the 
Saints,  Hannah  More's  Life,  besides  many  reviews  and  pam- 
phlets and  much  in  Hebrew,  Latin,  Greek,  and  German.  He 
was  buying  up  works  on  Hebrew,  English,  and  Anglo  Saxon. 
He  was  richly  acquainted  in  the  principal  modern  languages, 
and  in  several  others  that  are  not  generally  known.  He  was 
also  full  of  schemes  of  literary  usefulness  and  practical  benev- 
olence. He  had  the  Juniors  five  times  a  week  in  the  De  Ora- 
tore  of  TuUy.  He  also  delivered  occasional  lectures  to  them. 
He  filled  a  volume  or  more  every  year  with  diary  accounts  of 
the  weather,  descriptions  of  people  and  incidents,  and  of  natural 
scenery,  recorded  conversations,  plans  of  sermons,  Latin  pray- 
ers and  marginalia,  French  epistles,  elaborate  quotations,  com- 
ments and  criticisms,  abundant  sketches  of  character,  religious 
confessions,  sportive  effusions  of  fancy,  and  every  species  of 
agreeable  and  instructive  reading ;  the  whole  done  in  a  style 
of  composition  and  penmanship  that  might  excite  the  envy  of 
many  a  famous  litterateur.     His  sensibility  to  fine  sights,  sweet 


348  BEARING   IN    HIS    PRIVATE    CLASSES.  a834 

sounds,  animatinsf  temperature,  and  the  charms  of  art  and  lit- 
erature, was  of  tlie  most  exquisite  sort  and  the  most  tremu. 
lous  acuteness.     But  vre  must  return  to  the  subject  before  us. 

It  is  amusing  to  go  back  to  the  childish  and  youthful  days 
of  the  restless  commentator,  and  to  his  father's  remark  in 
one  of  his  letters  to  Mrs,  Graham  that  Addison  had  a  repug- 
nance to  teaching.  In  after  life,  in  addition  to  his  regular 
classes  in  the  Theological  Seminary,  Professor  Addison  Alex- 
ander was  seldom  without  private  pupils  who  came  to  his 
room,  and  hardly  ever  without  a  small  class  or  two  of  enthu- 
siastic orientalists,  generally  the  pick  of  the  Seminary,  who 
also  frequented  his  study  at  certain  hours  and  had  a  larger  and 
more  genial  ex^Derience  of  their  preceptor's  extraordinary 
mental  vivacity  and  the  bursting  fulness  of  his  animal  spirits 
and  social  good  humour  than  any  others.  His  punctuality  on 
these  occasions  often  cut  short  these  agreeable  interviews  in 
the  very  middle. 

During  the  years  1834  and  1835,  Messrs.  Hugh  IST.  Wilson 
(now  the  Rev.  Dr.  Wilson)  and  John  S.  Hart  were  associated 
in  the  tutorship  of  the  College.  Being  of  kindred  tastes  they 
employed  all  their  spare  hours  together  in  linguistic  studies. 
Having  read  together  nearly  the  whole  of  Herodotus  and  about 
two-thirds  of  the  Hebrew  Bible,  they  determined  to  begin 
the  study  of  Arabic,  and  applied  to  Mr.  Alexander  to  teach 
them.  Although  the  application  involved  a  serious  tax  upon 
his  time,  he  gave  a  most  ready  assent,  and  appointed  the  hour 
from  nine  to  ten  of  every  evening  for  the  purpose.  He  was 
occupying  at  that  time  rooms  in  the  basement  of  the  Seminary 
Chapel,  and  hither  every  night  (except  Sunday)  for  nearly  a 
whole  year,  the  two  young  men  resorted,  no  inclemency  of  the 
weather,  even  in  one  instance  preventing  their  attendance. 
Knowing  how  precious  was  the  privilege  accorded  to  them, 
they  felt  disposed  to  avail  themselves  of  the  advantage  to  the 
utmost.  During  this  course  they  went  through  the  Arabic 
Grammar  under  his  instruction,  and  read  the  whole  of  the 
Koran  excei)t  the  last  two  or  three  chapters.  In  this  course 
of  reading  and  study,  besides  the  knowlege  of  Arabic,  they 


^T.25.]  TESTIMONY    OF    PEOFESSOR    HART,  349 

received  continually  frequent  hints  and  suggestions  such  as 
might  be  expected  from  a  man  of  his  ripe  general  scholar- 
ship. 

'•'Nor  were  oriental  learning  and  linguistics  the  only  topics  of  that 
f»  ■  :iired  Lour.  Never  was  teacher  more  genial  or  more  freely  com- 
innuicative,  and  after  tlie  lesson  of  the  evening  Avas  finished,  other 
topics  connected  with  literature  and  tlieology  came  up,  and  we  drew  at 
will  from  the  exhaustless  fountain  open  to  us.  Nor  did  we  often  go 
away  with  our  buckets  empty." 

Before  beginning  this  arrangement,  he  told  them  with  some 
distinctness  that  he  would  give  them  an  hour,  and  they  under- 
stood from  his  manner  that  a  moment  beyond  the  hour  would 
be  counted  as  an  encroachment.  Knowing  Avell  his  peculiari- 
ties, they  were  careful  to  leave  precisely  at  the  striking  of 
the  clock,  no  matter  how  interesting  might  be  the  topic  under 
discussion.  They  were  equally  cai'cful  never  to  enter  his 
room  a  minute  before  the  time,  even  if  they  had  to  stand  out 
in  the  cold  for  the  clock  to  strike. 

"This  quiet  and  precise  punctuality,"  writes  one  of  them,*  "  seemed 
greatly  to  jjlease  liim,  and  reconciled  him  evidently  to  bearing  with  u? 
longer  than  perhaps  he  miglit  else  have  done.  For  he  always  managed 
to  make  us  feel  perfectly  welcome,  and  poured  out  the  resources  of  Lis 
learning  for  us  with  unbroken  profusion  up  to  the  sixtieth  minute. 
But  when  that  moment  came,  the  stream  of  talk  suddenly  stopped. 
There  was  not  a  word  to  be  said  :  he  was  ready  to  return  once  more  to 
his  silent  studies." 

He  then  goes  on  as  follows  : 

"  No  hours  of  my  life  have  been  Lours  of  greater  intellectual  activ- 
ity and  pleasure  than  those  now  described.  TLere  is  something  par- 
ticularly quickening  and  stimulating  in  tbis  kind  of  intercourse  with 
a  man  of  genius,  and  I  felt  my  own  mental  energy  taking  fire  from 

hia." 

The  impression  which  he  made  upon  them  in  this  familiar 
encounter  of  mind  with  mind,  was  that  of 

*  Dr.  Hirt. 


350  TRIBUTE    BY   DR.  WILSON.  [1834 

"a  man  of  prodigions  intellectual  strength  united  ■with  prodigious  in- 
telloctual  activity.  It  was  the  power  of  tiie  locomotive,  and  the  speed 
of  the  telegraph  united  in  one  machine.  Indeed  the  most  noticeable 
thing  about  him  was  the  general  roundness  and  completeness  of  hia 
powers.  There  are  numerous  instances  on  record  of  his  prodigious 
power  of  memory.  I  have  myself  recorded  one  feat  of  this  kind. 
But  the  mnemonic  power  is  usually  accompanied  with  a  weakness  in 
some  of  the  other  faculties.  In  him,  on  the  contrary,  every  other 
intellectual  power,  reason,  imagination,  fancy,  attention,  jndgment, 
and  so  forth,  seemed  to  have  an  equal  development.  He  excelled  ac- 
cordingly in  everything  which  he  undertook.  He  did  not  often  indulge 
in  personal  reminiscences.  One  of  these,  which  I  remember,  described 
the  cliange  of  views  he  had  undergone  while  in  Europe  in  regard  to 
the  character  of  Napoleon  I.  He  said  that  he  had  gone  abroad  with 
that  view  of  Napoleon's  character  once  nearly  universal  in  this 
country,  and  deiived  from  our  familiarity  with  English  literature.  It 
was  in  fact  Napoleon  as  seen  by  Englishmen  who  did  him  the  greatest 
injustice.  His  remark  was,  that  in  every  part  of  Europe  which  he  visi- 
ted he  saw  proofs  of  the  constructive,  regenerating,  and  beneficent 
power  of  Napoleon  as  a  civil  ruler.  It  is  not  impertinent,  I  suppose, 
in  this  familiar  memorandum,  for  me  to  say  just  here  that  we  college 
boys  always  used  to  see  in  Addison's  head  a  remarkable  likeness  to 
Napoleon." 

This  fine  tribute  is  confirmed  by  the  language  of  the  other 
pupils  in  this  class.  Dr.  Wilson  also  mentions  one  or  two 
things  omitted  by  his  friend,  and  gives  a  i'cw  recollections  of 
an  earlier  date. 

"  My  acquaintance  with  Dr.  Alexander  dates  back  to  the  time  of  his 
entrance  upon  public  life.  At  that  time  Professor  Patton  had  jnst 
opened  Edgehill  School — of  which  Addison  Alexander  was  one  of  the 
first  teachers;  and  there  he  prepared  his  edition  of  Donn^  gan's  Lexi- 
con. Prominent  among  the  young  men  of  Princeton,  and  in  the  circle 
of  his  friends  at  this  time,  were  John  0.  Young,  Albert  Dod,  liezeau 
Brown,  and  Samuel  "Winchester;  all  of  whom,  alas  !  are  now,  like  him, 
numbered  with  the  dead. 

Dr.  Hart  has  probably  mentioned  our  Arabic  studies  with  him.  I 
do  not  remember  to  have  seen  any  notice  of  the  long  narrow  note- 
book which  always  lay  upon  his  study  table,  waiting,  it  would  seem, 
for  some  inspiring  thought  or  ti'easured  sentiment,  and  waiting  not  in 


/Ex.  25.J  BIBLICAL    AND    ORIENTAL    LABOURS.  351 

vain.  Day  after  day  we  could  see  that  new  pages  were  turned,  and 
that  the  numbers,  (for  each  jotting  was  carefully  numbered)  rose  con- 
tinually higher." 

The  minute  chronicle  of  Mr.  Alexander's  life  -which  fol- 
lows will  be  interesting  to  scholars  and  the  lovers  of  j^er- 
sonal  detail.  During  the  month  of  December  he  pursued  the 
various  subjects  mentioned  in  his  last  entry  and  added  new 
ones.  The  third  class  were  now  under  his  direction,  and  read- 
ing the  history  of  tte  flood  in  Genesis.  In  the  way  of  an 
expository  lecture  the  instructor  treated  the  class  to  an  extem- 
poraneous and  lively  commentary  upon  the  history  of  Joseph- 
At  each  recitation,  too,  an  essay  was  read  upon  a  subject  as- 
signed by  the  teacher,  and  relating  directly  to  the  subjects 
upon  which  the  class  were  engaged.  With  the  second  class  ho 
read  Isaiah.     On  Dec.  the  31st  he  records, 

"  We  liave  to-day  finished  the  sixth  chapter.  This  employs  me 
more  or  less  during  the  week,  tliougli  I  meet  the  class  only  on  Wed- 
nesday morning.  Besides  studying  the  text  itself,  I  compare  the  an- 
cient and  modern  versions,  and  the  notes  of  Ohrysostoin,  Jerome, 
Thendoret,  Jarchi,  Aben-Ezra,  Kimchi,  Calvin,  Michaelis,  Grotius, 
Vitringa,  Gesenius  and  Hitzig.'" 

In  private  he  had  continued  the  plan  of  reading  Hebrew 
daily,  and  I  find  him  at  this  date  making  out  a  calendar  for 
1835.  His  Arabic  class  had  read  the  extracts  appended  to 
Rosenmiiller's  Grammar,  and  more  than  fifty  verses  in  the 
Koran.  It  also  appears  from  his  diary  that  he  was  not 
without  the  stimulus  of  companionship  in  some  of  his  private 
studies,  and  that  he  was  thoroughly  interested  in  the  lan- 
guages of  Upper  India.     He  wn-ites, 

"  I  am  teaching  Hebrew,  and  A.  A.  Hodge  Greek.    I  read  a 

little  Sanscrit  daily.  I  am  now  engnged  upon  '  Neal's  History  of  the  Puri- 
tans ;'  which  I  read  at  night.  I  have  written  two  more  articles  for  the 
Repertory  which  will  appear  in  the  forthcoming  number.  They  are 
both  reviews— the  one  of  Charles  Stewait's  'Travels  in  England,'  the 
other  of  'Bush's  Commentary  on  the  Psalms.'  " 


35i2  PLAN   OF   STUDY.  [1834. 

He  had  completed  one  of  his  books  for  the  American  Sun- 
day School  Union,  and  had  abandoned  the  other.  The  sub- 
ject was  the  Life  of  Elijah.  Another  on  the  same  subject  had 
just  been  purchased  by  the  "  Union,"  "  and  the  execution  of 
music,"  writes  the  modest  author,  is  not  satisfactory  to  myself 
or  others.  One  has  curiosity  to  know  where  the  fault  lay  ! 
This  wish  is  not  gratified.     I  again  return  to  the  Journal. 

"  I  finished  the  first  book  of  Eusebius's  Ecclesiastical  History  last 
week.     I  read  it  alternately  with  Josephus." 

One  should  have  gathered  from  what  comes  next  that  Mr. 
Alexander  had  not  always  been  the  most  exact  and  punctual 
of  clock-work  scholars. 

"  I  have  gradually  fallen  into  a  pretty  systematic  plan  of  study, 
whicli  with  the  leave  of  Providence  I  shall  retain  in  the  coming  year. 
The  most  that  I  ever  read  before  family  prayers  in  the  morning,  is  a 
chapter  of  the  New  Testament  in  Greek.  Between  breakfast  and  pray- 
ers I  read  Sanscrit.  After  breakfast  I  prepare  for  the  lecture  or  reci- 
tation of  the  day,  and  pursue  my  private  studies  in  Hebrew.  Two 
hours  at  noon  are  appropriated  to  exercise  and  dinner.  In  the  after- 
noon I  study  Isaiali  and  intend  to  take  half  an  hour  for  writing.  An 
hour  and  a  half  is  assigned  to  public  and  private  devotion.  Three 
evenings  in  the  week  I  read  Arabic  with  my  private  class.  An  hour 
at  night  I  give  to  Eusebins  and  Josephus,  alternately,  another  to  The- 
ology (Turretin  at  present),  and  another  to  writing.  Before  I  go  to 
bed  I  read  the  newspapers  or  Neal's  History  of  the  Puritans,  as  I  feel 
inclined." 

Then  we  have  this  solemn  prayer  and  dedication' of  himself 
to  God : 

"  May  the  next  year  be  a  happy  one,  intellectually  and  spiritually  1 
May  less  time  be  wasted  than  in  any  former  year!  May  my  faculties 
be  better  employed  than  ever  before  !  May  I  be  more  entirely  devoted 
to  my  Master's  service!  May  I  daily  grow  in  grace  and  in  mastery 
over  sin!  May  all  my  studies  and  employments  be  blejsed  to  the 
sanctification  of  my  soul  I  The  Lord  in  mercy  grant  it  for  the  Saviour's 
Bake." 


^T.  25.  HIS   NEW    CHAIR.  353 

There  is  little  to  sliow  what  he  was  doing  in  the  year 
1835.  At  least  outside  of  his  study  and  his  class-room.  His 
correspondence,  which  was  almost  exclusively  with  Dr.  Hall, 
is  altogether  barren  of  incident,  and  his  diary  as  usual,  is  chiefly 
taken  up  with  the  record  of  his  daily  studies.  The  truth  is  he 
was  now  stretching  himself  like  an  athlete  in  preparation  for 
the  great  tasks  of  his  life.  One  day  was  as  another  and  yet 
more  abundant  in  the  spoil  of  conquered  languages  and  ti"ib- 
utary  literatures.  He  was  learning  every  hour  something 
new  about  the  Bible  and  his  own  heart.  He  was  in  the  spring- 
tide of  early  manhood.  He  was  the  picture  of  florid  health. 
He  was  full  of  animal  spirits,  and  was  an  enigma  of  muscular, 
nervous,  and  mental  force.  He  was  becoming  accustomed  to 
his  post  in  the  seminary,  and  began  to  find  it  delightfully  con- 
genial to  his  tastes  and  suited  to  his  powers.  There  was  only 
one  drawback.  He  Avas  growing  more  and  more  in  love  with 
Greek,  with  Europe,  with  the  New  Testament.  His  predom- 
inant inclination  was  no  longer  what  it  once  was.  He  found 
himself  perpetually  lured  away  from  his  Oriental  studies  into 
Avhat  he  regarded  as  forbidden  paths.  There  was  therefore  a 
conflict  of  purposes  or  desires  in  his  mind  which  he  feared 
might  be  prejudicial  to  his  highest  success,  but  which  in  the 
wisdom  of  Providence  was  overruled  and  made  a  singular 
blessing  to  the  Church. 

The  winter  of  1835  in  Princeton  was  cold.  On  Wednes- 
day the  'Zth  of  January  the  thermometer  went  down  five  de- 
grees below  zero,  and  the  snow  was  hard  on  the  ground.  On 
that  day  Mr.  Alexander  walked  upon  the  crust  to  see  his 
brother  James,  who  was  unwell ;  and  found  him  enjoying  the 
Olney  Hymns.  Princeton  in  those  days  seems  to  have  been 
agog  with  rumors.  For  instance,  it  was  said  that  an  attempt 
had  been  made  upon  the  life  of  the  President  of  the  United 
States ;  and  then  that  Calhoun  and  Benton  had  fought  a  duel, 
in  which  the  latter  was  killed  and  the  former  wounded. 
There  was  also  much  talk  of  a  j^ossible  war  with  France, 
March  came  in  like  a  lion  ;  and  though  there  were  occasional 
vernal  appeai-ances,  and  blue  birds  were   twittering  in   the 


354  MESSIANIC   INTERPRETATION.  [1834. 

warm  sunshine,  yet  the  snow  soon  returned  with  great  vio- 
lence. Tlie  rough  gales  seem  to  have  blown  good  to  Mr.  Al- 
exander, for  it  brought  him  a  Danish  manuscript  which  was 
in  ai'ter  years  a  source  of  considerable  pleasure  to  him.  On 
"Wednesday  the  first  of  April,  the  clerical  meeting  was  held 
at  Dr.  Miller's.  The  subjects  of  discussion  Avere  the  estab- 
lishment of  lectures  against  Popery ;  the  superficial  cast  of 
the  age  ;  the  republication  of  Boyle's  religious  Avorks  ;  Dick's 
Theology  ;  Moral  Philosophy  ;  &c. 

But  we  turn  back  to  the  Journal.  On  the  14th  of  Janu- 
ary, Mr.  Alexander  finished  the  seventh  chapter  of  Isaiah 
with  the  second  class. 

"It  is,"  he  writes,  "indeed  a  most  difficult  scripture." 

What  follows,  relative  to  the  great  German  Commentator 
and  his  theory,  cannot  fail  to  be  of  interest  to  the  intelligent 
reader : 

"  Hengstenberg  has  convinced  me  that  the  iTessianic  interpretation, 
is  encumbered  with  fewer  difficulties  than  any  other.  But  the  difii- 
cukies  Avhich  it  has  are  very  serious.  I  am  especially  at  a  loss  how  to 
interpret  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  verses  in  consistency  with  Hengs- 
tenberg's  hypothesis.  I  am  very  far,  however,  from  being  willing  to 
abandon  it.  It  does  not  follow,  because  I  cannot  explain  everything 
according  to  a  theory,  that  the  theory  is  false.  There  mnybe  positive 
evidence  sufficient  to  establish  it  beyond  the  reach,  of  doubt,  though  a 
thons;ind  difficulties  still  beset  it." 

He  was,  at  this  time,  suddenly  visited  with  another  fervor 
on  the  subject  of  geography,  and  this  time  for  geography 
viewed  in  its  connections  with  history. 

"I  have  been  thinking,  "  he  says,  "of  a  plan  for  geographico-his- 
torical  research.  It  is  to  select  some  portion  of  the  globe  and  make  it 
the  object  of  particular  and  long  continued  attention.  I  shall,  probably, 
choose  Africa  at  present,  and  my  des'gn  is  to  go  back  as  far  as  I  can, 
and  ascertain  what  the  first  intimations  are  which  history  afibrds 
respecting  that  vast  continent.    I  had  scarcely  formed  this  plan  when 


MT.2o.i  ENGLISH   REVIEWS.  355 

I  came  upon  a  passage  in  Josephns  exactly  to  my  purpose.  It  is  in  liis 
ArchiBoiogy,  Book  I.,  chapter  16,  page  24,  D.  E.,  Geneva  edition,  1611, 
where  he  traces  the  name  Africa  to  Epher,  the  second  son  of  Michan 
(Genesis,  xxv:  4)  on  the  authority  of  Alexander  Polyhistor.' 

On  January  the  16th  he  expresses  a  strong  contempt  for 
Antony  Theodor  Hartmann.  His  own  language  is  amusingly- 
vigorous  and  racy : 

"  The  preface  to  his  book  on  the  Pentateuch  is  very  absurd.  The 
cant  of  the  Eationalists  about  love  of  truth,  philosophy,  Kritisch  and 
Unhritisch,  turns  my  stomach,  Hengstenberg*  has  more  sen^^e  in  his 
little  finger  than  these  men  in  their  loins.  Hitzig  on  Isaiah  is  disgust- 
ing, lie  is  fur  worse  than  Gesenius,  more  unblushing  and  malignant ; 
his  remarks  on  the  offei-  of  a  sign  to  Ahaz  (ch.  6)  are  worthy  of  Tom 
Paine." 

And  then  he  breaks  out  in  his  vehement  way  : 

"John  Pye  Smith  and  Moses  Stuart  give  up  the  prophecy  in  Isaiah. 
They  may  give  up  what  they  please  for  me.  "Wliile  the  Germans  are 
gropiig  their  way  back  from  infidelity,  we  are  slowly  (?)  moving  to- 
wards it." 

lie  continued  his  lectures  on  Isaiah. 

"February  IS. — To-night  I  have  been  reading  Thomas  Aqninas  on 
Origina,]  S'n,  and  find  it  very  entertaining.  The  method  is  so  perfectly 
mechanical  and  unif  )rm,  that  I  lose  sight  of  it  completely,  and  think 
only  of  the  thoughts  presented. 

"March  7. — I  have  been  reading  Vol.  Ill  of  the  Quarterly  Review 
(•peb.-May,  1810).  For  some  reason  old  periodicals  please  me  more  than 
new  ones.  Time  seems  to  mellow  them.  I  am  very  fond  of  reviews. 
The  variety  of  topics  is  entertaining,  the  rather  as  there  is  no  methodical 
arrangement;  while  the  unity  of  form  and  spirit  distinguish  works  of 
tills  SI  Tt  from  miscellaneous  magazines.  The  articles  in  this  volume  are 
verv  unequal,  but  almost  all  bear  the  impresi'  of  classical  Fcholarship 
and  general  refinement.     Whether  the  subject  hi  poliiical  economy, 

*  The  Biblical  Repertory  fairly  groaned  under  the  burden  of  allusion  to  this 
writer,  imposed  upon  it  by  Mr.  Alexander. 


356  MISCELLANEOUS   READING.  [i83& 

politics  or  poetry,  there  is  still  an  air  of  gentlemanly  elegance  that  com- 
mands respect.  There  is  great  diversity  in  point  of  tact  as  well  as  tasto 
throughout  the  volume." 

In  the  entry  which  follows  he  gives  his  views  of  the  com- 
parative merits  of  two  articles  on  the  same  subject,  though 
under  different  covers.  His  mental  ingenuity  is  always  appa- 
rent when  he  begins  to  compare  and  analyze. 

"  March  9. — Walsh's  letter  on  the  Genesis  of  the  French  Government 
is  revived  in  the  Quarterly  for  Feb.  1810,  and  in  the  Edinburgh  for 
April,  1810.  I  like  to  compare  such  articles.  The  one  in  the  Edin- 
burgh is  written  with  far  more  vivacity  and  ease  of  style,  and  exhibits 
a  high  degree  of  stirring  popular  eloquence,  but  it  is  flippant  and  law- 
yer-like. The  Quarterly  article  is  careless  and  unequal,  but  dignified 
and  serious,  with  an  air  of  sincerity  which  is  wanting  in  the  other. 
Its  style,  though  less  pointed,  is  also  less  monotonous  ;  and  there  are 
passages  here  and  there,  which  in  classical  richness  and  depth  of  moral 
tone  have  no  parallel  in  the  Scotch  review.  It  may  be  fancy,  but  I 
think  I  can  mark  the  contrast  between  the  scholar  and  the  advocate, 
even  when  both  are  merged  in  the  politician," 

Mr.  Alexander  with  all  his  passion  for  hard  reading  was 
always  a  great  lover  of  miscellaneous  literature,  even  in  the 
more  restricted  and  popular  sense  of  these  words ;  and  used 
to  hang  with  delight  over  the  English  Quarterlies,  when  those 
great  joui'nals  were  at  their  zenitli,  in  the  days  of  Jeffrey, 
Sydney  Smith,  Horner,  Canning,  Gifford,  and  their  able  con- 
freres. One  of  his  younger  brothers  informed  me  that  Mi-. 
Alexander's  acquaintance  with  current  literature,  which  was 
something  that  never  ceased  to  excite  the  astonishment  of 
those  who  knew  him  best  and  saw  him  most  constantly,  was 
due  originally  to  the  fact  that  he  made  it  a  point  to  read  al- 
most everything  in  the  Quarterly  and  Edinburgh  Reviews 
during  nearly  the  whole  period  of  the  unchallenged  supremacy 
of  these  great  critical  organs.  This  not  only  afforded  con- 
tinual refreshment  to  his  mind,  but  enabled  him  to  know  Avith 
accuracy  where  to  meet  with  what  he  wanted  in  volun:..es  in 
wWch  the  information  was  to  be  obtained  at  first-hand.     Mr. 


^T.  25.]  BIBLE    STUDY.  357 

Alexander  was  never  satisfied  with  the  gatherings  of  others 
he  was  not  content  unless  he  could  gather  for  himself.     His 
main  end  hei-e,  however,  was  pure  recreation. 

The  month  of  April  found  him  as  busily  engaged  as  ever. 
He  was  still  interested  in  geography,  especially  the  geography 
of  the  Bible.  He  was  reading  Greek  and  Hebrew  in  vast 
quantities.  He  was  approving  himself  a  workman  that  needed 
not  to  be  ashamed. 

"April  13. — I  contiaued  my  collections  for  a  Hebrew  Eeader,  and 
read  Genesis  ill  with  the  thh-d  class.  I  began  to  prepare  for  my  lec- 
ture on  Galilee,  writing  on  the  interleaved  copy  of  my  geography. 
Since  the  beginning  of  the  year  I  have  read  the  Pentateuch,  Job,  and 
Joshua  in  Hebrew;  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  Romans,  1st  and  2nd  Cor 
inthians   Galatians,  Philemon,  and  James  in  Greek." 


CHAPTER   XI. 

Friday,  the  24th,  was  Mr.  Alexander's  2Gth  birthday,  en 
which  occasion  his  brother  James  writes,  "  Gi'atia,  misericordia 
et  pax,  a  deo  triuno,  semper  super  fratrem  dilectissimum 
maneat !  "  The  joys  of  this  iVaternal  intercourse  will  never 
be  fully  comprehended  by  those  who  have  been  left  behind  them 
and  Avho  did  not  witness  the  occasions  when  the  two  scholars 
met.  Recent  memories  of  such  meetings  no  doubt  partly  prompt- 
ed these  warm  ejaculations  of  piety  ar.d  brotherly  love.  The 
affections  of  the  elder  born  were  radiant  and  diffusive,  and  were 
fixed  with  a  special  and  unalterable  fondness  upon  "  Addison." 
But  lie  the  younger,  had  small  acquaintance  of  the  kind  that 
ripens  into  intimate  friendship  ;  and  v.'ith  his  manly  impulsive 
heart  he  spent  his  feelings  with  all  the  greater  absence  of  re- 
straint and  with  all  the  more  intense  devotion,  on  a  ic^v. 
Chief  among  these  few  were  the  members  of  his  own  family 
and  the  dearest  of  his  companions  and  friends  was  ''  James." 

Let  us  now  take  a  look  out  of  the  professor's  window,  and 
see  what  was  going  on  around  him  in  Princeton  and  a  neigh- 
bouring city.  The  Linden  trees  were  half  out  early  in  May. 
Lilachs  were  in  full  leaf,  and  ready  to  burst  into  flower.  The 
grass  was  everywhere  becoming  green.  The  Seminary  exam- 
ination occurred  on  the  Gth ;  Dr.  Green  presided.  In  the 
afternoon  Dr.  Green  dismissed  the  students  with  the  customary 
address. 

This  was  the  month  of  the  Anniversaries  in  New  Y  ork, 
and  Mr.  Alexander  went  on  to  hear  the  speakers.  I  iind 
him  on  the  11th  at  the  meeting  of  the  Sunday  School  Union 
and  of  the  Assemby's  Board  of  Education.  On  the  12th  he 
"stepped  into  the  Anti-Slavery  meeting"  and  heard  Birney, 


^T.26.]  OLD    AND   NEW    SCHOOL.  359 

and  George  Thompson  of  Liverpool  make  speeches ;  after 
which  he  went  to  the  Anniversary  of  the  Colonization  Soci- 
ety, where  he  heard  Dr.  Bethune,  Dr.  Hewett  and  Dr.  John 
Breckinridge  ;  from  thence  he  went  to  the  Peace  Society,  and 
at  night  to  the  adjourned  meeting  of  the  Colonization  Society. 
A  Krooman  and  several  Africans  were  on  the  stage. 

He  soon  returned  and  began  to  crowd  his  great  folio  blank- 
book  with  entries  relating  chiefly  to  his  studies. 

What  comes  next  will  be  atti-active  to  those  who  retain  an 
interest  in  the  great  battle  between  the  Old  and  New  Schools. 
The  Assembly  was  at  this  time  in  session  at  Pittsburg. 

"  May  15. — "We  ai'e  all  agape  to  hear  something  from  the  Conven- 
tion and  Assembly.  The  session  of  the  latter  has  been,  for  several 
years,  looked  forward  to  with  lively  interest,  but  never  with  so  mnch 
as  now.  There  is  this  singularity  about  the  present  ca-e, — that  pullic 
expectation  has  reference,  not  to  some  one  specific  question,  which  is 
likely  to  come  up,  but  to  the  whole  tenour  of  the  Assembly's  proceed- 
ings; or,  in  other  words,  to  the  relative  strength  of  parties.  This  may, 
or  may  not  be  indicated  by  the  choice  of  Moderator.  For  several 
years  this  first  step  has  been  taken  by  mutual  consent,  without  dis- 
pute." 

In  the  next  entry  he  returns  for  a  moment  to  his  quiet  oc- 
cupations at  home ;  but  is  soon  beguiled  again  to  the  topic  of 
fascination. 

"May  26. — I  finished  my  inspection  of  Luther's  letters,  and  the 
first  draft  of  the  first  part  of  my  x\rchaeological  Catechiira." 

He  hails  with  delight  the  first  tidings  from  the  Assembly. 

"  We  hear  to-day  from  Pittsburg,  that  Dr.  Miller  preached  the  open- 
ing sermon  in  the  absence  of  tlie  last  Moderator,  and  that  then  a  very 
curious,  and  I  suppose  unexpected  trial  of  strength  took  place.  Dr. 
Ely  nominated  Dr.  Beman;  on  the  ground  that  he  was  the  latest  Mod- 
erator present  as  a  commissioner.  He  vvas  voted  into  the  chair;  but 
not  long  after  (I  f  )rget  whether  at  the  same  or  another  session)  he  was 
excluded  and  Dr.  W.  McDowell  substituted.  Now,  so  far  as  I  can  dis- 
cover from  the  book,  it  lay  entirely  with  the  Assembly  to  select  any 


360  SCRIPTURE    READING.  ^836. 

person  as  their  temporary  chairman.  There  was  no  rule  requiring  that 
he  should  have  once  been  Moderator ;  much  less  that  after  he  was  ap- 
pointed he  should  be  thrown  out  to  make  room  for  another  not  a 
member  of  the  body,  simply  because  he  had  been  Moderator  since.  I 
draw  the  conclusion,  therefore,  that  the  exclusion  of  Beman  was  a 
party  act  and  a  sufficient  index  of  the  prevailing  power.  This  is  con- 
firmed by  the  fact  that  Dr.  Phillips,  who  was  nominated  by  Dr.  Miller, 
was  elected  Moderator  by  a  majority  of  100  (I  write  from  recollection) 
though  not  only  an  Old  School  man,  but  an  Act  and  Testimony  one. 
Though  I  can  easily  suppose  that  some  of  the  New  School  men,  accord- 
ing to  custom,  joined  the  majority  to  avoid  defeat.  I  cannot  help  re- 
garding this  election  as  a  proof  that  the  Old  School  party  is  decidedly 
predominant.     Quod  felix  fuustumque  sit  !  " 

On  the  second  of  June  he  wrote  several  sheets  towards  a 
revise  of  Bush's  Hebrew  Grammar.  Besides  his  daily  lessons 
in  Scripture,  he  read  nine  chapters  in  Hebrew  with  Vitringa's 
analysis.  This  v>^as  to  be  the  subject  of  liis  readings  with  the 
second  class  this  summer;  and  he  wished  to  get  it  familiar  to 
his  mind  in  its  general  connection,  instead  of  becoming  familiar 
with  it  piecemeal,  vv^hich  he  found  the  winter  before  to  be 
"very  disadvantageous."  "Tjhe  minute  verbal  study  of  these 
chapters,"  he  writes,  "  I  shall  leave  to  be  attended  to 
from  week  to  week." 

The  next  record  gives  among  other  things,  further  state- 
ments concerning  the  Assembly  and  its  doings. 

"  June  10.— I  read  Isaiah,  xl. — xlviii.  in  Hitzig's  German  version, 
comparing  it  with  that  of  Gesenius  and  with  the  original.  I  also  read  the 
chapters  in  Hengstenberg's  Christologie,  on  the  nature  of  prophetical  in- 
spiration. It  is  announced  to-day  in  print  that  Jolin  Breckinridge  has 
been  elected  Professor  of  Pastoral  Theology,  and  J.  A.  Alexander,  Ad- 
junct-Professor of  Oriental  and  Biblical  Literature." 

Professor  James  Alexander  was  now  busy  upon  Tully  and 
the  Antonines,  and  amusing  himself  with  the  ranz  des  vaches. 
The  father  went  on  an  early  day  in  June  to  lay  the  corner- 
stone of  a  new  Presbyterian  Church  in  Freehold.  Dr.  Archi- 
bald Alexander  was  now  one  of  the  busiest  of  men,  and  yet 


^T.26.]  PROFESSORSHIP    DECLINED.  361 

though  he  ahnost  never  left  his  study,  he  lavished  many  hours 
daily  on  the  students  who  repaired  to  him  for  counsel.  His 
biographer  thinks  he  gave  up  half  his  time  to  them.  They 
would  run  in  at  all  hours.  The  keen  sidelong  glance  of  that 
bright  eye  seemed  to  read  them  through  and  through ;  but  the 
quick  ear  and  apprehension  of  the  great  practical  philosopher 
seized  at  once  the  point  of  difficulty  or  embarrassment,  and 
his  wisdom  and  benevolence  seldom  failed  to  relieve  the 
student's  doubts  or  to  inform  his  ignorance. 

In  the  month  of  May,  Mr.  Alexander,  as  we  have  seen, 
was  elected  by  the  General  Assembly,  Adjunct  Professor  of 
Oriental  and  Biblical  Literature  in  the  Theological  Seminary. 
This  compliment  he  modestly  and  firmly  declined.  The  Board 
of  Directors  sat  in  September.  This  was  his  opportunity,  and 
he  availed  himself  of  it  to  convey  to  them  his  sense  of  the 
honour  that  had  been  conferred  upon  him,  and  of  his  inflexible 
opposition  to  the  proposed  change.  Here  is  his  letter  to  the 
President  of  the  Board  : 

"  I  beg  leave  to  communicate  through  you,  to  the  Board  of  Direct- 
ors, my  determination  to  decline  the  appointment  with  which  I  was 
honoured  by  the  L^st  General  Assembly.  Should  the  Board  desire  a 
continuance  of  my  services,  I  am  entirely  willing  to  retain  my  present 
station  as  an  Assistant  to  Professor  Ilodge." 

This  not  proving  altogether  satisfactory  to  the  learned 
gentlemen  of  the  Board,  they  sent  a  committee  to  wait  on 
him.     But  here  are  his  own  words : 

"  After  a  meeting  of  the  Directors,  I  was  visited  by  a  committee  of 
the  Board.  After  conversing  with  them,  I  persisted  in  declining  to 
accept  the  appointment  of  Professor,  but  consented  to  the  postpone- 
ment of  the  whole  affair,  if  the  Board  thought  fit,  till  the  next  meet- 
ing; which  was  done  accordingly." 

There  is  not  one  word  on  his  side  of  this  correspondence, 

of  pretended  unfitness  for  a  post   for  which   he   must  have 

known  tha,t  he  was  probably  better  qualified  on  the  score  of 

preparation  than  any  other  man   in   the  church.     We  have 

16 


362  DEAN    SWIFT.  nssB, 

here  a  fine  instance  of  real  humility  as  distinguished  from  its 
counterfeit. 

After  a  lapse  of  six  years  he  now  again  became  a  teacher 
at  Edgehill,  which  was  at  this  time  under  the  direction  of  Mr. 
E.  C.  Wines.  This  filled  his  hands  to  superfluity ;  since  he  was 
called  upon  to  teach  sixteen  hours  a  week,  besides  his  ordinary 
Seminary  duties.  He  had  also  given  lessons  during  the  year 
to  several  youthful  pupils,  and  regularly  instructed  a  private 
class  in  Arabic.  During  the  same  time  also  amidst  the  multi- 
farious labours  of  his  study,  he  had  read  through  the  Old 
Testament  once,  and  the  New  Testament  twice,  critically.  lie 
was  becoming  a  master  of  new  languages.  He  was  daily  fired 
with  new  zeal  in  the  old  ones.  Zest,  playfulness,  chameleon 
volatility,  directness,  tremendous  energy,  unwearied  diligence, 
unconquerable  perseverance,  absolute  triumph  over  difficulties, 
marked  him  in  all  he  attempted. 

The  allusion  in  the  following  extract  to  the  Dean  of  St. 
Patrick's  cannot  be  passed  over  Avithout  calling  the  attention 
of  the  reader  to  it  specially. 

"  To  niglit  I  finished  the  first  volume  of  Dean  Swift's  correspond- 
ence, which  lias  given  me  much  amusement,  for  with  all  its  folly  and 
heartlessness,  there  is  a  humour  so  unique,  and  a  common  sen«e  so  ex- 
quisite, that  I  feel  even  the  nonsense  to  be  the  nonsense  of  a  mas- 
ter. Besides,  I  am  passionately  fond  of  all  familiar  correspondence ; 
the  more  minute  the  better ;  and  in  this  case,  the  society  in  which  the 
writer  lived,  gives  the  letters  even  a  historical  interest.  After  Swift 
changed  his  politics,  he  abused  Addison  often,  but  confesses  now  and 
then  that  he  is  the  most  agreeable  man  of  his  acquaintance." 

Mr.  Alexander  had  a  vast  liking  and  respect  himself,  for 
his  namesake  Joseph  Addison.  Swift,  though,  was  in  some  re- 
spects the  more  congenial  spirit.  He  loved  these  casual  ram- 
bles among  the  hedge-rows  of  literature.  The  amount  of  his 
general  reading  alone  v>"as  enormous.  He  is  sliarp  upon 
Washington  Irving.     It  is  best  to  give  his  own  words: 

•'Finished    the  Crayon    Miscellany,  No.  2,   which  contains  a  few 


-<Et.26.]  MR.    JAMES   ALEXANDER.  363 

good  santences  and  thoughts,  but  on  the  -whole  is  a  paltry  catch-penny. 
The  style  lacks  the  merit  which  once  gained  Irving  celebrity,  though 
it  exhibits  a  con^tant  striving  after  beautiful  expression.  The  senti- 
mental feeling  about  Byron  is  contemptible;  the  style  la  which  it  is 
clothed  is  mawkish  and  nerveless  ;  and  the  whole  book  is  unworthy  oi 
the  Sketch  Book  and  eveu  of  Bracebridge  Hall,  and  of  course  vastly 
lower  than  Knickerbocker." 

It  was  Mr.  Alexander's  opinion  that  the  first  books  both  of 
Irving  and  Dickens  were  much  their  best ;  and  in  this  opinion 
I  think  that  a  majority  of  sensible  people  concur. 

About  the  middle  of  July,  Mr.  James  Alexander  went  to 
Saratoga  in  search  of  health  and  recreation  ;  and  remained 
there,  or  in  the  vicinity,  the  greater  part  of  the  summer,  drink- 
ing the  waters  and  talking  with  such  men  as  Mr.  Pierpont  the 
poet,  Dr.  Wayland,  and  Dr.  McClelhind,  and  feasting  his  ears 
with  German  and  Italian  music.  He  returned  much  iuvigora. 
ted.  Soon  after,  on  the  last  day  of  August,  he  was  escorted 
one  evening  to  see  Chancellor  Kent ;  of  whom  he  writes  to 
Mr.  Hall,  "  spent  a  grand  evening  with  Chancellor  Kent,"  and 
v/hom  he  describes  elsewhere,  as  "  robust,  loquacious,  boyish, 
comical,  and  oddly  snappish  and  pleasing.  His  manner  is  so 
singular  as  to  baule  description."  He  ever  continued  to  regard 
the  Chancellor  as  one  of  the  greatest  and  best  of  Ameiicans. 

The  scene  now  changes  again  to  Princeton.  The  Hebrew 
professor  was  meanwhile  making  progress  in  his  studies  and 
with  his  classes. 

It  appears  that  he  kept  up  his  communications  with  Ger- 
many, and  now  and  then  refreshed  himself  in  the  old  paths  of 
Oriental  romance  and  poetry.  His  habits  were  healthful  and 
regular,  with  the  exception  that  his  labours  seemed  excessive, 
and  that  he  gave  himself  no  sufficient  bodily  recreation. 

"AcgustlS. — I  rose  early  and  walked;  studied  and  wrote  notes 
on  the  fifteenth  Psalm.  Re;id  the  fortieth  Psihn  with  the  clas^.  Dr. 
IIodg3  rer-eivel  aletter  fro-n  James  Clark  in  Boston,  enclosing  a  note  in 
Gennaa  to  me  from  Biersthal,  my  old  acquaintance  and  Rabbinical 
instructor.  He  promises  to  s^nd  me  his  Manual  Hebrew  Lexicon 
which  he  began  while  I  was  there,  and  wants  a   situation  in  America. 


364  DR.    ARCHIBALD    ALEXANDER,  OSSS. 

I  read  a  capital  review  of  Sir  Joha  Sinclair  on  paper  currency,  in  tlia 
London  Quarterly  for  1811." 

"  September  7.— Read  Tsalnis  xvi,  xci,  with  my  class.  Added  a 
codicil  to  my  article  on  Prelacy.  Resumed  tlie  perusal  of  tlie  Thou- 
sand and  One  Nights  in  Arabic,  which  I  suspended  on  the  13tli  of  Sep- 
tember last  year.  I  am  also  rapidly  revising  Jaubert's  Turkish  Gram, 
mar,  which  I  studied  on  my  voyage  to  Europe,  so  that  I  am  likely  to 
become  again  quite  Oriental." 

Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  on  a  Sunday  in  September 
preached  in  the  Chapel  a  powerful  extemporaneous  discourse 
from  the  text  "  Consider  your  ways."  It  was  very  awakening 
and  penetrated  the  heart  and  conscience  of  many.  On  such 
occasions  there  Avas  often  a  return  of  Virginia  warmth ;  and 
pictures  addressed  to  the  fancy  were  mingled  with  shrewd 
touches  of  human  nature  and  profound  and  moving  appeals  to 
the  springs  of  human  action.  There  were  times  when  Dr. 
Alexander  could  sway  the  passions  at  his  will. 

One  may  know  the  impression  that  would  be  produced  on 
an  audience  by  warm,  lively  appeals  from  such  a  man  to  the  im- 
ao-ination  and  feelings ;  especially  when  we  take  into  view  the 
faultless  taste  of  the  style,  and  the  indescribable  accompani- 
ments of  voice  and  manner.  There  are  people  now  living  in 
Vircfinia  who  remember  him  perfectly  as  he  appeared  at 
the  time  that  he  preached  at  Briery,  and  who  confirm  all  that 
has  been  said  as  to  the  exceedhig  sweetness  and  pathos  of 
his  intonations,  and  the  imimitable  naturalness,  freedom,  and 
cordiality  of  his  delivery.  There  are  some,  indeed,  whose  re- 
collections go  back  to  a  much  earlier  period.  Most  of  those, 
however,  who  knew  him  in  those  days  have  passed  away. 

There  is  little  in  his  printed  sermons  to  put  one  in  mind  ot 
the  familiar  and  often  unpremeditated  but  sparkling  outpour- 
ings of  his  youth  ;  they  are  elegant  and  not  devoid  of  unction, 
but  crave  and  severe,  and  almost  wholly  bare  of  ornament.  His 
style  became  more  and  more  Doric  in  its  simplicity,  as  he  grew 
older  and  advanced  in  experience.  His  friend  Dr.  Speece  spor- 
tively  compared  his  efforts  in  his  earlier  days  to  the  gambols 


^T.  26.]  HIS    PREACHING.  365 

of  a  mettlesome  colt  in  a  broad  pasture.  It  was  not  until  Dr. 
41exandei-'s  removal  to  Princeton  that  his  manner  underwent 
a  marked  and  decided  change.  The  characteristic  to  which  I 
refer,  was  an  extraordinary  power  of  bringing  the  scene  ho 
wasilepicting  before  the  very  eye  of  his  audience.  He  held  in 
his  Lands  the  wand  of  a  magician.  He  was  undoubtedly  one 
of  the  most  natural  and  graphic  speakers  in  America.  He 
saw  the  thing  himsolf,  and  made  others  see  it.  There  was 
nothing  theatrical  about  this;  or  approaching  in  the  remotest 
degree  to  such  a  quality.  He  held  his  audience  under  precisely 
the  same  kind  of  spell  that  a  good  story-teller,  who  is  interested 
in  his  subject  and  who  draws  inspiration  from  the  open  mouths 
and  sparkling  eyes  of  his  little  hearers,  can  throw  around 
children.  This  was  due  to  his  own  childlike  simplicity.  His 
expressions  were  as  nearly  colloquial  as  was  consistent  with  an 
almost  absolute  purity  and  propriety  of  diction,  and  a  singu- 
lar felicity  in  the  choice  of  words.  His  sentences,  too,  Avere 
neatly  rounded,  as  if  by  a  sort  of  happy  chance  or  careless  and 
unconscious  grace,  and  were  often  very  harmonious.  But  be- 
fore one  could  well  detect  anything  like  cadence  or  rhythm,  the 
tune  would  change,  or  rather  would  be  broken  up,  just  as  in  fire- 
side talk.  His  tones  even  in  his  most  spirited  moments  were 
those  of  animated  conversation. 

I  am  again  indebted  for  important  facts  to  Dr.  Jones  of 
Bridgeton.  For  the  greater  part  of  Mr.  Jones's  term  of 
study  in  the  Theological  Seminary  Mr.  Alexander  was  Ad- 
junct-Professor of  Ancient  Languages  in  the  College  of  New 
Jersey.  The  new  Professor  was  appointed  during  Mr.  Jones's 
last  year ;  and  the  pupil  remembered  to  have  heard  at  the  time 
of  his  election  that  one  distinguished  minister  had  expressed 
the  opinion,  that  "  only  one  Addison  Alexander  was  born  in  a 
century ;  "  while  the  other  felt  sure  that  but  one  such  man 
was  allotted  to  a  generation. 

"  One  of  these  persons  was  the  venerable  Aslibel  Green,  formerly 
Pi-tsident  of  Princeton  College;  than  whom  few  were  better  quali 
fi3(l  to  pronounce  judgment  on  a  scholar.     It  is  not  too  much  to  saj 


366  PRIVATE    CLASSES.  nwk 

tliat  those  most  comjietcnt  to  jndgo  •n-oiild  be  the  last  to  pronounce  sucli 
a  eulogy  extraviigaut." 

All  that  this  gentleman  had  ever  heard  of  Mr.  Alexander  be- 
fore he  came  under  his  instructions,  was  far  more  than  reaaztd 
by  Avhat  he  saw  and  learnt  of  him  while  his  pupil.  In  addi- 
tion to  his  ordinary  and  regular  instructions  in  the  Seminary,  ho 
proposed  to  form  a  volunteer  class,  to  meet  on  Saturday  after- 
noon "our  only  holiday"  and  to  study  the  Book  of  Leviti- 
cus, in  a  more  private  and  familiar  Avay.  Four  of  the  young 
men  gladly  accepted  his  invitation,  by  meeting  him  for  an 
hour  each  week ;  and  the  writer  of  the  sketches  which  I  am 
now  using  is  persuaded  that  only  those  who  then  and  there 
listened  to  these  informal  exercitations  can  form  an  idea  of 
the  interest  with  which  the  young  professor  contrived  to  invest 
his  exposition  of  a  book  which  under  a  less  fascinating  treat- 
ment might  have  seemed  dry.     He  goes  on  as  follows  : 

"  During  one  session  of  my  Seminary  life,  it  was  my  rare  privilcgo 
to  reside  under  the  same  roof*  with  Professor  Alexander;  both  of  us 
occupying  lodgings  in  a  house  near  the  Seminary.'' 

Here  it  was  that  he  became  better  acquainted  with  tha 
man  than  he  had,  or  otherwise  could  have  been. 

"His  writings  and  his  instructions  in  the  recitation-room  had  ex- 
cited ray  wonder  and  admiration  at  the  vastness  of  his  resources  and 
his  skilful  management  of  them.  His  powers  of  mind,  Iiis  acquisitiona 
ami  the  facility  with  which  he  gained  all  kinds  of  knowledge  se;mad 
to  lift  him  above  the  level  of  mere  mortals,  and  to  place  between  him 
and  me  an  impassable  gulf.  Brought  nearer  to  him  by  residence  in  the 
game  house,  his  mind  became  to  me  more  a  'phenomenon  '  than  before. 
There  seemed  to  be  no  difference  in  his  case  between  work  and  phiy. 
Study  to  other  men  is  a  toil ;  attended  or  followed  by  fatigue.  In  his 
case  there  seemed  to  be  no  greater  tension  of  mind  while  engaged  in 
his  prof  lundest  invesligatinns  than  when  he  was  rcailing  for  eutertaia- 
mer.t.  All  forms  of  mental  employment  seemed  eqitally  easy  to  Lim. 
I  never  heard  him  complain  of  weariness ;  and  I  never  saw  him  when 

*  At  Mrs.  Henderson's,  on  the  Trenton  Turnpike,  just  at  the  foot  of  the  hill 
north  of  Judge  Field's. 


^T.  26.] 


PERSONAL    TRAITS.  367 


he  seemed  -^earj.  "What  would  tax  any  other  mind  I  ever  knew 
seemed  mere  entertainment  to  laim.  The  old  proverb,  '  no  man  ia 
great  to  his  own  valet,'  was  not  realized  in  the  case  of  Addison  Alex- 
ander." 

The  writer's  private  intercourse  with  him  at  this  time,  and 
at  a  subsequent  period,  when  his  duties  called  him  at  least 
once  a  year  to  Princeton,  enhanced  his  estimate  of 

*'His  moral  excellence  and  the  prodigious  intellectual  powers  of  tho 
man.  The  nearer  I  approached  and  the  more  closely  I  studied  him, 
the  more  I  saw  to  admire,  and  the  more  astonishing  seemed  his  capaci- 
tv.  The  glance  of  his  mind  was  alilie  comprehensive,  keen,  and  minute. 
The  decisions  of  his  judgment  were  rapid,  heyund  those  of  any  man 
with  whom  I  ever  conversed ;  and  they  were  as  sound  as  they  were 
rapid." 

Among  the  personal  traits  which  impressed  themselves 
upon  his  notice,  in  j^vivate  intercourse,  were  "transparent  hon- 
esty and  truthfulness,  perfect  simplicity  of  character,  and  the 
rarest  union  of  simplicity  and  commanding  dignity."  A  more 
thoroughly  honest  man  he  never  knew ;  and  he  questioned 
whether  such  ever  lived. 

"I  never  knew  him  to  utter,  as  Lis  own  sentiment,  what  I  did  not 
helieve  to  be  the  actual  exponent  of  his  views.  I  never  knew  him  to 
equivocate  or  prevaricate,  or  practise  deceit  in  any  form  or  shape." 

lie  never  knew  a  man  who  had  a  greater  repugnance  to 
anything  approaching  pompous  pretension,  or  parade. 

"In his  manners  and  conversation,  in  his  lecture-room  and  in  tho 
pulpit,  in  his  great  critical  works  and  in  his  fugitive  writings,  there  was 
an  extraordinary  absence  of  everything  lilvc  an  attempt  to  impress  one 
with  an  idea  of  his  greatness.  You  could  not  but  feel  it ;  but  it  was 
not  because  he  made  an  effort  to  convince  you  of  it.  You  felt  his 
grc'itness  just  as  you  feel  the  greatness  of  a  lofty  mountain  or  a  Gothic 
cathedral." 

After  speaking  of  his  conscientious  regard  for  truth  and 
charity,  Dr.  Jones  continues  : 


368  BEARING    TOWARDS   HIS    CLASS.  [183S. 

"This  same  tenderness  of  conscience  and  of  feeling  was  often 
evinced  in  a  way  which  elicited  the  admiration  of  liis  pupils,  and 
greatly  heightened  their  estimate  of  his  piety.  Like  all  other  theolo- 
gical teachers,  he  was  occasionally  brouglit  into  contact  with  students 
who  annoyed  him  by  their  indolence,  heedlessness,  mental  sluggish- 
ness, or  self-conceit;  and  such  he  would  sometimes  rasp  with  no  little 
severity.  Whenever  this  occurred,  his  students  noticed  that  for  some 
time  after,  his  prayers  before  his  class  were  marked  by  unusual  hu- 
mility of  tone  and  tenderness  of  spirit;  as  if  the  recollection  even  of  a 
merited  castigation  had  cost  him  profound  regret." 

So  habitual  was  this  exhibition  of  a  tender  spirit  under 
such  cireumstauces,  that  students  on  their  return  to  the  chxss 
after  a  temporary  absence  from  the  recitation-i'oom,  frequently 
suspected  that  some  one  had  been  recently  visited  with  one  of 
thesetelling  rebukes,  from  the  peculiarly  subdued  and  reveren- 
tial tone  of  the  Professor's  opening  exercise. 

A  pupil  of  some  years'  later  date,*  in  referring  to  Mr.  Alex- 
ander's bearing  towards  his  classes,  remarks  that  the  only  fault 
he  could  ever  see  in  him  as  a  teacher,  was  his  impatience  of 
dulness. 

"He  seemed  to  entertain  towards  the  very  dull  or  incorrigibly 
stupid  youths,  who  are  found  in  almost  every  academical  class,  a  feel- 
ing akin  to  resentment  or  indignation  ;  and  he  frequently  showed  them 
no  mercy.  There  are,  I  believe,  several  traditions  in  tiie  Seminary  of 
his  unsparing  severity  to  some  very  pious,  good  brethren,  or  who  were 
esteemed  such,  which  (so  run  these  traditions)  aroused  the  feeling  of 
the  class  against  him." 

There  were  traditions  of  this  sort  afloat  when  this  writer 
was  in  the  Seminary. 

"I  could  not  account  for  it  until  I  had  the  opportunity  of  observing 
him  in  the  class  myself.  I  then  ascertained,  or  fancied  that  he  had  no 
conception  of  the  slowness  and  dulness  of  some  minds.  lie  thouijht 
therefore  that  the  only  hypothesis  by  which  he  could  account  for  the 
manifest  failure  of  some  of  his  pupils  to  make  any  adequate  progress, 
was  that  they  were  idle  and  neglectful  of  their  duties.     In  his  vieWj 

*  Dr.  Rice,  of  Mobile. 


^T.26.]  SHARP   CENSUEE.  369 

for  a  Seminary  student,   a  candidate  for  the  ministry,  to  neglect  tlie   • 
advaiita,i;es  furnished  iiim  by  the  church,  to  waste  his  lime  in  idleness 
or  frivolity,  was  a  great  sin  and  shame.     In  his  eyes  it  was  hateful  hy- 
pocrisy ;  and  he  had  the  most  profound  scorn  for  everything  like  sham 
and  pretence  in  religion."  ' 

It  is  true,  too,  that  in  so  large  a  school  as  Princeton  was 
then,  there  arc  always  some  who  deserve  sharp  censure  on 
the  scoi'c  of  laziness : 

"A  sort  of  literary  antinomians,  concerning  whom  the  Professor 
felt  in  a  measure  as  the  apostle  Paul  did  concerning  those  who  would 
turn  the  grace  of  God  intolasciviousness,  'their  damnation  is  just;' 
and  he  did  condemn  them  without  much  compunction.  I  th'iuk  that 
he  was  naturally  of  quick  temper,*  but  I  have  no  doubt  that  it  was 
somewhat  soured  and  rendered  a  little  morbid  by  his  earlier  experiences 
as  a  teacher  in  the  Seminary. 

"  lie  learned  afterwards  to  make  more  allowance  for  want  of  capacity, 
and  to  feel  more  Christian  charity  towards  real  offenders,  while  he  still 
condemned  their  conduct.  After  I  entered  the  Seminary,  I  saw  but 
little  of  the  petulance,  anger,  and  undue  severity,  for  which  he  had  a 
reputation  among  former  classes.  It  must  be  said,  however,  that  the 
students  who  made  fair  progress  in  his  department  knew  nothing  and 
could  remember  nothing  of  this  nature.  The  severity  of  his  reproof 
was  often  solely  in  the  tone  and  quality  of  the  voice." 

He  remembers  a  case  in  which  he  was  himself  the  sufferer : 

"  He  asked  me  why  a  certain  form  of  a  Hebrew  word  was  not  so 
and  so,  naming  the  normal  condition  of  the  word.  I  replied  with,  I 
believe,  a  somewhat  flippant  manner,  'It  ouglit  to  be.'  His  answer 
came  instantly  flashing  back,  'No  it  oughtn't!'  and  I  felt  a  sort  of 
thrill  shoot  through  me  like  the  electric  shock."  He  could  not  tell,  at 
first,  what  cause:!  the  sensation,  but  soon  discovered  that  it  was  due  en- 
tirely to  the  tone  of  voice  in  "which  the  few  syllables  of  reply  had  been 
ntttrcd.*     "  It  made  me  cautious  ever  after  of  the  tone  in  which  I  an- 

*  This  13  doubtless  true;  and  his  other  emotions  were  as  quick  and  energet- 
ic as  his  "  temper."      His    temper   was   certainly  at   times  bitter.     I  do   not 
imagine,  however,  that  his  temper  was  ever  habitually  or  even  for  a  length  of 
time  continuously  sour.     Dr.  Rice,  probably,  does  not  mean  this. 
10* 


3^0  CONVERSATION. 


[183S. 


swered  his  questions.     He  then  went  on  very  pleasantly  to  sny,  'You 
mean  that  it  would  be  so,  but  for  such  and  such  circumstance^.'  " 

"  I  have  in  the  course  of  my  life  met  witli  three  teachers  of  pre 
eminent  ability  as  teachers,  and  lie  was  the  foremost  of  them  all,  for 
pupils  of  intellect  above  the  average.  For  dull  boys  he  was  not  so 
good,  for  the  reasons  above  stated.  If  a  young  man  had  anything  in 
him,  and  was  disposed  to  make  use  of  his  advantages,  Mr.  Alexander 
could  draw  it  out  better  than  any  teacher  I  ever  saw. 

"His  instructions  were  characterized  by  surpassing  clearness. 
There  was  no  mistaking  his  meaning ;  and  there  was  no  mixing  of  sub- 
jects, no  confnsion  of  thought." 

The  same  writer  also  refers  to  his  directness  and  brevity, 
and  to  the  happy  peculiarity  of  his  diction. 

Few  persons  of  scholarlike  habits  and  recluse  disposition 
have  had  such  talents  for  common  talk,  or  more  carefully  con- 
cealed the  gitt  from  the  vulgar.  In  allusion  to  Mr.  Alexan- 
der's social  qualities,  and  the  unaffected  charm  of  his  manner 
when  he  was  at  leisure  and  among  his  friends,  one  of  his 
warmest  admirers  f  writes,  that  he  never  monopolized  conver. 
sation  as  Coleridge  did  ;  and  never  like  Johnson,  attempted  to 
bear  you  down  by  the  Aveight  of  his  greatness,  %  or  the  force 
of  authority.  "  With  intimate  friends  he  would  take  his 
proper  share  in  conversation  ;  and  in  this,  as  in  his  writings, 
there  was  no  redundancy  of  words,  nor  irrelevancy  of  ideas." 
His  manner  was  that  of  perfect  ease  and  unstudied  simplicity; 
his  language  precise  and  elegant ;  and  all  his  utterances  Avere 
marked  by  point  and  condensation.  So  finished  was  his  ordi- 
nary talk  that  so  far  as  accuracy  is  concerned,  it  might  have 
been  committed  to  print  without  correction.  And  the  same 
may  be  said  of  his  oral  interrogations  in  the  recitation-room. 

*  It  has  been  strongly  impressed  upon  me  that  with  his  talent  and  love  for 
personation,  he  sometimes  may  have  copied  after  the  Captain  of  the  Samson,  of 
whose  manner  of  scolding  the  sailors  without  being  angry  he  has  expressed  his 
warmest  approval. 

f  Dr.  Beach  Jones. 

\  And  the  writer  might  have  added,  never,  as  Prescott  sa3's  Macauby  did, 
fippressed  you  with  the  ponderous  weight  of  his  matter.  He  was  always  easy 
and  colloquial. 


^T.  26.] 


OBSERVER    OF    MEN.  371 


"A  competent  judge  who  had  never  heard  of  Dr.  Alexander's 
fame,  would  hav^pronounced  him  an  extraordinary  man  simply  from 
listening  to  his  questions  to  his  class.  As  to  all  the  minute  laws  and 
elegancies  of  language,  both  written  and  spoken,  he  had  no  superior. 
In  orthography,  orthoepy,  and  syntax  he  was  a  model. 

"With  all  his  vast,  various,  and  even  curious  learning;  with  all 
his  addiction  to  study;  with  all  his  recluse  habits  ;  Mr.  Alexan- 
der was  one  of  the  wisest  practical  judges  of  men  and  affairs  whom 
I  have  ever  known.  He  rarely  erred  in  his  estimate  of  men,  and  was 
one  of  the  wisest  of  counsellors  on  almost  any  subject  on  which  he 
was  consulted." 

That  one  so  immersed  in  books  should  sometimes  be  ab- 
stracted when  moving  among  men,  or  that  he  should  be  care- 
less or  oblivious  of  little  things,  would  have  excited  no  sur- 
prise, because  such  is  usually  the  case.  "  Yet  a  keener  obser- 
ver of  all  that  was  passing  in  the  busy  world  around  him,  it 
would  have  been  hard  if  not  impossible  to  find.  Names  and 
circumstances  and  peculiarities  of  manner  indelibly  impressed 
themselves  on  his  mind.  Little  incidents  were  as  accurately 
retained  as  great  events  and  fundamental  principles.  He  has 
reminded  me  of  things  I  had  said,  many  years  after  I  had 
utterly  forgotten  them." 

The  friend  to  whose  exact  recollections  I  owe  so  much  of 
the  materials  of  this  account,  winds  up  a  paragraph  by  saying, 
that 

"  When  we  consider  the  versatility  of  his  powers  and  his  love  of 
change,  and  the  fact  that  he  rarely,  if  ever,  carried  two  successive 
classes  through  precisely  the  same  routine  of  studies,  and  constructed 
scarcely  ^y  two  of  his  sermons  on  the  same  plan  ;  it  will  furnish 
another  proof  of  the  healthiness  of  his  mind  and  the  solidity  of  his 
piety,  that  he  should  never  have  adopted  theological  whimsies  nor 
darted  off  in  heretical  aberrations." 

This  is  admirably  said.  With  all  his  changes  he  ever  swung 
back  again  like  the  agitated  needle  and  jDointed  steadily  to 
the  pole  of  duty  and  right  inclination.  Like  Wordsworth's 
lark,  however  he  might  ruffle  his  plumage  and  beat  the  air  with 
his  wings,  it  was  only  that  he  might  soar  the  more  easily  into 


372  DR.    HALL.  [1835. 

the  bright  skies  ;  he  never  forgot  his  nest,  and  his  little  house- 
hold cares  npon  the  ground.  In  brief,  with  all  his  seeming 
and  real  vacillations,  with  all  his  inexplicable  flights  and 
descents,  he  always  remained 

"  True  to  the  kindred  points  of  heaven  and  home." 

There  is  little  of  jjositive  value  to  be  gathered  from  this  part 
of  Mr.  Alexander's  private  correspondence.  He  seldom  wrote 
letters  except  on  matters  of  business,  and  these  were  commonly 
very  short.  He  corresponded,  however,  at  irregular  intervals 
with  a  few  intimate  friends.  The  only  one  to  whom  he  occasion- 
ally poured  out  all  the  feelings  of  his  soul  in  his  epistolary 
effusions,  was  his  brother  James.  There  were  certain  men 
nevertheless  to  whom  he  v/rote  with  great  freedom  and  with 
great  satisfaction  to  himself  and  them.  Among  these  the  first 
place  is  due  to  Dr.  Hall  of  Philadelphia,  and  afterwards  Tren- 
ton, to  whom  he  continued  to  write  copiously.  His  neighbor- 
hood, his  position  at  one  of  the  great  centres  of  polite  informa- 
tion and  of  the  operations  of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  his  in- 
telligent congeniality  of  feeling,  his  tried  friendship,  and  his 
incessant  communications  with  the  professor's  elder  brother, 
made  this  intercourse  at  once  valuable  and  full  of  enjoyment. 
When  he  removed  from  Philadelphia  to  Trenton,  the  country 
scholar  could  not  resist  the  temptation  of  keeping  au  courmit 
of  what  was  passing  on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware,  and  found 
or  created  many  occasions  of  reminding  his  friend  of  his  own 
fixed  position  at  Princeton.  Mr.  Hall  possessed  one  great 
advantage  over  the  mass  of  Mr.  Alexander's  acquainliinces,  he 
had  a  perfect  comprehension  and  an  exquisite  appreciation  of 
his  humour.  This  led  to  the  most  comical  imaginary  strife  or 
mock-warfare  between  them.  This  Avill  explain  the  fact  that 
half  that  is  contained  in  these  lettei's  must  be  regarded  as  pure 
irony.  This  statement  is  necessary  to  meet  tlie  case  of  those 
who  have  a  sort  of  colour-blindness  in  this  matter.  Mr.  Alex- 
ander was  really  modest  and  humble,  yet  it  will  be  perceived 
that  he  often  writes  to  Mr.   Hall  in  a  tone  which  if  serious 


Mt.  26.3  CORRESPONDENCE.  373 

would  be  one  of  supercilious  condescension,  or  arrogant  pre- 
sumption.  Of  course  all  this  was  the  merest  fun,  and  was  so 
taken  by  his  correspondent.  Sometimes  the  letters  are  refined 
burlesques.  They  are  frequently  couched  in  the  language  of 
diplomacy.  They  are  often  signed  with  a  succession  of  up- 
right hair-strokes  crossed  with  flourishes  of  the  pen  in  the 
form  of  an  hour-glass.  Sometimes  they  are  from  a  bishop,  in 
due  pomp  of  ritualistic  precision,  and  breathe  the  most  sacer- 
dotal or  even  Prelatical  spirit.  Sometimes  they  are  from  a 
very  testy  and  punctilious  "star  preacher"  (a  character 
whom  Mr.  Alexander  abhorred  most  intensely)  who  is  solici- 
tous about  the  times  and  circumstances  of  his  personal  exhibi- 
tion, and  inquires  anxiously,  or  gives  directions,  about  the 
benches  in  the  aisles.  Some  of  the  letters  are  made  up  almost 
wholly  of  the  eu.rrent  ministei'ial  slang  or  cant.  Often  the 
writer  is  half  in  earnest  in  what  he  says  in  a  strain  of  ironical 
affectation,  and  chooses  this  mode  of  conveying  real  feelings. 
Sometimes  he  writes  gravely  on  some  subject  requiring  or  in- 
viting grave  attention.  In  all  cases  he  shows  unlimited  con- 
tidense  in  the  discernment  and  fidelity  of  his  Philadelphia 
agent,  caterer,  and  friend.  Not  a  few  of  the  letters  are  on 
questions  of  ecclesiastical  procedure,  the  General  Assembly 
and  the  New  School  con.roversy,  &c.,  and  are  full  of  refer- 
ences to  the  names  and  characters  of  living  men.  They  are  also 
remarkably  and  intentionally  local  in  their  allusions,  and  are 
some  of  them  by  this  time  quite  unintelligible.  Now  and  then 
I  have  fallen  in  with  one  which  could  be  understood  only  by 
the  man  who  wrote  it,  or  possibly  also  the  man  to  whom  it  was 
written.  Restricted  as  the  field  of  selection  is  thus  made  it 
yet  presents  a  number  of  letters  which  however  uninteresting 
they  may  seem  to  the  superficial  reader,  will  undoubtedly 
afford  a  vantage  ground  to  those  who  wish  to  see  the  soul  of 
the  writer  in  its  undress  garb,  and  from  a  multitude  of  minute 
disclosures  of  character  and  feeling,  to  ascertain  for  themselves 
what  manner  of  man  he  really  was.  These  letters  will  be  in- 
troduced from  time  to  time  according  to  their  dates. 

Princeton  was  at  this  time  suffering  greatly  from  the  rava- 


374  ARABIC    LETTER.  [1838. 

ges  of  a  disease  resembling  -what  is  now  known  as  the  typhoid 
or  enteric  fever.  Many  deaths  occurred  sometimes  in  one 
family.  Dr.  Howell,  the  friend  and  physician  of  the  Alexan- 
ders, whose  family  had  been  scourged  and  reduced  in  numbers 
by  the  fever,  died  himself  on  the  second  of  November.  Early 
in  December  the  great  fire  was  raging  in  New  York,  and  the 
reflection  in  the  heavens  was  distinctly  seen  at  Princeton,  and 
mistaken  for  an  aurora.  We  have  but  few  glimpses  of  Mr- 
Alexander  in  the  midst  of  these  occurrences,  but  such  as  they 
are  they  indicate  the  iervour  and  the  brave  energy  with 
which  he  was  holding  on  his  way  as  a  student. 

Monday  the  21st,  like  several  of  its  predecessors,  was  a 
bad  day  ;  mizzling  and  slippery.  During  the  whole  of  this 
dull  day  Mr.  Alexander  was  closeted  with  Mr.  John  Porter 
Brown,  U.  S.  Consul  at  Constantinople,  decyphering  under 
his  eye  an  Arabia;  letter  v/hich  was  sent  to  Mr.  Brown  by  the 
U.  S,  government  as  a  test  of  his  knowledge  of  the  language. 
Mr.  Brown  was  applying  for  the  situation  of  interpreter  at  the 
Porte.  The  letter  was  found  to  relate  to  certain  missionaries 
at  Beirut.*  Mr.  Brown  also  gave  Mr.  Alexander  a  Ferin- 
da,  such  as  are  used  by  the  Hadjis.  It  was  very  beautiful, 
writes  his  brother  James. 

On  Lord's  day,  the  27th,  Dr.  A.  Alexander  preached 
another  remarkable  sermon  in  the  Seminary  chapel.  It  was 
on  Regeneration,  and  sti'uckhis  eldest  son  as  being  as  great  an 
effort  as  he  ever  heard  from  him.  It  was  astonishing  how  he 
would  sometimes  flame  up  and  electrify  the  audiences  that 
had  grown  accustomed  to  his  colder  and  more  didactic  ser- 
mons. He  certainly  had  the  faculty  of  thinking  and  compos- 
ing while  on  his  feet,  at  times  looking  as  if  he  were  forgetful 

*  The  prospective  Consul  had  hunted  aU  over  the  United  States  for  some  one 
to  malie  out  the  MS.  Among  these  he  went  to  Peter  S.  Duponcean,  Presi- 
dent of  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  who  asked  if  he  had  seen  Professor 
Addison  Alexander,  of  Princeton  ?  On  his  saying  he  had  not,  Professor  D.  said  he 
had  better  proceed  thither  at  once.  My  impression  is  that  several  othc^ 
Bcholars  had  been  baffled  by  that  manuscript.  They  found  out  between  them 
that  it  was  written  in  the  Morocco  dialect. 


^T.26.]  PRAYERS.  375 

of  the  presence  of  hearers,  in  a  degree  that  has  not  often  beeu 
equalled. 

One  thing  in  the  pulpit  ministrations  of  Mr.  Alexander 
which  specially  arrested  the  notice  of  devout  and  rellectire 
minds  was  his  prayers.  In  these,  as  in  his  sermons,  he  spoke 
as  at  the  time  he  felt.  At  times  there  was  much  more  ot  fer- 
vour and  unction  than  at  others.  But  never  were  his  prayers 
eloquent  addresses  to  his  audiences. 

His  reverence  for  the  great  Hearer  of  Prayer  was  profound 
and  self-abasing.  He  seemed  to  forget  everything  but  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Divine  Majesty.  If  he  had  a  fault  in  this  exercise 
it  was  the  condensation  of  too  much  in  a  brief  compass.  He 
poured  forth  his  adoration,  confession,  supplication,  and 
thanksgiving,  with  such  rapidity  that  only  by  the  closest  at- 
tention could  his  fellow-worshippers  accompany  him.  His 
prayers  might  sometimes  be  styled  grand  ;  but  grand  not  be- 
cause he  sought  to  make  a  grand  prayer,  but  because  the 
themes  were  so  grand,  and  because  they  were  so  simple,  so 
free  from  everything  like  parade  It  would  not  have  been 
strange  if  a  man  of  Mr.  Alexander's  scholastic  habits  had 
lacked  simplicity  and  unction  in  prayer.  That  he  was  charac- 
terized by  both  of  these  excellences,  was  to  his  friend  one 
evidence  of  the  reality  and  depth  of  his  piety.  Like  his  ven- 
erable father,  Dr.  Addison  Alexander  was  in  conversation 
very  reticent  as  to  his  own  religious  experience.  But  when  he 
came  to  prostrate  his  soul  before  God,  in  public  devotion,  his 
piety  unconsciously  disclosed  itself.  "  I  remember  attending  a 
meeting  of  great  interest,  at  which  several  foreign  ministers 
addressed  the  Synod  of  New  Jersey;  and  where  Mr.  A.  was 
called  upon  to  lead  in  prayer, 

"  At  the  close  of  the  services  one  of  the  most  spiritually- 
minded  members  of  the  body  remarked  to  me  that  the  prayer 
of  Dr.  Alexander  had  been  to  him  by  far  the  most  impressive 
and  profitable  part  of  the  evening's  services ;  and  in  this 
opinion  my  own  judgment  fully  acquiesced." 

Mr.  Alexander  was  not  usually  in  the  habit  of  writino-  out 
his  prayers;  but  I  find  a  little  volume  for  this  year  which  con- 


Sle  A    SPECIMEN.  r.83». 

tains  some  specimens  of  his  private  devotions,  and  some  litur- 
gical forms  which  were  used  at  the  opening;  of  his  lectures  and 
recitations  in  the  Seminary.  They  are  not  at  all  like  the  peti- 
tions I  have  heard  him  offer  extemporaneously,  which  weie 
more  abundant,  particular  and  colloquial.  Subjoined  is  a 
single  specimen : 

"  Jan.  18,  1835.— Matt.  sxv.   Lord,  may  I  be  ready  when  Thou  com 
est!   May  my  lamp  be  burning!   O,  give  me  a  watchful  spirit  and  save 
me,  O  save  me,  from  forgetfulness  and  slotli ! 

"  Teacli  me,  O  Saviour,  how  to  estimate  my  privileges  ;  help  me  to 
resolve  that  every  moment  shall  be  spent  for  Thee  !  I  renounce  vain 
amusements,  idle  talking,  slothful  ease,  useless  reading  and  all  mere 
literary,  intellectual  pleasures.  If  life  is  a  span,  liow  can  I  find  time 
for  mere  diversion  ?  I  forego  them  all,  not  grudgingly,  but  with  a  wil- 
ling heart.  Thou,  who  hast  made  me  willing,  accept  and  bless  the 
sacrifice !  O,  for  the  art  of  redeeming  time !  "Wilt  Thou  not  teach  me, 
O  my  God  ?  I  ask  of  Thee,  for  Christ's  sake,  not  to  let  me  waste  a 
moment  hereafter !  May  I  be  burdened  with  the  weight  of  my  re- 
sponsibility !  May  I  feel,  more  and  more,  Avhat  work  I  have  to  do,  as 
well  as  undo !  The  habits  of  five  and  twenty  years  are  to  bo 
broken,  and  new  ones  to  be  formed.  Mercy  and  help,  O,  Lord,  my 
Sovereign  Lord !  Thou  who  lovest  little  children,  make  me  a  littlo 
child !  Make  me  humble,  simple-hearted,  tender,  guileless  and  confi- 
ding! Kill  my  selfish  pride !  Shiver  my  hard  heart  1  Break  my  stub- 
born spirit!  Make  me  love  my  kind  by  making  me  to  love  Thee!  0  sof- 
ten me,  my  Saviour,  by  showing  me  Thy  own  tender,  bleeding,  melt- 
ing heart !  Purge  envy  from  my  heart  by  causing  me  to  live  and 
work  for  Thee  !  O,  that  this  foul  fiend  were  wholly  dispossessed!  I 
bless  Thee  for  trials — may  they  do  me  good!  Compel  me  to  remem- 
ber that  I  am  not  my  own !  Save  me  from  being  the  object  of  envy 
or  ill-will.  Save  me  from  the  wickedness  of  trying  to  excite  it! 
Lord,  I  would  give  the  world  for  true  humility.  O,  make  me — m.ike 
me  humble! " 

One  of  the  prominent  traits  of  his  disposition  in  after-life, 
was  rare  freedom  from  the  canker  of  jealousy  or  envy,  and  a 
very  low  opinion  of  his  own  powers  and  influence.  This,  in- 
deed, had  always  been  the  case,  as  was  best  known  to  those 


wEt.26.]  resolutions,  S11 

of  his  immediate  family  ;  but  from  this  time  onward  the  trait 
became  more  marked  and  fixed. 

The  following  resolutions  are  appended  to  the  preceding 
prayer.     They  relate  to  the  practical  guidance  of  his  life. 

"  EESOLUTIONS. 

"1.  I  will  try  to  perform  every  act  of  ray  life  with  conscious  re- 
gard to  religious  motives.  I  will  eat,  drink,  talk,  study,  teach,  write 
suffer,  not  only  as  a  Christian,  but  with  Christian  affections,  with  the 
love  of  Christ  in  my  heart. 

"2.  I  will  try  to  live  for  a  death  bed,  and  for  eternal  life.  I  will 
try  to  remember  what  it  is  I  am  living  for,  and  to  form  the  habit 
of  remembering  it  always — not  at  certain  seasons  only. 

"  3.  I  will  try  to  be  tender-hearted  and  to  love  my  fellow-creatures. 
I  will  deny  myself,  in  order  to  cherish  the  aifections.  I  will  try  to 
show  that  I  am  no  misanthrope. 

"4.  I  will  try  to  maintain  an  humble  spirit;  I  will  try  to  live  as 
though  it  matters  not  whether  I  be  known  or  unknown — honoured  or 
despised.  I  will  try  to  rejoice  in  the  eminence  of  others.  It  is 
hard,  but  I  will  try  it  in  the  strength  of  my  Kedeemer,  But,  O  my 
Lord,  Thou  knowest  I  may  try  forever,  yet  in  vain,  without  Thy 
grace ! 

"  5.  I  will  try  to  hate  sin.  I  will  think  and  think  about  my  Saviour's 
sufferings,  till  my  heart  is  broken.  I  shall  fail  a  hundred  and  a  hun- 
dred times ;  but  I  will  still  persist  till  my  proud  heart  yields,  and  I 
become  a  little  child.     O,  that  my  head  were  waters!  " 

"  Feb.  26. — Hear  me  when  I  call,  0  God  of  my  righteousness !  Thou 
hast  enlarged  me  when  I  was  in  distress ;  have  mercy  upon  me  and 
hear  my  prayer.  Eebuke  me  not  in  thine  auger,  neither  chasten  me 
in  Thy  hot  displeasure.  Lighten  my  eyes  lest  I  sleep  the  sleep  of  death. 
Remember  not  the  sins  of  my  youth,  nor  my  transgressions.  Accord- 
in""  to  Thy  mercy  remember  Thou  me,  for  Thy  goodness'  sake.  OLord 
pardon  mine  iniquity,  for  it  is  great!  Turn  Thou  unto  me,  and  have 
mercy  upon  me ;  for  I  am  desolate  and  afflicted.  The  troubles  of  my 
heart  are  enlarged.  0  bring  Thou  me  out  of  my  distresses !  Look  upon 
mine  aflfliction  and  my  pain,  and  forgive  me  all  my  sins.  Mine  eyes 
are  ever  toward  the  Lord,  for  He  shall  pluck  my  feet  out  of  the  net. 
O  keep  my  soul  and  deliver  me  ;  let  me  not  be  ashamed,  for  I  put  my 
trust  in  Thee  !  Lord,  I  believe,  help  Thou  my  imbelief !  Let  the  blood 
of  Christ  purge   my  conscience  from  dead  works,  to  serve  the  living 


378  ESTIMATE    OF   HIS    PRAYERS. 


n836. 


God.  Let  me  have  grace  whereby  I  may  serve  God  acceptably!  O, 
Jesus  Clirist,  tlie  snme  yesterday,  to-day  and  forever,  by  Thee  let  mo 
offcT  this  sacrifice  of  praise  to  God:  and  O,  Thou  God  of  peace,  Avho 
did>t  bring  again  from  the  dead  our  Lord  Jesus,  that  great  Shepherd  of 
the  sheep,  through  the  blood  of  the  everlasting  covenant,  make  mo 
perfect  in  every  good  work  to  do  Thy  will ;  work  in  me  that  which  is 
well  pleasing  in  Thy  sight,  through  Jesus  Christ,  to  whom  be  glory  for- 
ever and  ever !     Amen." 

The  lamented  Dr.  Edward  Yeomans,  of  Orange,  N.  J.,  lias 
contributed  the  following  sentences  on  this  subject : 

"  The  structure  of  his  public  prayers  strikes  me  as  a  marked  exam- 
ple of  his  ready  aggregation,  or  setting  things  in  array.  And  in  this 
field  his  peculiar  facility  was  another  excellence.  In  extcnpore  prayer 
it  is  as  easy  to  develope  a  train  of  thought  as  to  string  together  com- 
mon-i)laccsand  stereotyped  phrases.  Dr.  Alexander  did  neither.  The 
liardest  thing  to  do,  extemporaneously,  is  to  enumerate  particulars  con- 
nected rather  by  a  real  than  by  a  logioal  association ;  and  this  is  the 
thing  to  do  in  prayer— set  forth  thinjjs  connected  more  by  a  common 
root  in  the  heart's  want,  than  by  abstract  or  mechanical  relations. 
This  came  naturally  to  Dr.  Alexander.  I  think  I  have  never  heard 
any  other  extempore  prayers  so  characterized  as  his  by  this  sim- 
ple collection  of  things  directly  asked  of  the  Lord,  and  at  the  same 
time  so  ready  and  orderly  in  the  enumeration  of  the  things.  He  asked 
for  things  instead  of  descanting  on  subjects." 

Nothing  Avas  ever  more  truly  or  justly  said.  The  prayers 
of  this  mighty  man  of  God,  were  as  simple  as  those  of  a  little 
child ;  but  they  were  also  the  prayers  of  one  who  sometimes 
found  it  natural  to  unburden  his  heart  in  sentences  and  phra- 
ses, which  though  familiar  in  his  mouth  as  household  Avords, 
were  such  as  are  not  often  met  with  in  the  language  of  formal 
and  studied  devotion. 

There  was  a  certain  peculiarity  about  the  prayer  before 
lecture.  Dr.  Moore  says  that  his  petitions  in  the  class-room 
always  struck  him  much  more  forcibly  than  his  recitations. 

"They  had  that  wonderful  concentration  and  variety  with  an  es- 
sential sameness,  wuich  you  notice  in  Calvin's  prayers  at  the  close  of 


^T.  26.]  PRAYERS    BEFORE    LECTURE.  379 

his  lectures  on  the  Minor  Prophets;  which  while  they  are  always  sul> 
stantially  the  same  in  their  leading  outlines,  yet  gather  up  and  con- 
centrate in  a  few  words  the  substance  of  a  v\hole  lecture.  His  pray- 
ers were  remarkable  fur  their  suggestiveness.  He  would  bring  in  a 
word,  in  some  connection  that  would  suggest  its  etymology,  or  some 
philological  f.ict  associated  with  it,  which  threw  a  new  and  rich  light 
on  the  thought  expressed ;  and  although  he  never  dwelt  on  the  sugges- 
tion or  carried  it  out  in  detail,  or  seemed  to  have  thought  of  it  before, 
it  gave  food  for  thinking  long  afterwards.  His  wonderful  fluency 
showed  itself  in  his  prayers  more  than  in  any  other  exercise  I  ever  heard 
him  in ;  and  I  felt  the  power  of  his  intellect  in  packing,  condensing  and 
arranging  tliought,  without  losing  any  of  its  perfect  clearnes-!,  but 
rather  giving  new  lig  it  by  its  angles  of  crystallization  :  in  his  prayers 
in  the  cla^s-rooln  more  than  anywhere  else.  His  command  of  lan- 
guage then  was  very  wonderful,  indeed  to  my  mind  unsurpassed,  espe- 
c'ally  in  that  scholarly  collocation  of  words  that  showed  memings 
and  relations  of  them  in  his  own  mind  which  this  peculiar  collocation 
indicated  without  exactly  expressing,  and  suggested  so  much  more 
than  was  said." 

On  Monday  the  IStli  of  December,  Professor  James  Alex- 
ander made  the  acquaintance  of  Signer  Borsieri,  a  friend  of 
Silvio  Pellico,  who  had  been  for  fifteen  years  a  political  pris- 
oner in  the  dungeons  of  Italy.  Mr.  Borsieri  was  before  or  after- 
wards presented  to  Mr.  Addison  Alexander,  and  became,  if  I 
mistake  not,  one  of  his  numerous  foreign  teachers.  One  Cap- 
ta'n  Stuart,  a  British  Army  officer,  on  half-pay,  who  had  been 
stationed  many  years  in  Persia  and  was  thoroughly  acquainted 
with  the  Persian  language,  was  about  this  time  introduced  to 
Mr.  Alexander.  The  Captain  was  a  genuine  John  Bull, 
dressed  in  a  smock-blouse.  On  being  asked  to  give  examples 
of  the  Persian  pronunciation,  he  consented  by  uttering  a  num- 
ber of  harsh  throat-splitting  gutturals.  Mistaking  the  smile 
of  his  listeners  and  the  impression  he  had  made  upon  them,  be 
exclaimed  in  a  tone  of  gratified  bonhomie,  as  if  he  meant  to 
echo  their  inmost  feelings,  "Pretty  language!"  There  was 
no  end  to  the  fun  the  cloistered  student  had  with  these  out- 
landish people,  and  with  the  mistakes  and  idiosyncrasies  of 
the  workmen  in  his  employment. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

The  notable  event  of  the  year  1836  was  the  election  of  Mr. 
Alexander,  in  the  month  of  February,  to  the  chair  of  Oriental 
and  Biblical  Literature  in  the  Union  Theological  Seminary, 
just  established  in  the  city  of  New  York.  The  fact  was  never 
generally  known;  for  like  his  father  and  brother  before  him, 
Mr.  Alexander  seldom  spoke  of  such  things ;  indeed,  never 
without  strong  reason.  This,  however,  he  respectfully  de- 
clined.  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  on  such  points  was  almost 
absolutely  dumb.  His  son  Addison  was  not  quite  so  reticent, 
but  very  much  so. 

In  January  I  find  him  writing  comments  on  Leviticus  for 
the  benefit  of  his  private  class.  These  records  possess  great 
exegetical  value,  but  are  not  suited  for  extract. 

"Jan.  16. — Finished  my  comments  on  the  5tli  chapter  of  Leviticus. 
The  work  becomes  more  and  more  interesting  as  I  get  along  with  it. 
Tiie  chaos  of  the  ritual  begins  alrendy  to  assume  some  shape.  In  the 
afternoon  I  read  Leviticus  v.  5-6,  and  afterwards  wrote  mj  notes  on 
Chap.  vi.  1-r." 

At  night  he  diverted  his  mind  over  Dyer's  History  of 
Cambridge,  and  Burnett's  History  of  His  Own  Times.  These 
nocturnal  rambles  in  all  good  literature  were  of  the  utmost 
advantage  to  him  in  his  subsequent  labours  as  a  commentator. 

It  was  at  tl^s  time  usual  with  him  to  go  through  most  of 
his  heavy  work  before  the  twilight.  With  candles  came  the 
joys  of  discursive  wanderings  at  the  sweet  will  of  fancy. 
Perhaps  none  in  Princeton  had  more  real,  inward  content- 
ment. 


^T.27.]  DISCURSIVE    READING.  381 

"  Feb.  13. — Finished  the  Edinburgh  Eeview  for  October  last.  The 
first  half  of  it  is  dull.  The  article  on  Bolingbroiie  is  slight  compared 
with  that  in  the  Quarterly.  Its  only  value  consists  in  its  citations  from 
Mackintosh's  manuscripts.  The  article  on  political  associations  and  on 
the  House  of  Lords  interested  me,  because  they  let  me  into  the  exist- 
ing stat3  of  politics.  I  had  no  idea  of  the  strength  of  the  Tories,  until 
I  learned  it  from  the  concessions  of  this  writer.  Uut  the  leading  arti- 
cle undoubtedly  is  the  best.  I  cannot  help  feeling  stiU  that  the  esti- 
mate of  Mackintosh's  power  is  exaggerated  ;  partly  through  the  influ- 
ence of  party  spirit :  but  the  castigation  of  Coleridge  pleases  me  much, 
not  only  by  its  truth  and  spirit,  but  by  the  vivacity  and  vigour  of  the 
style,  which  is  worthy  of  the  old  days  of  the  Review.  The  writer 
must  be  Jeffrey  ;  there  i§  not  wit  enough  for  Sydney  Smith ;  the  style  is 
too  correct  and  elegant  for  Brougham ;  too  rapid,  affluent  and  laboured 
for  Macaulay.  The  concluding  observations  are  original,  ingenious, 
and  to  me  consolatory." 

The  hints  disclosed  in  these  extracts  of  his  knowledge  of 
contemporary  English  politics,  are  not  delusive.  He  kept 
abreast  of  the  whole  intellectual  movement  of  the  age.  As  in 
his  youth  he  was  mindful  of  the  words  of  the  oracle,  and  found 
no  subject  of  uninspired  knowledge  more  instructive  or  enter- 
taining than  man. 

TEOM    ME.    ALEXANDER   TO    ME.    HALL. 

"  Peincetox,  April  4,  1836. 

"  My  Dear  Sir  : 

"  I  make  bold  to  draw  upon  your  kindness  for  a  favour.  The  ac- 
companying parcel  is  a  Latin  Dictionary,  sent  to  me  from  Germany, 
in  sheets.  It  is  there  already  bound  in  one  volume,  and  I  am  very 
unwilling  to  have  it  bound  in  two.  I  am  afraid  however,  to  trust  a 
country  binder  with  so  thick  a  book.  You  will  oblige  me  greatly  by 
having  it  strongly,  neatly  and  compactly  bound  in  calf,  and  causing  the 
binder's  bill  to  be  sent  to  me.  The  book  itself  may  wait  for  a  conve- 
nient opportunity.  The  inclosed  letter  has  relation  to  the  American 
Quarterly  Review.     As  the  bearer  of  my  despatches  is  a  minor,  I  put 

it  inside  for  greater  safety. 

"  Very  truly,  yours, 

'  J.  ADDISON  ALEXANDER. 


382  QUARTERLY   REVIEW  nsse. 

"  P.  S. — As  jon  may  have  some  influence  on  tlie  new  regime  of  the 
Review,  I  beg  lliat  you  will  take  ?ome  piins  to  free  it  from  two  evil-!, 
which  have  greatly  Iiui-c  it:  (Ij  The  eleinent.iry  or  ABC  character  of 
many  of  its  article-,  particularly  those  on  scieniific  subjec  s,  s  ime  of 
which  have  resembled  the  prefatory  chapter  in  a  college  text-book. 
(2)  The  want  of  that  unity  in  principle  and  sentiment,  both  political 
and  literary,  which  gives  the  Edinburgh  and  Quarterly  their  peculiar 
charm  by  investing  them  respectively  with  a  personal  identity  of  char- 
acter and  tone.  In  my  (humble)  opinion,  the  adralssionor  exclusion  of 
discussion  and  diversity  of  seniimeut,  on  leading  questions,  is  precisely 
that  wliich  constitutes  the  specitic  ditference  between  a  molera  Maga- 
zine and  a  modern  Review. 

"  I  likewise  hope  that  the  new  editors  will  abolisli  the  di-itinctiiin 
between  revieios  and  critical  notices,  as  a  magazineish  feature  unwdrtliy 
of  the  great  guns  of  periodical  literature. 

"Excuse  this  excursus  and  likewise  the  binding-job,  with  whicli  on 
second  thought!^,  I  am  ashamed  of  troubling  you;  but  those  who  liva 
in  the  centre  of  the  world  must  expect  to  be  plagued  witli  ccmmis- 
sions  from  the  circumference  !  " 

Tuesday,  the  otli  of  April,  was  a  cool,  beautiful  day,  of  the 
late  winter  species.  The  frogs  had  just  began  to  sound  their 
instruments  in  the  meadows  vipon  Stony  Brook.  The  college 
examination  was  going  on.  In  the  evening  Dr.  Archibald 
Alexander  preached  powerfully  to  the  students  from  the  pas- 
sage, "  There  is  joy  in  heaven  over  one  sinner  that  repenteth," 
&c.  At  tbe  close  he  was  seized  with  a  deadly  faintness, 
which  however  left  him  uninjured.  On  the  17th,  which  was 
Sabbath,  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  completed  his  sixty-fourtja 
year.  Th3  college  vacation  commenced  about  the  middle  of 
the  month,  and  Professor  James  Alexander  took  a  trip  to  Vir- 
ginia. On  the  19th  of  April  his  brother  xVddison  writes  to 
his  Philadelphia  Iriend  for  Kichardson's  Arabic  and  Persian 
Dictionary,  Avhich  he  afterwards  reviewed  in  the  Repertory ; 
and  on  tlie  19th  of  May,  to  thank  him  for  some  books  he  had 
had  bound  and  lettered  tor  hira,  and  to  beg  him  to  go  in  quest 
of  an  inkstand  of  peculiar  shape.  These  commissions  were 
always  discharged  with  punctual  fidelity,  and  this  fact  v/ent 
far  to  cement  a   friendship  which  Avas  already  one  of  great 


iET.  2T.J  DR.    RAMSEY.  383 

sti-ength.  Mr.  Alexander  never  forgot  a  kindness,  and  thouo-h 
lie  said  little,  was  one  of  the  most  grateful  beings  I  ever  knew. 

The  Commencement  this  year  was  lurgely  attended,  and 
was  dignified  by  the  presence  of  General  Harrison,  who  made 
a  speech  in  the  Campus. 

It  is  now  my  privilege  to  spread  before  the  reader  some 
of  the  recollections  of  the  Rev.  James  B.  Ramsey  of  Lynch- 
burg, Va.,  who  was  four  yeai-s  under  the  tuition  of  Mr.  Alexan- 
der as  a  student  in  the  Theological  Seminary,  viz :  from  1838  to 
1839.  His  reminiscences  will  be  all  the  more  prized  when  it  is 
known  that  they  were  written  in  the  chamber  of  suffering,  and 
at  much  cost  of  strength  and  feeling.  Dr.  Ramsey  entered 
the  Seminary  in  the  autumn  of  1836,  but  does  not  think  he 
ever  spoke  to  Mr.  Alexander  except  in  recitation.  He  has, 
however,  a  very  definite  impression  of  him  as  he  appeared  in 
the  class-room,  and  of  the  impatience  he  manifested  and 
uttered,  at  the  idleness  of  some  of  the  students.  The  remarks 
were  usually  very  brief  but  very  keen  ;  and  made  him  very 
unpopular  with  a  portion  of  the  class. 

"My  own  feelings,"  says  Dr.  Kamsey,  "and  that  of  others  too,  of 
all  as  I  regarded  it,  who  took  the  right  view  of  the  subject,  was  t')at  he 
never  uttered  a  sentence  too  severe  for  conduct  so  utterly  unworthy  of 
a  student  for  the  ministry.*    I  felt  glad  that  conduct  which  it  seemed  to 

*  Dr.  Hall  writes,  that  liis  relations  to  Dr.  Alexander,  from  the  time  when 
the  former  became  a  member  of  the  first  class  he  taught  in  the  Seminary,  to 
that  of  their  last  interview  previous  to  the  death  of  the  latter,  were  of  the 
most  agreeable  character.  He  has  none  but  pleasant  recollections  of  him.  He 
admii'ed  him  as  a  prodigy  of  learning  and  a  most  versatile  genius :  while  he 
loved  him  for  the  kindly  interest  he  manifested  in  all  who  wished  to  make  pro- 
gress in  their  studies.  "He  was  never  pleased  with  joung  men  who  neglected 
preparations  for  the  class-room,  or  who  attempted  to  recite  when  it  was 
too  evident  that  they  had  given  little  attention  to  study.  His  patience 
was  sometimes  sorely  tried  by  students  who  seemed  to  lack  conscien- 
tiousness, and  a  proper  sense  of  their  responsibility  as  candidates  for  the  minis- 
try." Dr.  Hall  never  knew  him  to  administer  a  rebuke  to  one  of  this  class  un- 
less it  was  richly  deserved,  "and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  his  keen  satire  in  a 
few  such  cases  has  done  immense  good  to  many  others  besides  the  persons 
addressed." 


384  ABHORRENCE    OF   DRONES.  n836. 

me,  would  have  incurred  censure  in  a  Freshman  in  college,  and  have 
placed  hira  in  the  lowest  grade  at  least  of  scholarship  and  diligence, 
should  be  held  up  to  scorn  and  contempt. 

"In  the  autumn  of  1837  he  volunteered  to  give  a  course  of  lec- 
tures to  three  or  four  of  our  class,  oa  the  book  of  Leviticus,  Drs.  Dan- 
iel Stewart  and  M.  "W.  Jacobus  were  of  that  number  as  well  as  myself. 
The  exercise  was  recitation  and  lecture  intermingled,  and  was  a  rich 
treat."  He  was  never  more  at  his  ease  than  on  these  occasion?,  or 
appeared  to  be  more  completely  master  of  his  theme.  An  abstract  of 
these  lectures  is  still  preserved  by  this  pupih  "  He  evidenily  took 
great  delight  in  communicating  knowledge,  and  before  such  as  appre- 
ciated them  be  poured  forth  copiously  liis  stores  of  learning  with  great 
cbildish  simplicity  of  language  and  manner." 

The  intense  abhorrence  and  disgnst  which  the  Professor 
ever  showed  for  these  Seminary  drones,  their  culpable  igno- 
rance, and  especially  the  attempt  to  cover  it  up,  and  to  give 
an  impression  of  knowledge  where  there  was  evident  con- 
sciousness of  neglect,  and  for  everything  like  conceit,  rather 
tended  to  make  Mr.  Ramsev  take  a  strong  liking  to  him ;  for 
it  seemed  to  him  that 

"  There  were  some  there,  who,  had  they  been  dealt  with  as  faith- 
fulness to  the  church  required,  would  have  been  dismissed  and  ordered 
to  betake  themselves  to  some  other  calling  in  which  laziness  and  vanity 
might  better  he  tolerated." 

The  opening  lecture  one  year  while  the  writer  w^as  there 
was  delivered  by  Mr.  Alexander,  from  the  passage  "  Let  no 
man  despise  thy  youth,"  and  it  was  made  to  bear  with  tre- 
mendous severity  upon  those  who  were  frivolous  and  negli- 
gent of  their  duty ;  and  though  some  thought  its  spirit  of 
caustic  satire  not  altogether  approjDriate,  it  was  heartily  ap- 
proved by  the  writer  : 

'■'I  have  no  doubt,"  he  says  "  that  it  was  just  the  very  thing  need- 
ed, and  that  by  the  very  keenness  of  its  point  it  penetrated  the  blunt- 
ed sensibilities  of  a  few  who  could  be  made  to  believe  in  no  other  way, 
while  it  did  good  to  the  whole  class,  profiting  even  those  who  were 
tenderly  conscientious  and  circumspect." 


^T.2T.]  GENTLENESS.  385 

The  pupil  thought  then  and  thinks  now  that  the  Professor 
sliowecl,  as  he  sa3^s,  "not  a  little  patience  with  our  blunders 
and  slowness  in  learning-  the  Hebrew."  And  the  impression 
always  produced  on  his  mind  by  his  teaching  was  that  of 
great  kindness  and  magnanimity  toward  all  who  appeared 
anxious  to  do  their  duty.  He  was  himself  exceedingly  timid,  and 
Avhenever  called  upon  in  class  during  the  first  year,  rose  con- 
fused and  often  found  it  difficult  to  express  himself  without 
painful  hesitation ;  yet  he  fails  to  remember  having  seen  the 
first  mark  of  restless  anger  in  his  teacher,  or  to  have  been  treated 
with  anything  but  the  greatest  gentleness ;  so  that  he  often  felt 
grateful  for  the  forbearance  shown,  and  to  use  his  own  words, 
"very  much  ashamed  of  myself  for  giving  occasion  for  it." 

The  same  writer  was  one  of  those  who  sought  him  out  in  his 
study,  and  like  most  others  who  did  so  was  agreeably  disap- 
pointed. 

"  My  first  visit  to  his  room  wa^,  if  I  remember  right,  at  the  end  of 
the  first  year,  during  vacation,  and  it  was  ia  consequence  of  his  sending 
for  me,  to  offer  me  a  situation  as  teacher  in  a  private  family  in  town 
(Commodore  Stockton's).  I  occasionally  after  this  called  upon  him, 
hut  never  without  a  j;i<?SiY/«e  cause;  and  I  always  found  him  perfectly 
accessible  and  ready  to  hear  patiently,  and  attend  to,  anything  I  had  to 
say  :  and  there  was  no  professor  there  to  whom  I  went  with  more  per- 
fect freedom  from  undue  constraint  than  to  him."  He  had  much  more 
difficulty  in  feeling  at  his  ease  with  some  of  the  other  professors.  A 
"vast  gulf"  seemed  to  separate  him  from  them.  This,  he  imagines, 
may  have  been  "  all  his  own  fault," 

"On  one  occasion  I  remember  calling  oa  him  (Addison)— it  was 
during  my  last  year— with  a  passage  in  Hebrew,  in  1  Sam.,  chap.  xx. 
which  I  could  make  nothing  of.  He  looked  at  it,  and  not  finding  any 
solution  of  the  difiiculty,  after  looking  at  some  commentaries,  told  me 
to  call  in  again  in  a  few  days,  and  in  the  mean  time  he  would  see  if  he 
could  find  any  more  plausible  attempt  at  a  solution." 

Before  he  called,  the  Professor  sent  for  him  and  showed  him, 
in  some  old  German,  commentary  what  seemed  to  be  a  very 
ingenious  solution  indeed,  based  of  course  upon  the  supposi- 
tion that  some  slight  error  must  have  crept  into  the  text. 
17 


386  INTEREST    IN    HIS    CLASS.  [1836. 

"  It  was,  however,  tlte  interest  which  he  so  promptly  took  in  the 
matter,  and  the  pains  lie  was  at  to  find  out  everything  which  could  be 
found  out  in  that  little  affiiir  of  mhiule  criticism,  that  was  so  pleasing 
to  a  student,  such  as  I  then  was,  and  that  was  so  unlike  what  many 
have  thought  of  him." 

The  minuteness  and  wide  extent  of  his  scholarship  were 
constantly  appearing  in  the  allusions  and  illustrations  to 
which  the  teacher  continually  had  recourse,  especially  in  his 
familiar  and  least  elaborate  lectures. 

"  No  one  "  he  says,  "  could  help  feeling  the  vast  difiference  between 
the  instructions  of  such  a  man,  and  those  of  one  perhaps  equally 
familiar  with  the  immediate  subject  of  instruction,"  but  one  who  in 
his  comparative  ignorance  of,  or  non-acquaintance  with,  matters  which 
were  but  remotely  connected  with  his  chair,  should  be  constantly  be- 
traying that  he  was  a  man  of  "far  narrower  range  of  thought  and 
knowledge." 

He  seemed  to  be  almost  unconscious  of  his  own  large  re- 
sources ;  and  his  pupils  always  believed  him  to  be  just  as  hum- 
ble as  he  was  learned  and  able.  There  was  often  exhibited  a 
feeling  of  dissatisfaction  with  himself  and  his  own  methods 
and  plans, 

"  And  a  way  of  speaking  of  others  who  were  greatly  his  inferiors 
in  every  particular,  that  seemed  strange  to  those  Avho  regarded  him  as 
so  great  a  man."  This  feeling  of  dissatisfaction  with  his  own  arrange- 
ments, "  led  him  very  frequently  to  change  his  course  and  method. 
His  ideal  of  everything  seemed  to  be  even  further  beyond  his  attain- 
ment, than  his  attainment  was  beyond  that  of  almost  all  others." 

The  writer  pays  a  just  tribute  to  the  value  of  his  teacher's 
oral  expositions : 

"As  an  exegete,  I  hardly  know  how  he  could  be  excelled.  His 
anahjses,  with  which  he  introduced  each  exegetical  lecture,  so  concise, 
so  clear,  so  simple,  were  themselves  far  better  than  most  commentaries." 
To  their  class  he  lectured  only  on  part  of  Isaiah  and  tlie  Messianic 
Psalms.  "To  his  lectures  on  the  first  ten  chapters  of  Isaiah  I  owe 
more  than  to  all  the  other  instructions  received  in  the  Seminary,  as  to 


^T.  27.]  ORAL    EXPOSITIONS.  387 

the  method  of  analyzing  and  expounding  Scripture."  Speaking  of  tlia 
valuable  labours  of  certain  other  expositors,  the  writer  goes  on  to  say 
that  he  profited  comparatively  little  by  them  ia  this  respeot.  "  I  learn- 
ed indeed  the  meaning  of  much  I  did  not  know  before;  I  received  a 
certain  quantum  of  explanations ;  but  I  did  not  even  legin  to  learn  hoio 
to  explain  the  Bible  myself.  But  I  had  not  g  )t  through  with  the  first 
chapter  of  Isaiah  with  Dr.  Alexander's  lectures  till  I  felt  as  if  I  had 
become  conscious  almost  of  a  new  power.  Every  passage  he  touched 
seemed  to  be  suddenly  lighted  up  with  a  new  beauty  and  glory,  and 
often  a  single  remark  would  be  so  suggestive  that  it  seemed  at  once  to 
pour  light  all  over  the  Bible,  to  bring  up  into  new  and  striking  associa- 
tion other  truths  and  passages,  and  to  stimulate  the  mind  to  the  highest 
activity,  and  fill  it  with  wonder  at  the  amazing  fulnessof  God's  word." 

The  class  of  expounders  to  whom  Dr.  Ramsey  had  referred, 
were  equal  to  no  such  mighty  office  as  this.     They 

"  Would  give  us  the  minute  details  of  criticism — repeated  over  and 
•  ver  as  they  occurred,  and  leave  us  to  generalize  for  ourselves.  Dr, 
Alexander  would  bundle  up  a  hundred  of  the>e  at  once,  and  give  us 
the  principles. 

"  Another  striking  trait  of  his  esegetical  lectures  was  that  his 
faith  in  the  simple  statements  of  the  Bible  was  so  childlike  and  so  per^ 
feet.  This  reverence  for  the  sacred  text  was  one  of  his  noblest  quali- 
fications for  an  instructor  in  these  times.  This  was  abundantly  mani- 
fest in  his  works,  but  the  impression  made  by  his  lectures  as  we  heard 
them,  was  still  stronger. 

"The  compreheii.-iveness  of  mind,  and  the  elevated  point  from 
wMch  he  looked  on  any  topic  of  Biblical  exposition  or  of  ministerial 
duty  enahled  him  dften  to  comprc'ss  into  a  remark  some  pregnant 
truth  that  no  amount  of  details  could  ever  have  imparted.  I  got  more 
good  from  a  single  remark  of  his,  made  to  a  few  of  us  who  met  him 
the  last  year  in  a  private  class,  than  from  all  the  lectures  and  books  on 
Ilomiletics.  It  was  in  substance  this  :  to  collect  the  other  passages  of 
Scripture  bearing  on  the  same  point  as  the  text,  and  to  let  your  heads 
and  divisions  be  but  the  exposition,  virtually  at  least,  of  these;  and 
thus  avoid  the  danger  of  substituting  human  reasonings  for  God's 
AVo:d,  :ind  at  the  same  time  secure  endless  variety." 

Dr.  Ramsey  regarded  Mr.  Alexander's  as  the  most  power- 
ful intellect  with  which  he  ever  came  in  contact. 


388  MASSIVE    INTELLECT.  [1836. 

"It  was,  to  my  apprehension  best  claaractcrizcd  as  massive.  But  it 
was  as  beautiful,  as  well  proportioned,  as  it  was  massive,  and  all  its  op- 
erations were  as  easy  and  exact  as  they  were  powerful.  To  use  rather 
1  rude  comparison,  it  was  like  an  elephant's  trunk ;  it  could  pick  up  a 
pin,  and  pluck  up  a  tree  by  the  roots,  with  equal  ease. 

"And  yet  the  meekness  and  teachableness  of  the  man  was  just  as 
manifest.  He  seemed  to  be  ready  to  learn  something  from  everybody. 
And  the  perfect  docility  of  his  great  mind  to  the  slightest  whisper  of 
God's  Word  was  its  crowning  glory. 

"  It  would  be  strange  indeed  if,  so  conversant  as  he  was  with  God's 
word,  and  reverencing  it  as  he  did,  he  did  not  manifest  it  by  his  holi- 
ness and  nearness  to  God.  And  especially  during  the  latter  part  of  my 
course  in  the  Seminary  were  we  impressed  with  this;  and  the  remark 
was  often  made  that  Dr.  Addison  was  a  man  that  walked  with  God, 
and  WHS  evidently  growing  in  grace.  His  preaching,  his  lectures,  and 
his  prayers  gave  proof  of  this.  And  on  all  proper  occasions  he  would 
converse  on  the  subject  of  experimental  religion  with  a  zest  and  inter- 
est, that  showed  how  much  he  meditated  upon  it,  and  how  he  sought 
to  have  his  own  heart  brought  under  its  full  power."  While  a  student, 
Dr.  Ramsey  did  not  see  him  very  often  in  private.  "  Of  course  my  per- 
sonal intercourse  was  very  limited  :  the  vast  distance  between  us  in 
every  respect  rendered  it  impossible  for  me  to  venture  into  his  company 
except  when  necessary." 


He  often  heard  the  students  speak  of  the  Professor's  tradi- 
tionary "  peculiarities ;  "  but  if  Mr.  Alexander  possessed  traits 
wliicli  could  be  described  by  this  term,  he  never  became  cog- 
nizant of  them  ;  he  was  never  placed  in  circumstances  in  which 
he  observed  any  special  peculiarities. 

This  testimony  is  greatly  strengthened  by  that  of  others- 
The  dreaded  Hebraist  was  of  the  sanguineo-choleric  tempera- 
ment;  and  though  naturally  patient  and  afiEectionate,  he 
had  a  stern  eye  to  duty ;  was  inflexibly  honest  and  just 
and  if  his  anger  was  once  kindled,  it  burnt  like  tinder.  The 
spark,  however,  was  extinct  almost  as  soon  as  it  Avas  struck 
out.  There  were  at  these  rare  times  a  flash— a  blaze— an  ex- 
plosion ;  and  then  all  was  over :  but  not  before  some  one  had 


uEt.27.]  impetuous  feelings.  389 

been  struck  clown  an'd  terribly  shaken  by  the  concussion.* 
Alter  giving  way  to  his  impetuous  Feelings,  none  Avas  more 
ready  to  acknowledge  his  failing  than  he  was  himself:  but 
not  so  were  some  of  his  best  and  most  pious  pupils.  There 
were  some  in  nearly  every  cla^s,  who  like  Dr.  Ramsey 
justified  him  with  scarce  an  exception  in  everything  he 
taid  and  did  while  in  the  chair.  This  is  as  much  as  can  be 
said  for  most  thoroughgoing  disciplinarians,  and  perhaps  as 
much  as  need  be  said  for  any  man. 

But  in  the  popular  sense  of  the  term,  he  was  not  very 
peculiar  or  eccentric.  He  was  the  roundest  man  I  ever 
knew.  It  is  a  great  though  common  mistake,  to  suppose  that 
there  was  anything  oiitrG  about  him.  He  was  certainly  diffi- 
dent, or  rather  shy,  and  sometimes  bashful,  and  that  to  a  very 
poignant  degree,  and  some  of  his  habits  of  mind  as  well  as  of 
body  had  possibly  become  a  little  morbid,  and  in  both  cases 
from  the  disuse  or  seclusion  of  certain  of  his  powers.  But  he 
was  not  as  compared  with  men  generally,  odd,  droll,  or  queer. 
He  was  no  Samuel  Johnson,  as  that  huge  personage  appears 
in  the  pages  of  Macavilay  and  Boswell.  He  was  no 
mere  heluo  lihrorum^  like  Dr.  Parr,  with  no  acquaintance  with 
the  world  and  in  a  manner  lost  to  the  feelings  and  sympathies 
of  his  race.  He  was  no  Dominie  Sampson  to  be  annoyed  be- 
cause he  could  not  give  his  friend  Dandle  Dinmont  the  praise 
of  '*  erudition."  He  was,  it  is  true,  a  man  of  extraordinary 
learning,  and  of  great  powers  ;  he  was  to  a  great  extent  isola- 
ted from  his  fellow  beings  :  but  when  one  drew  near  to  him- 
one  found  him  to  be  in  other  respects,  like  any  other  man  of 
cultivated  taste  and  refinement. 

Many  current  stories  about  him  are  sheer  lies,  and  some  of 
them  very  malicious  ones,  A  sufficient  answer  to  all  such 
idle  tales  is  the  unquestionabltf  fact  that  Mr.  Alexander,  what- 
ever else  he  was,  was  a  pleasant  Christian  gentleman,  and  a 

*  As  iu  tho  case  of  another,  of  whom  he  has  written  very  amusingij^  the 
suiferer  smarting  under  the  sting  of  his  terrible  repartee  too  often  mistook 
"  cool  contempt  "  for  "  rabid  rage." 


390  CURRENT    STORIES.  C183& 

man  of  exquisite  common  sense.  It  is  true  that  for  the  most 
part  he  shunned  promiscuous  company.  It  was  his  tancy  to 
do  so.  He  had  no  time  for  society.  Every  hour  was  consecra- 
ted to  hard  work  in  his  Master's  service.  Then,  again,  he  had 
perhaps  as  much  morbid  consciousness  of  being  observed,  and 
as  violent  a  repugnance  to  being  stared  at  and  commented  upon, 
and  patronized  by  his  inferiors,  as  any  man  living.  And  to 
crown  all,  the  habit  of  solitude  had  become  to  him  a  second 
nature. 

As  Byron  did  not  like  to  be  treated  as  a  poet,  but  as  a  man 
of  the  world ;  so  Mr.  Alexander  did  not  like  to  be  treated  as  a 
prodigy,  a  book-worm,  a  dangerous  person  to  approach 
or  in  any  sense  an  exceptional  man ;  but  as  a  gentlemaji 
of  piety  and  good  breeding,  with  the  common  manners 
and  sympathies.  He  felt  that  he  was  not  exceptional  in 
the  sense  supposed,  and  with  his  acute  observation  and  sensi- 
tively quick  apprehension  of  the  thoughts  and  designs  of  those 
who  approached  him,  it  hurt  his  nice  sensibilities  and  touched 
his  self  respect,  when  he  was  regarded  in  a  light  that  was  so 
untrue  and  so  obnoxious  to  his  feelings.  He  was  equally 
averse  to  being  either  broAvbeaten  or  flattered.  If  he  was  ex- 
ceptional in  anything,  it  was  in  the  strength  and  honest  ex- 
pression in  his  case  of  this  very  natural  state  of  mind.  There 
were  no  anomalies  in  his  jjsychological  structure  ;  every  devi- 
ation, so  to  say,  from  the  usual  or  regular  inflection,  was 
strictly  subject  to  the  law  of  the  formation.  Any  one  might 
knoAV  beforehand  precisely  how  he  would  act  in  given  circum- 
stances, so  far  as  one  may  ever  know  this  in  the  case  of  a 
person  of  great  talents  and  originality  and  quick  emotional 
impulses. 

If  he  was  met  boldly,  frankly,  unsuspectingly,  and  treated 
as  any  other  man  of  high  notions  of  propriety  and  nice  feel- 
ings of  delicacy ;  and  he  were  not  too  much  occupied  to  stop 
work :  no  one  could  be  more  agreeable,  more  convei'sible,  more 
friendly,  more  free  and  easy;  or  if  an  opportunity  arose,  more 
full  of  sunshine  and  gaiety ;  in  short,  more  perfectly  delightful 
as  a  companion.      But  there  were  certain  classes  of  men  he 


^T.  2T.J  OFFENSIVE    MANNERS.  391 

could  not  always  tolerate  ;  there  v/ere  certain  moments  when 
he  could  not,  and  would  not  put  up  with  bores,  idiots, 
sponges,  and  sycophants ;  or  with  curious  visitors  who  were 
blown  with  self-conceit  or  bursting  with  arrogance.  If  such  char- 
acters persisted  in  annoying  him,  he  would  sometimes  admin- 
ister a  reprimand  which  even  a  fool  case-hardened  in  his  folly 
could  never  forget.  He  would  now  and  then  have  recourse  to 
the  weapon  of  sarcasm ;  which  in  such  cases  Avould  gleam  for 
a  twinkling  in  the  air  and  then  take  off  the  head  of  the  offen- 
der like  the  cymitar  of  Saladin.  More  generally  in  such 
situations  he  was  simply  silent,  cool,  impassive  ;  answering  in 
mild  but  expressive  monosyllables ;  and  soon  turned  his  back  up- 
on the  intruder.  He  also  found  it  extremely  hard  to  get  along 
with  very  timid  persons,  or  those  who  were  too  evidently  afraid 
of  him.  It  worried  him  and  made  him  appear  cold  and  taci- 
turn. Often  this  was  nothing  but  sheer  sensibility.  At  times 
he  had  laid  out  a  certain  amount  of  work  and  did  not  wish  to 
be  disturbed.  At  such  times,  not  caring  to  open  the  door  and 
bow  his  visitor  out,  he  would  adopt  such  a  manner  as  suffi- 
ciently to  intimate  that  he  was  engaged  and  did  not  choose  to 
be  interrupted.  Any  man  of  real  sense  could  tell  when  this 
was  the  case,  and  could  see  at  once  that  no  unkindness  was 
meant.  All  these  little  individual  traits  which  have  been  so 
much  overdrawn  in  some  quarters  may  be  resolved,  except  so 
far  as  they  sprung  from  physical  causes,  or  from  close  applica- 
tion to  his  studies,  into  varying  expressions  of  a  certain  sensi- 
tive shyness  and  fastidiousness  of  feeling,  coupled  with  a  wish 
to  be  thought  like  other  men ;  an  instinctive  and  refined 
knowledge  of  human  nature;  and  the  most  transparent  hon- 
esty. 

It  ouo-ht  also  to  be  said  that  like  his  father  before  him,  he 
was  to  some  degree  under  the  influence  of  changes  in  the 
weather.  He  was  shrewdly  affected  by  the  east  wind.  This 
was  still  more  true  of  his  brother  James.  A  bright,  clear  day 
acted  upon  him  like  champagne.  Dark  and  wet  days  opera- 
ted as  a  damper  on  the  spirits.  In  the  case  of  Dr.  Archibald 
Alexander,  the  effect  of  easterly  weather  was  instantaneously 


392  EFFECTS   OF   THE   WEATIIEU.  n836 

felt,  and  exhibited  by  a  droopinsj  gait  and  air,  and  an  absence 
of  his  vfonted  elasticity  and  buoyant  cheerfulness.  In  the 
case  of  his  son  Addison,  the  same  effect  was  produced,  though 
not  so  invariably,  and  never  in  anything  like  so  great  a  degree. 
The  weather  often  occasioned  him  disagreeable  bodily  sensa- 
tions, and  sometimes  made  him  silent,  or  gave  him  a  touch  of 
the  "  blues."  He  acknowledges  his  vulnerability  on  this  j^oint 
in  sevei-al  entries  in  his  European  Journals. 

But  after  taking  everything  into  the  estimate,  and  looking 
at  him  in  the  broad,  common  way,  it  must  be  conceded  that 
Mr.  Alexander,  though  greater  and  better  than  most  of  them, 
was,  on  the  whole,  and  esjjecially  in  little  things,  surprisingly 
like  the  rest  of  mankind.  He  was  not  a  monster,  or  a  learned 
automaton  ;  but  aside  from  his  gifts  and  attainments,  a  gentle, 
tractable,  teachable,  loveable,  true-hearted  man. 

His  pujiils  were  not  slow  to  find  this  out ;  and  numbers 
of  them,  after  becoming  fairly  acquainted  with  him,  stood 
in  greater  fear  of  several  of  the  other  Professors  than  they 
did  of  him.  They  were,  as  a  body,  proud  of  him ;  and  looked 
upon  him  as  one  of  the  noblest  Christian  scholars  and  brightest 
geniuses  in  the  world.  Whenever  it  was  announced  that  he 
was  to  preach  in  the  town  of  Princeton,  the  students  would 
desert  the  Seminary  chapel  almost  en  masse.  They  knew  that 
they  had  some  reason  to  expect  one  of  his  brilliant  flights  of 
eloquence.  These  he  would  not  often  give  them  in  the  chapeh 
He  would  merely  lecture  in  a  close  exegetical  way.  They 
called  him  by  an  amiable  nickname,  which  however  disagree- 
able it  would  have  been  to  the  feelings  of  the  Professor,  showed 
how  much  at  home  they  felt  in  his  presence,  and  the  affection 
they  had  for  his  person. 

The  simple  truth  was  that  those  who  attended  to  their 
lessons,  which  were  always  made  plain  to  the  dullest  com- 
prehension, could  not  fail  to  be  fascinated  and  at  length 
carried  away  captive,  not  only  by  the  teacher,  but  the  man. 
There  was  at  times  something  so  childlike  and  naif  about 
him ;  something  so  engaging  about  his  looks,  the  tones 
of   his    voice,   and    his    characteristic    ways    in    the    class- 


iET.  2T.]  ART    NAPOLEON.  393 

room,  as  well  as  about  his  patient,  kind,  forbearing,  corclia! 
disposition ;  mingled  with,  or  rather  in  a  subtle  way  succeeded 
by  an  indefinable  something  that  was  on  occasion  so  startling, 
swift,  magnetic,  so  impregnated  with  genius,  so  perempto- 
rily commanding  awe  and  obedience,  so  suggestive  of  slum- 
bering or  waking  prowess,  and  so  ominous  of  assured  triumph; 
in  a  word,  something  so  sti*angelv  Napoleonic ;  that,  as  on 
other  accounts,  his  favorite  pupils  had  for  him  much  the  same 
sort  of  vivid  feeling  that  the  Old  Guard  had  for  the  First  Con- 
sul and.  the  Emperor;  while  the  body  of  the  class  had  the 
more  quiet  feeling  of  admiration  that  was  generally  prevalent 
in  the  French  army. 

He  had,  too,  the  "  art  Napoleon"  as  an  instructor  (which 
was  possessed  in  so  high  a  degree  by  Dr.  Thomas  Brown  of 
Edinburgh,  and  by  Sir  William  Hamilton  and  Professor  Fara- 
day) of  inspiring  his  pupils  with  a  lofty  enthusiasm,  which  did 
not  burn  out  when  they  left  the  halls  of  the  recitation-room. 
What  he  was  as  a  Professor  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that 
with  all  his  other  gifts,  he  was  apt  to  teach.  Dr.  Hodge  testi- 
fies that  he  always  secured  the  attention,  admiration,  and 
confidence  of  his  classes.  He  never  failed  to  interest  them  in 
the  subject  under  discussion,  and  he  never  failed  to  instruct 
them.  "  His  views  were  comprehensive,  and  so  clearly  exhib- 
ited that  the  minds  of  his  pupils  Avere  expanded  under  his  in- 
fluence, at  the  same  time  that  they  were  elevated.  He  made 
the  Bible  glorious  to  them.  This  remark  I  have  heard  from 
the  lips  of  those  w^ho  sat  under  his  teachings." 

Almost  the  only  hint  I  have  been  able  to  obtain  from  the 
diaries  in  my  possession  as  to  Mr.  Alexander's  outward  life  at 
this  time,  is  contained  in  the  brief  statement  that  on  Monday, 
the  3d  of  October,  after  a  night  of  rain,  and  while  his  father 
was  in  New  York,  and  amidst  tidings  of  more  deaths  from 
"  the  ferer,  "  he  was  engaged  in  "  the  removal  of  his  effects 
into  the  ancient  house  on  the  Canal  street."*     It  is  hard  to 

*  This  was  an  old  house  that  had  been  removed  from  another  part  of  tha 
town  and  occupied  by  a   Mr.  Noah  Green,  and  was   from  this   fact  playfully 
called  "  Noah's  Ark.  " 
17* 


394  PRIVATE    PUPILS.  DSSa 

keep  up  with  his  various  changes  of  geographical  position  and 
residence.  Ilis  migrations  were  almost  as  short  and  quite  as 
frequent  as  those  of  good  Dr.  Primrose  from  tlie  blue  bed  to 
the  brown.  He  hung  over  every  new  scene  like  a  humming- 
bird, poised  indeed,  but  ready  to  dart  at  any  moment.  The 
delight  he  experienced  in  these  strange  movements  was  that  of 
a  child  iu  its  fervour  and  intensity,  and  was  just  as  transitory. 
Among  his  pi'incipal  companions  this  year  were  his  two 
private  pupils,  Henry  M.  Alexander  his  youngest  brother,  and 
Samuel  Harrison  Howell,  son  of  a  skilful  physician  of 
Princeton.  The  boys  used  to  meet  him  at  his  quarters  on  the 
Trenton  Turnpike,  and  when  out  of  school  had  much  pleasure 
and  fun  with  him.  When  the  fever  was  raging  in  the  neigh- 
borhood no  family  suffered  more  grievously  than  that  of  Dr. 
Howell,  the  faithful  nurse  and  medical  adviser  of  the  sick. 
Several  members  of  his  family  contracted  the  disease,  and  two 
of  them  died  of  it,  as  he  did  himself.  Mr.  Alexander  was  much 
affected  to  learn  that  his  little  pupil  and  playmate  was  also 
seized  sometime  afterward,  and  wrote  him  a  long  whimsical  let- 
ter in  the  shape  of  machine  poetry;  portions  of  which  are  here 
given,  not  to  show  his  genius  or  his  learning  but  his  simple  kind- 
ness of  heart.  They  vividly  paint  the  scene  presented  to  master 
and  pupils  in  their  leisure  hours,  as  well  as  the  rude  furniture 
with  which  the  memory  of  the  teacher  was  associated  in  the 
minds  of  the  pupils.  They  also  greatly  magnify  the  very 
questionable  advantages  and  ornamental  qualities  of  the  quaint 
house  on  Canal  street,  into  which  the  former  was  thinking  of 
"flitting."  I  can  only  find  room  for  the  first  part  of  this  letter. 

"  I  thank  God  for  the  favour,  as  I  reckon  it  to  be,  not  only  to  yourself 
and  your  relations,  but  to  me ;  and  I  trust  that  he  will  give  you,  in  ex- 
cliange  for  pains  and  tears,  entire  restoration  and  a  length  of  happy 
years.  I  have  tried  hard  to  forget  yon,  Hal ;  but  how  can  I  succeed, 
when  every  chair  I  sit  upon,  and  every  book  I  read,  recall  to  recollec- 
tion in  one  way  or  another,  my  little  playmate,  room-mate,  pupil- 
friend,  and  younger  brother?  When  I  look  at  the  round  table,  or  the 
broken  firm-chair,  I  easily  persuade  myself  that  he  is  sitting  tliere;  and 
when   gaizing  from   the  window    I  can  almost  see  him  still,   coming 


mt.27.1  rhyming  letter.  395 

Blowly  with  his  books  and  his  umbrella  down  the  hill.  Methinks  I 
hear  his  light  step  upon  the  entry  floor,  and  the  sound  of  his  umbrella 
as  he  sets  it  by  the  door.  I  hear  him  turn  the  lock ;  I  see  him  eater 
■with  a  smile,  my  solitude  to  sweeten  and  my  languor  to  beguile. 
Methinks  I  see  him  offer  me  an  apple  or  a  peach,  with  a  look  that 
overpays  me  fur  the  little  I  can  teach.  Methioks  I  see  him  put  his  cap 
upon  the  closet  shelf — every  motion,  every  attitude  is  that  of  Hal  him- 
self. But  when  I  wish  to -speak  to  him  the  vision  fades  away.  I  miss 
the  gentle  voice  that  used  to  cheer  me  every  day.  I  miss  the  real 
presence  of  my  real  little  friend.  I  miss  it  in  the  evening  when  my 
toils  are  at  an  end.  I  miss  it  in  my  homeward  walks ;  I  miss  it  even 
more  when  I  sit  in  my  old  elbow  chair  behind  the  chapel  door. 
Whatever  else  I  see  or  have,  I  find  I  must  and  shall  continue  to  miss 
something  and  that  something  is  my  Hal.  But  when  I  recollect  my 
boy  that  you  are  safe  and  sound,  I  feel  that  for  repining  I  have  no  ex- 
cuse or  ground." 

Even  if  he  should  not  be  allowed  to  see  his  face  again,  it 
will  always  be  grateful  to  his  heart  to  hear  that  his  pupil  is 
good  and  happy.  He  nevertheless  indulges  the  hope  of  a 
pleasant  re-union  with  his  little  friend,  and  in  the  meanwhile 
resolves  to  do  his  best  to  keep  in  good  spirits. 

But  Mr.  Alexander  was  not  always  to  be  found  on  Hender- 
son Hill  or  at  the  "  Ark."  He  was  as  fond  of  going  about  as 
ever.  The  modes  of  travel  were  at  this  time  a  little  anti- 
quated ;  though  railways  were  in  use,  and  the  applications  of 
steam  well  understood.  A  gentleman  of  Newark,  for  instance, 
wishing  to  go  to  Princeton,  would  perhaps  ride  in  his  stan- 
hope or  barouche  to  the  Market-street  stand,  where  he  would 
find  a  horse  car,  in  which  he  would  be  conveyed  to  the  Bruns- 
wick depot.  There  he  would  enter  a  steam  carriage,  which 
would  take  him  from  the  depot  to  East  Brunswick.  Thence  he 
would  be  hauled  in  an  omnibus  to  the  wagon-coach  running  to 
Balser's  tavern ;  which  being  at  the  juncture  full,  would  have 
to  be  exchanged  for  an  old  fashioned  stage-coach,  that  was  sure 
to  break  down  at  or  near  the  canal  barge  at  Kingston,  from 
which  the  jaded  ta*aveller  was  fain  to  emerge  and  deposit  him- 
self in  the  canal-hack  plying  betwixt  the  Princeton  Basin  and 
the  collegiate  groves  and  campus.     Thei'e  was  much  room  for 


396  TRAVELLING. 


D836. 


adventure  on  these  trials,  and  the  vicissitude  suited  the  temper 
of  a  man  who  like  Mr.  Alexander  loved  to  go  through  as  many 
small  external  transformations  as  possible.  The  journey  was 
notwithstanding  very  irksome  and  fatiguing. 

On  Thursday,  the  20th  of  October,  the  arrival  of  a 
young  Greek  from  Athens  Avas  reported,  one  of  Dr.  King's 
proteges,  by  the  name  of  Luke  Oeconomos.  He  was  subse- 
quently followed  by  another  named  Constantino  Menaios, 
from  whom  Mr.  Alexander  learned  the  Romaic,  and  under 
whose  guidance  he  became  a  proficient  in  writing  and  perhaps 
speaking  it.  Mr.  Oeconomos  was  a  young  man  of  talents, 
amiability  and  virtue.  He  was  graduated  at  the  college  of  New 
Jersey  in  1840,  and  died  at  Clarens,  in  Fairfax  county,  Vir- 
ginia, the  7th  of  May,  1843.  He  was  at  the  time  a  teacher  of 
the  Greek  language  in  the  Fairfax  Institute.  His  disease  was 
a  galloping  consumption.  There  is  for  many  a  mournful  in- 
terest connected  with  his  somewhat  romantic  history  and  un- 
timely fate. 

Early  in  March  of  the  next  year,  Signor  Borsieri  had  the 
pleasure  of  introducing  his  Princeton  friends  to  the  Count 
Confalonieri,  an  elderly  man,  a  fellow  prisoner  of  his,  who  had 
been  in  bonds  fifteen  years.  These  were  golden  opportunities 
to  the  two  Alexanders  of  learning  the  spoken  tongue  of 
Italy.  The  elder  brother's  33d  birthday  occurred  on  the  13th. 
Not  long  after  this  Mr.  Borsieri  made  a  profession  of  his  faith. 
I  think  Mr.  Alexander  gave  this  gentleman  lessons  in  English. 
lie  certainly  played  this  part  to  several  foreigners,  receivin<i- 
their  instructions  in  I'eturn. 

Soon  after  this,  Professor  James  Alexander  was  invited  to 
take  the  Presidency  of  Hanover  College  in  Indiana.  He  how- 
ever declined  the  honour, 

Mr.  Alexander,  on  the  2Gth,  was  in  torture  with  a  swollen 
face.  He  was  very  subject  to  this  afiection,  which  he  styled 
a  "jaw-swell."  His  relief  on  such  occasions  was  an  odd  one. 
He  would  lecture  immoderately,  and  on  the  most  diflicult  parts 
of  scripture.  He  used  to  say  this  was  the  only  way  he  knew 
of  diverting  his  mind  from  the  pain.     This  remark  is  strictly 


^T.2T.j  TEACHING    UNDER   DIFFICULTIES.  397 

applicable  rather  to  the  common  dull  tooth-ache  than  to  a 
violent  inflammation  of  the  cheek  and  jaw  such  as  this  Avas.  I 
have  seen  him  sitting  in  his  recitation-room  with  his  hand 
thrust  against  his  face,  and  swaying  to  and  fro  with  rapid 
movements  of  his  body,  but  pouring  out  his  usual  torrent  of 
exquisitely  chosen  words  and  fascinating  his  class  Avith  some 
of  his  most  remarkable  lucubrations.  Sometimes  he  would 
have  to  pause  a  moment  from  the  sheer  intensity  of  his  suffer- 
ings. 

The  synod  of  Philadelphia  convened  this  day.  The  great 
topic  of  interest  before  the  body  was  the  controversy  between 
the  Old  and  New  School  parties  in  the  church.  The  Rev.  W. 
L.  McCalla  made  an  attack  on  Princeton.  His  argument  was 
an  able  one,  but  he  was  called  to  order  for  his  strong  language 
and  personal  allusions.  He  was,  however,  allowed  to  proceed 
with  his  invective,  or  rather  his  impassioned  remonstrance. 
The  theme  is  an  inviting  one,  but  the  days  of  this  heat  are 
now  over,  and  the  subject  of  this  memoir  took  no  active  j)art 
in  these  discussions.  Indeed,  I  have  no  positive  information 
as  to  what  his  precise  views  on  the  mooted  questions  were,  ex- 
cept that  he  was  a  staunch  old  school  man,  with  general  sym- 
pathies with  his  colleagues  at  Princeton.  Whether  he  went 
as  far  in  the  direction  of  moderate  views  as  some  of  these,  I 
do  not  know.  He  was  editor  of  the  Repertory  during  the  fla- 
grant outbreak  of  this  quarrel,  but  took  no  further  part  in  the 
engagement  than  to  print  the  articles  of  others,  anH  occasion- 
ally to  launch  witty  sarcasms  at  the  men  who  in  his  opinion 
were  the  chief  troublers  of  Israel.  His  arguments  were  all 
of  a  purely  incidental  and  unpremeditated  character. 

Mr.  Alexander  about  this  time  undertook  the  teaching  of 
two  of  the  sons  of  Captain  Stockton,  U.  S,  N.  The  instruc- 
tion of  a  younger  member  of  the  captain's  family  occurred  at  a 
later  date.  These  gentlemen  now  speak  in  most  grateful 
terms  of  the  preceptor's  kindness  and  assiduity,  and  love  to 
tell  of  the  odd  humours  of  their  master  when  books  had  been 
laid  aside.  He  made  the  two  eldest  of  these  write  letters  to 
him  in  a  large  thick  folio  volume,  using  the  same  book  him- 


398  WEITmG   LETTERS.  0836. 

self  for  most  of  his  own  writing  between  times,  and  filling  it, 
or  inducing  them  to  fill  it  with  letters,  compositions,  poems, 
and  critical  comments.  Some  of  the  writings  in  these  big 
books  are  well  worthy  of  being  kept  carefully,  as  they  have 
been  by  their  owners. 

I  give  the  following  remarkable  letter  to  Mr.  Hall,  which 
sufficiently  explains  itself: 


0 


|3 


<Sj^ 


*:</U>  ill  tin 

"  Peixoeton^,  January  13, 1837. 


"  My  Deae  Sn; : 

"  The  number  of  alphabets,  you  know,  bears  no  proportion  to  that  of 
lan,maL,^ts;  and  among  those  of  which  I  have  a  smattering  the  variety 
of  chiiracter  is  by  no  means  great.  I  ha^e  selected  the  word  "day" 
as  being  short  and  simple  in  all  the  languages  exemplified  above.  The 
horizontal  line  (1,  2,  3,  4.)  exhibits  a  four-fold  diversity  of  character 
in  the  languages  of  the  same  family ;  and  it  so  liappens  that  the  word 
which  I  have  chosen  is  precisely  the  same  (yom  or  yum)  in  all  four. 
The  vertical  column  (1,  5,  6,  7,)  illustrates,  on  the  other  hand,  the  appli- 
cation of  one  alphabet  to  four  languages  of  different  stocks.  The 
Arabic  yum  (or  rather  yaum),  the  Persian  roz,  the  Turkish  gun,  and 
the  Malay  hdrl  or  drl,  though  wholly  unlike  in  sound,  are  all  in  the 


^T.  27.]  ALPHABETS.  399 

Aral  ic  character.  To  these  examples  I  have  added  the  Sanscrit  alian^ 
the  Chinese  je,  and  the  Anueriian  ahr^  all  likewise  meanjng  day.  It 
is  a  fact  worlh  noticing  that  the  Chinese  character  is  used  by  the  great- 
est number  of  men,  and  the  Arabic  over  the  largest  surface  ;  at  least  it 
is  so  said.  The  latter  is  employed  (with  additions  and  modifications  to 
expre-s  peculiar  sounds)  not  only  by  the  Persians,  Turks,  and  Muham- 
medan  Africans,  but  by  several  of  the  Indian  races.  The  Sanscrit  is 
thought  by  philologists  to  be,  on  the  whole,  the  most  perfect  form  of 
alphabetical  writing. 

''  I  have  two  books  begun  which  I  have  not  touched  for  a  year,  per- 
haps for  two.  The  one  is  a  series  of  dramatic  sketches  almost  entirely  in 
the  words  of  Scripture  explanations,  descriptions,  &c.,  being  introduced 
as  stage- directions.  My  idea  was,  that  each  scene  should  be  accompanied 
by  a  picture.  The  scenes  are  of  course  detached,  and  the  only  object 
was  to  attract  attention  to  familiar  subjects  by  a  change  of  form.  "When 
I  broke  down  I  had  written  Scene  1.  A  well  near  the  city  of  Nahor, 
ten  camels  kneeling  by  the  well — two  men  sitting  near — Eliezer  by  him- 
self. Sc.  2. — Isaac's  encampment  near  Beersheba — Rebecca's  tent. 
Eebecca  and  Jacob  (the  deception  of  Isaac).  Sc.  3.  The  plains  of  Moab  ; 
Nanrai,  Ruth,  Orpah,  in  mourning  garments.  Sc.  4.  The  wine-press 
of  Joash  the  Abiezrite,  in  a  retired  spot  surrounded  by  oaks — Gideon, 
the  son  of  Joash,  threshing  wheat— a  stranger  approaches  and  sits 
under  one  of  the  oaks.  Sc.  5.  The  priests'  chamber  near  the  Taberna- 
cle in  Sliiloh,  containing  two  beds  on  which  Eli  the  High  Priest  and  Sam- 
uel, a  child,  are  lying — a  voice — "  Samuel !  Samuel !  "  &c.,  &c.— Sc.  6, 
A  field  near  Eamah— Saul  and  a  servant  sitting  beneath  a  tree— Saul, 
"  Come,  let  us  return,  lest  my  father  leave  caring  for  the  asses,"  &c. 
Sc.  7.  A  field  near  Gibea— Jonathan  and  David— David,  "  "What  have 
I  done  ?  what  is  my  iniquity  ?  "  &c. 

"  My  other  book  was  a  conversation  on  King  David's  nephews,  in- 
tended to  show  how  many  not  uninteresting  facts  may  be  overlooked 
even  by  the  diligent^  straight-forward  student,  unless  he  takes  the 
trouble  to  compare  scripture  wdth  scripture. 

"As  usual,  I  became  convinced  before  I  had  well  begun,  that  the 
plan  was  not  worth  carrying  out,  and  I  abandoned  it,  I  am  not  wil- 
ling, however,  that  you  should  suppose  I  have  never  even  attempted 
anything.  Yours  truly, 

"Jos.  Addison  Alexander." 

The  next  letter  I  shall  give  is  also  addressed  to  Mr.  Hall 


400  CORRESPONDENCE.  a836, 

In  it  he  refers  to  the  Asiatic  languages,  and  inquires  for  a 
cheap  American  set  of  the  Edinburgh  or  Quarterly  : 

"  Peixceton,  Deccmler  21,  183G. 
"  Mt  Dear  Sie  : 

"  My  friend  and  roora-mate  Harrison  Ilowell,  who  brings  you  tliis, 
"will  take  charge  of  my  Lexicon  if  it  is  in  your  hands  or  if  you'  "will 
direct  him  to  the  binder.  I  am  sorry  to  trouble  you  with  these  small 
jobs,  and  by  way  of  proring  it  I  herewith  send  you  my  John  Bunyan 
to  be  dressed* — fine  but  very  plain.  I  feel  that  I  have  some  claim  on 
your  time,  in  consequence  of  my  prompt  attention  to  your  application 
made  last  summer  for  some  scraps  of  language.  Did  my  answer  mis- 
carry ?  or  is  it  printed?  Pray  lay  the  blame  on  Amos  Kendall  t  and  let 
me  know  what  I  must  do.  My  grammars  and  k-xicons  are  at  your 
service,  especially  the  latter,  as  so  many  of  them  have  enjoyed  your 
protection.  Seriously  I  have  mislaid  your  letter  and  do  not  recollect 
precisely  what  you  want. 

"In  some  of  your  publications  or  perhaps  in  your  private  letters  you 
have  spoken  of  a  plan  devised  by  Trevelyan  and  others  for  reducing 
tlie  Asiatic  languages  to  the  Roman  orthography.  Have  you  the  details 
of  the  plan  in  any  form?  Again,  in  what  form  is  your  large  map  of 
Palestine  put  up,  and  what  is  the  price  thereof?  James  I  believe  on 
reflection  has  one ;  but  I  have  not  been  in  his  study  for  eighteen  months, 
as  I  live  in  Canal  Street  and  he  in  Mercer.  Once  more,  do  you  think 
that  in  any  of  the  second-hand  book  stores  it  would  be  possible  to  find 
anything  like  a  complete  set  of  the  Edinburgh  or  Quarterly  Review 
as  republished  in  America,  at  a  very  reduced  price?  James  thinks  such 
an  article  cannot  be  in  the  market;  hut  nobody  knows  what  a  man 
may  sell  to  second-hand  dealers.  If  you  will  answer  these  inquiries  at 
your  leisure,  say  before  the  end  of  1837,  and  add  any  practical  or 
other  observations  upon  these  or  other  subjects  ;  not  forgetting  to  re- 
peat your  prescription  for  the  dose  of  unknown  tongues  without  delay 
— you  will  confer  a  favour  upon  Yours,  very  truly, 

"Mr.  Hall,)  "J.  Addison  Alexander." 

"E.S.S.J.i 
"  1.  If  the  binder  knows  of  my  existence,  and  will  trust  me,  pleaso  to 
give  Harrison  his  address,  instead  of  troubling  yourself  about  old  Bun- 
yan. 

*  And  lettered  simply  "  Pilgrim's  Progress."  J.  A.  A. 

\  The  Hon.  Amos  Kendall,  who  was  Postmaster  General  under  Jackson. 


^T.  270  SEEKING    BOOKS.  401 

"  2.  I  have  just  heard  that  my  lexicon  is  come,  and  feel  much  indebted 
to  you. 

"  3.  Mr.  John  P.  Brown,  our  diplomatic  dragoman  at  Constantinople, 
told  me  last  winter  tliat  reed  pens  or  reeds  for  making  oriental  pens 
could  be  procured  in  Philadelphia.  If  you  know  where  such  an  article 
is  venal,  I  should  like  to  have  it  priced  by  the  bearer, 

"  (Finis.)" 


CHAPTEE  XIII. 

I  NOW  present  the  reader  with  some  graphic  reminiscences 
of  Mr.  Alexander  as  he  appeared  to  the  class  of  1837.  The 
writer  of  these  memoranda  *  was  himself  a  member  of  the 
class,  though  not  an  intimate  acquaintance  of  Mr.  Alexander  ; 
and  in  the  admirable  sketches  which  follow  he  is  unable  to  con- 
ceal the  traces  of  his  own  native  humour  and  benevolence.  He 
begins  by  saying  that  he  does  not  belong  to  the  variety  of 
mankind  who  keep  journals  of  their  own  lives  and  times;  and 
therefore  owing  to  the  lapse  of  years,  has  now  "  rather  dissolv. 
ing  views  of  the  men  and  scenes  amidst  which  "  his  earlier  days 
were  spent.     He  now  wishes  for  some  such  record : 

"  For  as  one  of  the  ancient  Greeks  thanked  the  goJs  that  he  lived  in 
the  days  of  Pericles,  so  the  students  of  Princeton  who  lived  in  the  days 
of  Addison  Alexander  had  reason  also  to  be  thankful.  It  was  indeed  a 
privilege  to  be  trained  under  such  a  teacher;  and  the  consciousness  of 
that  distinction  does  not  diminish  as  time  adds  new  honours  to  liis 
name.  Tlie  period  of  my  acquaintance  witli  Professor  Alexander  was  the 
golden  age  of  the  Seminar}'.  The  venerable  men  who  gave  that  insti- 
tution such  an  elevated  ranic  and  [osition  were  then  at  its  head,  and  in 
the  prime  of  their  usefulness ;  Dr.  A.  Alexander  and  Dr.  Miller  being 
the  senior  professors,  and  Dr.  Hodge  and  J.  Addison  Alexander  the 
iunior  professors.  The  last  named  was  then  a  young  man  and  yet  had 
reached  the  full  meridian  of  his  fame  and  popularity.  He  had  not 
only  a  high  standing  in  his  own  peculiar  department  of  Oriental  litera- 
ture, but  also  ranked  very  high  for  his  attainments  in  ancient  and  mod- 
ern languages.  He  was  considered  by  the  young  men  in  the  Seminary 
as  a  regular  prodigy— a  perfect  polyglot ;  and  they  believed  he  was 
master  of  so  many  tongues  that  the  tower  of  Babel  need  never  have 

*  The  Rev.  David  Teese,  "White  Plains,  N.  Y. 


Mi.2S.-i  PERSONAL   APPEARANCE.  403 

suspended  operations  if  he  had  only  lived  in  those  early  ages,  and  been 
appointed  superintendent  of  the  building.  *  We  had  great  pride  in  our 
Onental  Professor.  He  was  an  oracle,  and  an  object  of  universal  ad- 
miration, to  the  enthusiastic  youth.  They  would  follow  his  judgment 
on  Jewish  literature  or  antiquities  in  preference  to  any  of  the  Rabbis 
either  ancient  or  modern.  "We  venerated  the  fathers  of  the  institu- 
tion ;  but  with  the  natural  partiality  of  youth  we  attached  ourselves  to 
the  junior  Professor,  and  worshipped  him  as  the  rising  sun." 

The  young  Professor  Avas  one  of  those  rare  men  who  rea- 
lize to  the  eye  of  the  beholder  one's  preconceptions  of  what  the 
bodily  presence  of  a  person  of  great  intellect  ought  to  be.  The 
description  which  follows  of  his  personne  will  prove  attrac- 
tive, and  is  corroborated  by  innumerable  voices.  The  fresh- 
ness of  his  complexion,  and  his  corpulent  fulness,  diminished 
gradually  as  he  grew  older,  and  had  entirely  left  him  before 
the  termination  of  his  last  sickness. 

"As  the  visible  presence  of  great  men  is  always  a  matter  of 
curiosity  and  interest  to  the  reader,  I  may  offer  a  remark  on  that  sub- 
ject. At  the  time  now  spoken  of,  the  personal  appearance  of  the 
Professor  was  quite  interesting  and  attractive.  He  was,  as  we  said, 
in  the  dew  of  his  youth,  and  its  bloom  was  on  his  cheek.  A  remarka- 
ble high  and  polished  forehead  was  the  indication  of  his  massive  intel- 
lec^t;  and  the  thin  covering  of  hair  was  (in  our  judgment)  the  ind'ca- 
tioa  of  exhausting  mental  labor.  His  fice,  however,  M^as  not  'sicklied 
o'er  with  the  pale  cast  of  tliought.'  By  no  means ;  it  was  round  and 
plump;  and  his  complexion  was  that  of  the  full-blown  red  ros3.  His 
colour  would  come  and  go  very  easily,  and  he  used  to  blush  like  a  girl. 
It  was  a  fancy  with  our  class  that  in  form  and  features  he  was  an  exact 
fac-simile  of  IsTapoleon ;  and  that  there  never  was  so  perfect  a  resem- 
blance to  that  great  man  to  be  found  in  all  the  world.  Each  time  I 
looked  in  his  face  I  thought  of  'The  great  Captain.'  " 

The   likeness  to  >Tapoleon  was  very  commonly  noticed. 

*  Byron  said  that  Mezzofauti  ought  to  have  been  interpreter  at  the  Tower 
of  Babel.  The  idea  seems  to  have  been  borrowed  from  Pope.  See  also  Prince- 
ton Rep.  on  King  James's  Bible. 


404  SOCIAL   INTERCOURSE.  n83T, 

It  Avas  not  a  close  similarity  of  features ;  Mr.  Alexander's 
head  and  body  were  much  broader  than  Napoleon's.  It 
was  his  full  person,  his  impressive  front,  the  regularity  of  his 
countenance,  the  impetuous  brevity  of  his  speech,  and  the 
look  of  power  in  his  fiice,  which  reminded  so  many  people  of 
the  great  Frenchman.  In  shape  and  size  Mr.  Alexander's 
head  bore  a  wonderfully  striking  resemblance  to  the  cast  of 
Count  Cavour's.  His  face  and  bust  were  not  unlike  the  pic- 
ture of  Swift  in  one  of  the  old  Penny  Magazines.  His  head 
was  a  grand  one  ;  that  would  have  befitted  Jupiter  Tonans. 

The  same  writer  touches  delicately  upon  the  subject  of  his 
gifted  teacher's  shyness  and  humble  opinion  of  his  own  pow- 
ers. He  was  observed  to  avoid  what  the  world  calls  com- 
pany : 

"  lie  had  a  girlish  modesty  and  diffidence  at  this  period  of  his  life 
which  prevented  him  from  going  into  society,  or  enjoying  much  pleas- 
ure in  social  intercourse.  Many  remarkable  traditions  were  current 
among  the  students  in  regard  to  the  difficulties  and  embarrassments 
which  he  met  with  in  his  necessary  intercourse  with  men." 

This,  Mr.  Teese  thinks,  might  have  proved  in  his  case  a 
bar  to  the  most  extensive  usefulness  as  a  pastor,  and  concludes 
that  his  preceptor  was  more  adapted  to  a  chair  such  as  the  one 
he  then  occupied,  than  to  the  charge  of  a  promiscuous  congre- 
gation. This  opinion  is  given  for  what  it  is  worth,  and  with- 
out comment.  It  is  right  to  say,  however,  that  Mr.  Alexan- 
der's aversion  from  society,  and  lack  of  enjoyment  when  in 
company,  were  often  much  exaggerated ;  as  was  also  his  sup- 
posed inability  under  such  circumstances  to  take  his  part  in 
general  conversation.  He  was  sometimes,  though  rarely, 
a  fascinating  member  of  such  promiscuous  circles.  There  is 
evidence  of  this  fact  in  the  statements  of  several  witnesses 
which  are  contained  in  this  volume. 

The  class  of  '37  was  pushed  forward  with  the  greatest 
vigour.  The  evidence  of  the  Professor's  diligence  was  unim- 
peachable.    He  laboured  with  a  will  and   with  a  quenchless 


,Et.  28.]  HIGH    PRESSURE    TEACHING.  405 

entlnisiasm.  The  poor  fellows  were  almost  exhausted,  and 
some  of  them  completely  overwhelmed,  in  the  effort  to  keep 
up  with  him.  The  class  was  divided  into  two  sections; 
each  section  recited  two  lessons  a  day,  and  each  lesson  occu- 
pied an  hour.  Says  the  good-natured  writer  to  whom  I  am 
indebted  for  these  particulars : 

"You  may  be  sure  that  neither  the  Professor  nor  the  students  had 
much  time  either  to  eat  or  sleep.  For  myself,  I  was  as  busy  as  a  nailer ; 
and  to  keep  up  witli  the  demands  of  the  teacher,  and  attain  enough 
Hebrew  to  pass  the  Presbytery,  I  had  to  rise  up  early  and  sit  up  late 
and  eat  the  bread  of  sorrows.  To  speak  the  plain  truth,  we  did  think 
the  Professor  was  a  little  exacting ;  and  that  our  condition  was  not 
much  better  than  that  of  Israel  in  Egypt  under  the  old  task-masters. 
Our  progress  up  the  hill  of  science  was  like  the  upward  progress  of  the 
unhappy  Sisyphus — 'with  many  a  weary  step  and  many  a  groan.' 
To  our  class,  at  this  time,  the  ardent  Professor  devoted  six  hours  each 
day,  of  arduous  toil ;  and  after  we  had  passed  our  three  years  under 
his  faithful  eye,  we  thought  we  had  learned  enough  of  oriental  litera- 
ture to  teach  Hebrew  anywhere,  except,  perhaps,  in  a  German  Uni- 
versity. So  severe  was  the  labour  that  several  of  our  class  succumbed 
under  the  etfort,  and  gave  up  their  attendance  on  tlie  class  lec- 
tures ;  and  to  those  that  continued  faithful  and  hopeful  to  the  end, 
there  remained  days  of  weary  toil  and  nights  of  arduous  study.  The 
school-boys  in  the  'Deserted  Village '  had  learned  to  trace  the  day's 
disaster  in  their  master's  face  ;  but  we  often  had  a  premonition  of  our 
trouble  before  we  saw  his  face.  For  as  one  division  of  our  class  came 
out,  tiie  other  went  into  the  class  room  ;  and  mingled  thus  together  we 
were  admonished  by  those  before  us  of  danger  ahead,  in  some  such 
words  as  these,  '  O  you'll  catch  it  to-day !  '  '  O  'tis  dreadful !  '  and 
similar  encouraging  expressions  indicating  what  we  might  expect." 

Few  teachers  would  have  dared  to  attempt,  and  fewer  still 
would  have  persevered  in  the  attempt,  to  force  onward  a  body 
of  young  scholars  in  this  way,  against  their  own  inclinations 
and  convictions ;  and  fewest  of  all  would  have  finally  achieved 
the  end  desired.  It  was  the  privilege  of  Mr.  Alexander  to 
succeed  in  everything  he  S2t  his  heart  on  accomplishing.  He 
knew  quite  accurately,  or  soon  found  out,  the  limits  of  his  own 


406  HARD    STUDY.  [1837, 

capacity ;  and  would  not  continue  long  in  a  course  in  which  he 
did  not  feel  sure  of  success.  He  had  the  knack  of  ascertain- 
ing also  precisely  what  his  pupils  could  do  ;  and  he  had  the 
art  or  the  power  of  making  them  do  it. 

"It  is  but  proper  to  say,  however,  that  we  were  greatly  encouraged 
by  our  progress  uniler  the  Professor's  admirable  training;  and  by  the 
knowledge  that  it  was  all  for  our  own  good  that  our  present  condition 
was  not  joyous  but  rather  grievous.  The  enthusiasm  of  the  teacher 
imparted  itself  to  the  students ;  and  under  every  green  tree,  in  the  well- 
beaten  garden  walks,  in  the  adjacent  woods,  as  well  as  in  the  Seminary, 
in  the  study,  and  in  the  class-room,  young  men  were  seen  walking, 
or  lying  down,  or  sitting  ;  with  their  limbs  stretched  out  on  the  grass,  or 
over  the  mantel-piece,  or  on  the  backs  of  ch  ;irs;  all  intent  on  the  pe- 
rusal of  one  book — 'Bush's  Hebrew  Grammar.'  Memory  loves  to 
linger  round  those  days  of  youth,  gone  never  to  return  ;  and  upon  tlie 
pleasant  employments  and  associations  Avith  which  they  were  con- 
nected. Of  all  the  great  names  we  there  venerated,  not  one  now  re- 
mains, except  as  an  oliject  of  memory  to  which  each  passing  year  adds 
new  lustre  ;  for  the  memory  of  the  just  is  blessed." 

This  whimsical,  while  yet  genial  and  delightful  picjture, 
might  be  repeated  again  and  again  and  accepted  as  true 
for  every  one  of  the  succeeding  years,  were  it  not  that 
as  the  years  multiplied,  the  Professor  became  year  by  year 
more  and  more  gentle  and  easy  to  be  entreated,  and  moi'e 
and  more  reasonable  in  his  demands  upon  his  students' 
time  and  brains.  When  he  became  a  teacher  of  Church  His- 
tory, he  had  grown  so  wise  in  all  these  practical  matters  that 
a  person  more  easy  to  be  satisfied  with  a  creditable  recitation 
could  not  be  found.  He  never  was  able  altogether  to  suppress 
his  contempt  for  Boeotian  ignorance,  or  utter  stupidity,  or  for 
the  pert  conceit  often  attendant  upon  laziness,  which  will 
sometimes  elude  all  vigilance  and  find  their  way  even  into  the 
Halls  of  sacred  learning.  Then  his  eye  would  flash,  and  his  face 
glance  fire.  He  would  sharply  reprove,  or  else  would  terribly 
confound  with  one  of  his  annihilating  sarcasms,  which  demon- 
strated at  the  same  time  the  folly  of  pupil  and  the  genius  and 
authoi-itv  of  the  master. 


^T.28.]  -       STOLID    STUDENTS.  407 

It  however  took  a  great  deal  to  move  liim  in  those  clays.  He 
was  silent  in  presence  of  some  of  the  most  grievous  exhibitions. 
Li  reply  to  the  question,  "  What  barbarous  tribes  invaded  Eu- 
rop(i  at  the  close  of  the  fifth  century,"  a  poor  fellow  who  had 
stood  the  hot  fire  of  Mr.  Alexander's  cross-examination  with- 
out blenching  or  even  so  much  as  uttering  a  word,  suddenly 
exclaimed,  apparently  very  much  to  his  ownreliet,  "the  Bar- 
barians !  "  The  Professor,  who  sat  writhing  under  this  rejoin- 
der, showed  in  his  fixce  the  traces  of  an  inward  conflict  between 
mirth  and  anger ;  but  merely  said  in  a  tone  of  contemptuous 
commiseration,  "  That'll  do,  sir  !  The  next !  "  The  stolidity  of 
this  man  was  almost  incredible.  On  another  occasion  the  Pro- 
fessor asked  him,  "  What  change  took  place  in  the  orders  of 
the  clergy  at  such  and  such  a  period  ?  "  referring  to  the  intro- 
duction of  metropolitans.  The  response  was  startling,  "  They 
were  reduced  to  the  same  footing  with  the  laity,  sir !  "  This  of 
course  produced  an  explosion  of  laughter  among  the  lookers- 
on  ;  but  the  Professor  contented  himself  with  saying,  "  Oh,  no  !" 
in  a  tone  of  utter  disgust,  and  permitted  the  unfortunate  blun- 
derer to  take  his  seat. 

Early  April  was  full  of  the  usual  vernal  j)romise.  The  as- 
pen at  Dr.  Alexander's  Seminary-gate  was  in  blossom,  and  the 
fields  were  beginning  to  change  their  winter  raiment.  Mr. 
Alexander  was  writing  "  Words  of  a  Scribe,"  "  Nails  by  the 
Masters  of  Assemblies,"  &c.,  in  the  Sunday  School  Journal.  The 
Presbytery  at  Bound  Brook  appointed  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander 
and  Mr.  Yeomans  their  clerical  commissioners  to  the  AL^sem- 
bly.  The  Hebrew  Professor  was  not  yet  a  licensed  minister, 
and  not  yet  editor  of  the  Repertory;  and  of  course  performed 
no  public  acts  in  this  stage  of  the  difiiculties.  The  weather 
continued  exceedingly  lovely,  and  the  temperature  gradually 
rose  to  a  point  of  oppressive  heat. 

On  the  30th,  which  was  Sunday,  I  find  that  Mr.  Alexander 
was  lying  sick.  He  had  suftered  from  a  high  fever  in  the 
night,  with  delirium  and  severe  pains  in  the  head.  Dr.  For- 
man  cupped  him  in  the  morning  and  afterwards  bled  him 
pretty  freely.     Whether  from  this  cause  or  not,  he  swooned  ; 


408  ASSEMBLY   OF    1837. 


ri83T. 


but  soon  began  to  exhibit  symptoms  of  amendment.  On  May 
day  ho  was  better,  though  still  gravely  diseased,  and  after  a 
bad  night  showed  marked  improvement. 

Dr.  Sprague  *  dismissed  the  students  with  a  striking  ad- 
dress on  Ecclesiastical  Ambition.  If  I  were  to  continue  this 
minute  diary  of  Princeton  matters,  I  should  lay  myself  open  to 
the  charge  of  writing  the  memoirs  not  of  one  man,  but  of  many. 
I  shall,  however,  from  time  to  time  fill  gaps  in  the  narrative 
in  this  way.  In  general  it  will  be  sufficient  to  mention  only 
those  incidents  which  have  a  direct  bearing  on  the  life  of  Mr. 
Alexander.  The  great  Assembly  of  1837  of  course  occupied 
all  eyes,  but  its  events  need  not  be  touched  upon  here.  Mr. 
Alexander  was  not  called  upon  to  take  sides  one  way  or  the 
other  until  the  division  occurred,  at  which  time  he  went  heart 
and  hand  with  the  Old  School.  As  soon  as  he  was  able,  the 
enfeebled  scholar  took  a  jaunt  as  far  as  Baltimore,  and  returned 
about  the  20th,  somewhat  recruited.  He  spent  the  nio-ht 
Avith  his  brother,  and  the  two  chatted  over  the  scenes  of 
travel. 

The  northerly  winds  of  the  next  day  prepared  the  heavens 
for  a  clear  sunset.  Fires  were  cheerful,  and  news  came  of  the 
Old  School  majority.  The  foliage  was  exuberant  before  the 
Spring  went  out,  and  by  the  31st,  Summer  was  fairly  en- 
throned in  the  latitude  of  Princeton.  It  appears  that  Mr. 
Alexander  was  again  absent  from  home ;  and  he  must  have 
gone  somewhere  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  the  Assembly, 
probably  to  Philadelphia,  for  on  June  8,  Thursday,  his  brother 
records  in  his  journal : 

*  The  Rev.  William  B.  Sprague,  D.  D.,  of  Albany,  writes  that  he  remembers  Mr. 
Alexander  as  quite  a  small  boy,  when  he  himself  was  in  the  Seminary,  in  181G  • 
but  he  knew  nothing  of  his  remarkable  powers  till  after  Mr.  Alexander  had 
passed  through  college.  "  Dr.  Addison  Alexander  "  he  continues,  "  was  a  man 
of  so  much  mark,  and  in  some  respects  stood  perhaps  so  entirely  alone,  that  it 
was  hardly  possible  to  move  in  any  intellectual  circle  without  having  a  definite 
idea  of  him.  So  often  as  I  met  with  a  Princeton  student  during  the  pe- 
riod of  his  Professorship,  I  was  sure  to  hear  the  highest  possible  testimony  ren- 
dered to  his  great  talents  and  learning,  and  to  his  almost  matchless  facility  at 
communicating  knowledge." 


^T.28.]  A   LATIN    TENSE.  409 

"  Addison  writes  to  me  every  day.  His  letters  keeps  me  informed 
of  Assembly  matters.  It  is  expected  tliat  the  New-School  men  will 
go  to  law.  Some  say  sooner  or  later  there  must  be  a  new  Church,  and 
tbat  it  will  be  called  the  American  Presbyterian  Church,  What  will 
ours  be  called  ?  Whatever  may  result,  our  descendants  will  look  back 
on  the  doings  of  the  Assembly  of  1837  as  among  the  most  momentous 
in  our  history." 

A  wonderful  revival  was  going  on  at  New  Brunswick. 
ISTeai-ly  seventy  souls  were  indulging  a  good  hope  through 
grace  of  eternal  life.  Among  the  preachers  were  the  Rev. 
Messrs.  Abeel,  Jones,  and  the  Rev.  James  W.  Alexander.  The 
v/ork  soon  spread  to  Metuchen.  In  June,  the  Presbytery  met 
at  New  Brunswick  to  take  measures  to  extend  the  benefits  of 
the  awakening  to  other  churches.  The  deep  feeling  continued 
for  many  weeks. 

On  the  24th  of  July  Mr.  Alexander  writes  amusingly  to 
Mr.  Hall,  for  Sir  Thomas  Browne,  and  makes  fun  of  one  of 
the  Latin  tenses, 

Peinoetox,  July  24,  1837, 
"My  Dear  Sib: 

"  As  I  write  in  a  hurry,  I  cannot  do  justice  to  your  valuable  letter, 
but  must  rush  at  once  in  medias  res.  If  it  is  the  new  English  edition 
of  Sir  Til.  Browne  that  Whitham  has,  you  would  oblige  me  much  by 
securing  it  for  me,  I  am  a  little  puzzled  by  your  use  of  the  praeterper- 
fectum,  Avhea  you  say,  ''  I  have  seen  a  copy  of  Lamartine."  If  this  be 
not  a  melancholy  reminiscence  of  some  former  vision  gone  forever,  but 
a  statement  of  what  is  still  visible,  I  should  be  very  glad  to  get,  not 
the  poems,  but  the  travels. 

"Yours  sincerely, 

"J.  A.  Alexander." 

The  next  letter  contains  a  comical  allusion  to  the  Infant 
Library.  The  old  manuscript  was,  like  enough,  something  new 
and  humorous. 

,,,,    ^         „  'Psi^OETO^,  Aitgiist  8,  1837 

"My  Dear  Sir:  .       a         , 

"  I  hope  this  will  find  you  in  recovered  health.     If  any  of  the  infini- 
tesimal books  are  missing,  they  shall  be  forthcoming.     I  have  just  laid 
18 


410  PICTURE    OF    PRINCETON.  [183T. 

my  hands  upon  an  ancient  MS.,  a  fragment  which  I  enclosa  without 
reading  it  over.  If,  hy  any  process,  you  can  render  it  available,  in 
whole  or  in  part,  as  material  for  your  invaluable  labours,  no  one  will  be 
more  pleased  or  surprised  than.  Sir, 

"  Yours  most,  &c., 

"J.  A.  Alexander." 

The  study  fires  were  resumed  in  September ;  and  the  antici- 
pations of  Professor  James  Alexander  were  realized,  when 

"  The  crackling  bihets,  flaming  high 
Shall  send  a  gleam  to  every  eye 
Of  happy  inmates  round  the  hearth, 
Full  of  warm  friendship  and  pure  mirth. 
Here  let  the  hoary  grandsire  bask 
And  grandame  ply  the  worsted  task, 
And  hardy  urchin  frame  his  snare 
And  chubby  girl  her  sports  prepare, 
"While  John  with  school-boy  tone  rehearse 
The  newest  book  in  prose  and  verse."  * 

With  the  exception  of  the  proper  name,  this  is  a  true  pic- 
ture of  one  of  the  homes  in  Princeton.  There  were  almost 
always  young  pupils  in  the  house,  and  the  daughters  of  friends 
or  cousins  often  came  in  from  abroad.  These  were  happy  days, 
days  of  sunshine  and  intellectual  and  religious  improvement. 
The  aerugo  aninii  was  unknown,  and  the  hours  flew  like  a 
shuttle. 

The  winter  session  of  the  college  began  on  the  ninth  of 
November.  There  was  a  clerical  meeting  that  day  at  Dr.  Mil- 
ler's. The  topic  before  the  Association  was  certain  questions 
relating  to  the  status  of  the  coloured  people. 

This  year  Professor  James  Alexander  brought  out  the  es. 
says  of  Charles  Quill,  Avhich  had  a  great  run  for  a  while.  They 
were  afterwards  reprinted  with  the  title  of  "  The  American  Me- 
chanic," and  still  later  incorporated  with  a  new  series,  under 

*  From  an  imagirative  skctcli  by  the  Rev.  J.  W.  Alexander,  which  was  first 
printed  in  the  Newark  Daily  Advertiser. 


^T.28.]  CONTRIBUTIONS    TO    THE    PAPERS.  411 

the  style,  "  The  American  Mechanic  and  Working-Man."  The 
author  once  told  me  that  he  knew  most  persons  would  set  a 
higher  value  on  his  life  of  his  father,  but  that  he  himself  con- 
sidered these  essays  the  best  thing  he  had  ever  done ;  though 
at  that  but  a  small  contribution  to  our  Presbyterian  literature. 
The  essays  are  terse  and  sprightly,  and  very  instructive ;  Avith 
a  fine  flavour  of  the  Bible  and  of  the  Latin  and  English 
classics. 

The  letter  which  is  subjoined,  asks  an  important  question 
in  the  interests  of  the  Repertory  : 

"Prixceton,  DfcemJer  1,  1837. 
"MyDeakSir: 

"I  write  in  haste,  at  the  request  of  Dr.  Hodge,  to  beg  your  aid  in  an 

important  matter.     As  you  are  in  the  habit  of  reading  many  journals, 

can   you   state,  for  the  benefit    of  an  "  Association  of    Gentlemen,'' 

whether  the  doctrine  of  the  Oxford  Tracts,  the  new  form  of  Church  of 

Englandism,  has  been  distinctly  endorsed  or  adopted  by  any  of  the 

Episcopal  papers  in  this  country.     If  you  could  refer  to  documents  and 

vouchers,  tmit  mieux  ;     but  even  your  ipse-dixit  will  be  worth  a  great 

deal.     Dr.  II.  is  also  anxious  to  obtain  a  sermon  on  Tradition,  by 

Henry  M.  Mason.     Perhaps  you  could  procure  it  for  him.     I  hope  to 

let  you  hear  from  me  soon  in  a  less  troublesome  manner. 

"  With  the  highest  consideration,  &c.,  &c., 

"Jos.  ADDiso]>f  Alexander." 

"  My  Dear  Sir  : 

"  I  observe  that  my  last  contributions  to  the  Journal  were  clothed 
in  an  editoi-i.il  dress.  This  is  more  agreeable  to  my  taste  as  well  as 
flattering  to  my  vanity.  My  only  misgiving  is,  that  many  of  the  scraps 
I  send  you  are  repeated  sometimes  in  my  lectures  to  the  students,  and 
mi-ht  perhaps  be  recognized,  if  rendered  too  conspicuous.  I  begin 
however  to  be  sick  of  series;  and  to  think  that  even  scraps  lose  much 
of  their  intrinsic  value  by  conglomeration.  I  send  you  a  few  para- 
graphs from  a  work  of  Baxter,  which  is  very  little  read.  I  have  no 
oljection  to  your  maldng  any  of  them  'leaders,'  if  you  wish. 

•'Mr.  Whiting  of  Jerusalem  writes  to  my  father,  thnt  a  number  of 
American  and  Englisli  people  are  now  in  the  Holy  Land,  waiting  for 
the  Second  Advent ;  having  been  much  encouraged  by  the  earthq'uake 
of  the  first  of  January. 


412  LETTERS   TO    A    PUPIL.  ti83T. 

"Do  you  suppose  it  possible  to  get  any  Portuguese  books  ia  Phila- 
delphia?    I  sliouia  like  very  much  to  obtain  a  Grammar,  Dictionary, 

and  Lusiad.  Yours, 

"J.  A.  A." 

A  few  letters  to  one  of  his  little  pupils  are  now  given  to 
show  how  pleasant  he  was  in  his  relations  to  them.  The  po- 
liteness of  these  communications  is  remarkable.  It  Avas  not 
his  nature  to  be  intentionally  rude.  He  was  gracious  and 
courteous  to  the  smallest  child.  Sometimes  indeed,  like  most 
other  schoolmasters,  he  spoke  short  to  them,  but  he  did  it  for 

their  good.  ^    •    j  ^    i 

The  first  of  these  letters  from  which  I  take  extracts  is  dated 

October  28.    In  it  he  says,  in  allusiou  to  a  playful  discussion 

they  had  together  as  to  comparative  merits  of  the  two  great 

cities : 

"  October  28,  1837. 

"  Deau  J  ■ 

"  I  shall  not  try  to  defend  poor  New  York  any  longer,  but  allow  you 
to  prefer  Philadelphia  henceforth  and  forever.  You  know,  indeed,  a  lit- 
tle more  about  New  York  than  I  do  ;  as  I  never  visited  the  theatre,  and 
hope  I  never  sh.ll.  You  forgot  to  mention  which  of  the  Museums  you 
had  seen  •  and  I  am  ciuite  surprised  that  you  s:iy  nothing  about  Broad- 
,vay  the  Battery,  or  the  City  Hall.  Perhaps  you  do  not  look  upon  the 
fine  bay  as  belonging  to  the  city ;  or  you  would  hardly  have  omiLted  to 
express  your  admiration  of  that  splendid  sheet  of  water,  which  is  said 
t.  be  unrivalled  ia  the  world  for  beauty  except  by  the  Bay  of  Naples. 

"Yours  affectionately,  ^    .     .  „ 

"  J.  A.  Alexander." 

"If  you  find  any  difficulty  in  reading  my  letter,  please  to  let  me 
know,  and  I  will  try  to  write  a  little  better." 

The  next  is  an  essay  on  the  secret  of  true  happiness,  and 
though  written  for  a  boy,  is  richly  wortliy  of  perusal  at  the 
hands  of  grown  up  men  and  women. 

"December  19,1837. 

"  ^"  Your'question  is  an  interesting  and  important  one.     I  must  first  tell 
you  what  does  not  constitute  the  happiness  of  man.     I  suppose  you 


^T.  28.]  TRUE    HAPPINESS.  413 

know  by  your  own  experience  that  peevishness,  and  ill -hum  our,  nnd 
angry  pas^sions  do  not  constitute  happiness.  You  must  know  too,  that 
eating,  driiiking,  or  riding  cannot  make  you  happy;  you  would  not  be 
willing  to  eat,  drink,  play,  or  ride  forever.  I  need  not  tell  you  that 
sleep  and  idleness  would  not  make  you  happy.  And  do  you  think  that 
money  ever  made  a  person  happy?  Some  of  the  most  miserable 
wretches  in  the  world  have  been  immensely  rich.  Perhaps  you  think 
that  finery,  fashion,  and  pleasure  constitute  the  happiness  of  man.  If 
you  ever  live  to  make  the  experiment  (I  pray  that  you  may  never  make 
it)  vou  will  find  to  your  sorrow  that  you  were  mistaken ;  and  that  none 
are  more  miserable  in  their  hearts  than  some  who  seem  most  gay  to 
others.  The  longer  you  live  too,  the  more  you  will  be  convinced  that 
people  can  be  happy  who  have  neither  health,  nor  wealth,  nor  learning, 
nor  amusements,  nor  distinctions.  AYhat  makes  these  people  happy  ?  The 
only  thing  that  can  make  you  happy,  even  in  the  midst  of  all  these 
pleasures  in  the  world.  I  mean  the  favour  of  God,  Tliis,  and  nothing 
but  this,  constitutes  the  happiness  of  man.  You  may  think  it  very  far 
from  pleasant  to  spend  all  your  life  in  serving  God ;  but  if  you  think  so, 
it  is  because  you  never  tried  it.  A  person  born  blind  cannot  under- 
stand how  people  should  take  pleasure  in  seeing  sights  ;  but  if  his  eyes 
could  be  opened,  he  would  understand  it  at  once.  That  your  eyes  may 
be  opened,  my  dear  boy,  to  see  and  know  what  constitutes  the  happi- 
ness of  man,  is  the  desire  and  prayer  of  yonr  aftectionale  friend, 

"Jos.  Addison  Alexander." 

The  next  is  very  kind  and  edifying: 

"  My  Dear  Boy  : 

"  I  have  no  right  to  scold  you  for  doing  what  I  do  myself.  I  was 
about  to  begin  my  letter  by  finding  fault  with  you  for  hastily  writ- 
ing '  I  will  try, '  before  '  Dear  Sir  ' ;  but  you  see  I  have  forgotten  both 
the  date  and  title.  From  this  little  circumstance  we  both  may  learn 
not  to  be  too  forward  in  condemning  others,  when  we  ourselves  may  be 
equally  to  blame.  Much  less,  when  we  are  more  to  blame.  This  is  to 
quarrel  with  the  mote  in  our  brother's  eye,  when  there  is  a  beam  in 
our  own.  '  Judge  not  that  ye  be  not  judged.'  The  question  you  pro- 
pose gives  me  great  pleasure.  I  trust  you  ask  it  not  for  form's  sake 
merely,  but  because  you  really  desire  to  know.  The  answer  to  it  you 
must  learn  from  the  Bible;  and  I  hope  you  will  have  grace  to  under- 
stand it  rightly.  Do  you  not  know  that  you  were  born  a  sinner  ?  That 
you  need  to  be  pardoned  and  cleansed,  in  order  to  be  happy  ?    You 


414  ISAIAH   BEGUN.  [183T. 

must  feel  tin's  to  be  so ;  and  you  can  never  get  wliat  yon  thns  need,  but 
by  God's  favour.  If  .you  are  pardoned  and  made  holy  and  received  into 
heaven,  it  will  not  be  because  you  deserve  it,  or  because  you  are  so 
good ;  for  by  nature  you  are  vile.  It  is  a  mere  favour  given  to  you  by 
God,  for  the  Saviour's  sake  ;  and  if  you  are  not  willing  to  receive  it  as 
a  fiivouryou  cannot  receive  it  at  all.  Let  the  next  question  be — '  "Why 
did  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  live  and  die  upon  the  earth  ?'  Your  last  let- 
ter upon  the  whole,  is  as  well  written  as  the  one  before  it ;  but  I  do  not 
think  it  any  better.     Try  to  improve. 

"I  subscribe  myself  your  faithful  friend, 

"  J.  A.  Alexander." 

Wc  now  approach  an  epocli  in  the  life  of  this  quiet  stu- 
dent. This  was  no  less  an  event  than  the  commencement  of  his 
magnum  opus,  at  least  if  regard  be  liad  to  its  size,  its  fame,  and 
its  visible  display  of  exact  critical  scholarship  and  almost  in- 
calculable stores  of  erudition.  It  was  this  book  that  gave  him  a 
name  among  the  literati  of  Europe  a>  well  as  America.  At  home 
it  was  spoken  of  everywhere.  The  Avorld  of  letters  rang  with  it 
This  never  deprived  the  author  of  his  masculine  intrepidity  of 
judgment,  or  one  whit  altered  his  serene  modesty.  He  began 
the  first  actual  writing  iipon  his  commentary  on  Isaiah  on 
the  21st  of  June,  1836  ;  as  appears  from  tlie  following  extract 
from  his  day-book :  "  I  began  my  notes  on  Isaiah  and  wrote 
on  the  first  ten  verses  of  chapter  xlix."  He  commenced  at  this 
point  because  he  had  arrived  at  this  place  in  the  regular  in- 
structions to  his  class. 

Even  under  the  pressure  of  his  gigantic  exegetical  la- 
bours he  could  not  put  aside  the  disposition  to  learn  new  lan- 
guages. During  this  year  he  acqiiired  the  Polish  ;  having  an 
educated  native  as  his  instructor.  It  was  always  his  custom 
to  obtain  what  living  guidance  he  could  in  his  linguistic  efforts. 
His  principal  studies  during  this  year  were  connected  with  his 
commentary  on  Isaiah.  Besides  attending  upon  his  regular 
classes  in  the  Seminary,  he  Avas  also  engaged  in  instructing 
private  classes  in  Arabic  and  Hebrew.  These  private  classes 
were  a  great  delight  and  refreshment  to  him.  The  men  Avho 
composed  them  were  never  forgotten,  and  Avere  some  of  them 


^T.28.]  THE    DOOMED    MAN.  415 

always  greatly  admired.  One  or  two  of  them  became  profes- 
sors and  commentators  themselves.  Others,  followmg  jvist  as 
strictly  in  the  path  marked  out  for  them  by  the  footsteps  of 
their  teacher,  became  themselves  teachers  of  Hebrew  and  Ori- 
ental literatm-e.  This  indirect  influence  of  Mr.  Alexander  in 
moulding  and  giving  purpose  to  the  best  minds  in  his  various 
classes,  can  never  be  estimated. 

His  journals  at  this  point  consist  chiefly  of  rough  notes  on 
Isaiah.  He  continued  his  Commentary,  the  study  of  the  Polish  ; 
Malay  and  Chinese  languages  ;  and  besides  hearing  the  recita- 
tations  of  his  private  classes  in  Arabic,  he  gave  instruction  to 
several  boys,  whose  habit  it  was  to  frequent  his  study,  and 
after  school  hours  to  laugh  and  wonder  at  his  stories.  The  mul- 
titude, difficulty,  complexity  and  total  mass  of  his  studies  at 
this  period,  will  never  cease  to  excite  a  surprise  that  borders 
upon  unbelief.  ISTothing  could  be  more  utterly  astonishing^ 
unless  it  were  the  gaiety,  the  ease,  the  smiling  unconsciousness 
of  hardship  with  which  the  whole  was  accomplished. 

He  wrote  some  verses  and  sent  them  off  this  year  to  the 
Sunday  School  Journal,  then  edited  by  his  friend  Mr.  Hall, 
which  have  since  become  widely  and  justly  celebrated.  They 
were  the  famous  lines  on  the  "  Doomed  Man."  He  wrote  them 
very  rapidily  (one  night,  I  think),  put  them  in  the  post-box, 
and  thought  no  more  of  them ;  indeed  almost  forgot  them.  He 
was  afterwards  inundated  Avith  letters  asking  for  copies ; 
making  pertinent  and  impertinent  inquiries  ;  and  crammed  with 
undisguised  compliments.  One  of  these  letters  I  once  heard 
read  aloud,  and  it  was  truly  preposterous.  The  thing  came  to 
such  a  pass  at  length,  that  the  distressed  author  one  day  re- 
marked he  had  begun  to  think  he  was  himself  the  doomed 
man.  The  stanzas  which  were  so  much  admii-ed,  have  been 
thought  to  be  awfully  solemn  and  impressive ;  and  are  certainly 
written  with  a  terrible  energy  of  diction. 

The  Saxon  brevity  of  the  words ;  and  the  terse  antithetical 
point  that  is  reached  by  the  conception  and  arrangement  of 
the  successive  clauses ;  and  the  wild,  dirge-like  cadence  of  the 
rhythm;   it  would  no  doubt  be  hard  to  equal.     The  lines  had 


416  WHEN   WRITTEN.  [1837. 

a  great  run.  The  papers  got  hold  of  thera,  and  they  have 
been  circulating  ever  since.  Many  preachers  have  recited 
chem  at  the  close  of  sermons,  and  often  with  visible  effect. 
They  are  included  in  at  least  one  collection  of  hymns,  a  large 
volume  put  forth  by  the  Baptists  ;  and  it  is  believed  have  been 
the  means  of  awakening  many  souls.  They  have  sometimes 
been  attributed  to  Dr.  James  W.  Alexander.  They  have  often 
been  reproduced  in  a  mutilated  form.  Some  time  after  their 
original  appearance  in  the  Sunday  School  Journal,  they  were 
handsomely  reprinted  on  large  square  sheets  of  j^aper  with 
broad  margins.  Dr.  Rice,  of  Mobile,  is  my  voucher  for  the 
averment  that  this  was  done  by  the  New  York  minister. 
They  were  certainly  reprinted  by  him  in  his  little  volume  enti- 
tled Revival  Tracts,  in  which  he  says  erroneously  that  this  was 
the  first  time  they  had  been  published  with  the  author's 
consent.  Dr.  Rice,  however,  speaks  of  a  conversation 
he  had  with  the  elder  brother  in  New  York,  when  the 
latter  lived  in  White  street,  at  the  time  of  the  appearance 
of  the  sheets  before  spoken  of,  in  which  the  city  clergyman 
told  him  that  he  had  taken  the  verses  from  a  drawer  in  hi^ 
brother's  table  and  had  them  struck  off  without  tbe  author's 
knowledge  or  expi-ess  approval ;  and  the  Mobile  editor 
points  to  a  passage  in  the  Familiar  Lettei's  of  Dr.  James  Alex- 
ander, where  the  writer  says  that  if  Dr.  Hall  had  not  asserted 
and  proved  the  fact  of  an  earlier  publication,  viz.,  in  the  S.  S. 
Journal,  he  could  not  have  been  easily  persuaded  that  the  lines 
had  not  had  a  quite  different  introduction  to  the  public.  It  is 
obviously  possible,  (aside  from  Dr.  Rice's  evidence,)  that  Dr. 
James  Alexander  may  have  stated  to  Dr.  Rice,  through  some 
lapse  of  memory,  what  Dr.  Rice  has  affirmed  to  be  his  recol- 
lection of  his  words.  It  is  equally  possible  that  the  memory 
of  Dr.  Rice  himself  may  have  swerved  a  little  from  the  exact 
truth.  The  piece  as  originally  written  contained  an  addition- 
al verse,  which  is  given  with  the  editor's  note  of  explanation 
in  the  Familiar  Letters. 

*  See  Fam.  Let.,  vol.  ii,p.  285,  foot-note  to  letter  of  Marclj  4,  1859. 


^T.  28.]  PARALLEL    BIBLE.      "  417 

I  have  been  favouredby  Dr.  Hali  with  a  sight  of  the  proof 
sheet  for  the  Journal  coataining  this  stanza  crossed  out  in  red 
pencil  marks,  with  the  printer's  well-known  theta  in  the  mar- 
gin, also  in  red  pencil.  The  stanza  was  omitted  without  any 
hesitation,  upon  the  editor's  saying  that  in  his  opinion  it  was 
"  too  hori'ible.  "  The  prevailing  reason  for  striking  it  out  may 
have  been  the  simple  fact  that  objection  had  been  taken  to  it. 
Whether  "  too  horrible  "  or  not,  the  stanza  would  unquestion- 
ably have  detracted  a  little  from  the  singular  merit  of  the  poem. 
These  lines  are  so  well-known  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  insert 
them  here. 

On  the  29th  of  December,  he  wrote  to  his  Trenton  friend, 
advocating  the  printing  of  bibles  giving  the  exact  Avords  of  all 
the  parallel  passages,  instead  of  mere  references.  *  I  make  a 
single  extract : 

"It  has  been  said  already,  that  one  principal  objection  to  the  usual 
metliod,  is  the  number  of  irrelevant  and  mere  verbal  parallels  by  which 
the  learner  is  perplexed  without  the  possibility  of  choice  among  them, 
until  after  an  actual  reference  to  all.  And  one  main  end  of  the  pro- 
posed reform,  is  to  save  time  and  labour  by  winnowing  tlie  margins  of 
our  bibles  and  commentaries ;  a  process  which  will  certainly  reduce  the 
bulk  of  matter  to  a  much  more  reasonable  compass.  In  short,  the  plan 
which  I  propose  is  this,  that  parallel  texts  which  are  really  illustrative 
of  any  given  passage  be  selected  by  an  experienced  hand,  and  printed 
at  length.  To  perfect  the  arrangement,  there  might  be  a  class  of  less 
important  parallels  (but  none  irrelevant)  printed  apart,  for  the  benefit 
of  those  who  are  willing  to  pursue  the  matter  further.  ISTone  but  those 
who  have  spent  much  time  in  the  study  of  commentaries,  knows  to 
what  extent  the  multitude  of  references  would  be  thus  reduced,  and 
how  much  time  and  trouble  would  be  saved  to  the  poor  learner.  To 
others,  the  true  state  of  the  case  can  be  made  evident  in  no  way  but  by 
specimens." 

The  next  letter  shows  that  he  was  at  this  time  pursuing 
four  distinct  courses  of  exegetical   study,  and    lecturing  on 

*  The  thing  here  proposed,  as  is  well  known,  has  since  been  carried  out  a*, 
the  suggestion  and  by  the  labours  of  others. 
18* 


418  LETTERS    TO    DR.    HALL.  [183T. 

each  topic  to  the  class.  He  excuses  himself  from  writing  in 
the  S.  S.  Journal,  thanks  his  correspondent  for  civilities,  asks 
for  more  writing  paper,  and  threatens  a  visit  to  Philadelphia. 

"  Pkinceton,  Dec.  15,  1837. 

'•  My  Dear  Sik 

"  I  have,  rather  imprudently  perhaps,  imdertaken  four  distinct 
courses  of  exegetical  instruction  in  the  Seminary,  all  of  which  require 
attention,  and  two  of  them  laborious  study.  I  hope  this  will  iiulnce 
you  to  excuse  my  repeated  breach  of  pronii-;e  as  to  journalizing  for 
you.  Please  to  consider  yourself  thanked  by  the  anonyme  for  your 
late  communication.  I  send  the  stray  pamphlets  and  re;?ret  the  error. 
I  shall  count  it  a  privilege  to  obtain  letter  paper  at  all  similar  to  this. 
My  excuses  above  are  not  designed  to  blast  nil  hopes  of  aid,  but  only 
to  prevent  impatience  at  the  delay  of  my  precious  contributions.  I 
hope  to  do  sometliing  yet  before  February,  in  which  month  I  anticipate 
the  pleasure  of  a  personal  interview  ;  and  in  the  meantime, 
"Am  yours, 

"Jos.  Addison  Alexander." 

In  the  undated  communication  given  below,  he  begs  in  his 
usual  serio-comic  strain  for  Wettenhall's  Greek  Grammar  and 
the  Family  Cabinet  Atlas. 

"  My  Dear  Sir  : 

"  Do  you  think  it  ^yould  be  possible  to  find  in  Philadelphia,  two 
copies  of  Wettenhall's  Greek  Grammfir  (;n  Latin),  either  the  English 
or  American  edition  ?  If  you  should  If  arn  the  existence  of  such  pheno- 
mena, whether  at  first  or  second  hand,  I  would  thank  you  to  secure 
tliem  for  my  benefit.  I  likewise  wish  to  get  two  copies  of  the  Family 
Cabinet  Atlas.  By  picking  them  up  and  sending  them  by  the  first  oc- 
casion, with  a  memorandum  of  the  price,  you  will  much  oblige 
"  Your  most  obedient  servant, 

"J.  A.  Alexander." 

"Mr.  J.  Hall." 

The  letters  of  this  period  to  Dr.  Hall  would  be  enough  of 
themselves  to  convince  the  sourest  skeptic  that  the  writer  of 
them  v.as  a  man  of  versatility,  kindliness,  humour,  true 
politeness  of  heart,  and  heavy  intellectual  labours.     It  would 


^T.2S.]  FIEST    EFFORTS    IN   PULPIT.  419 

add  to  this  impression  if  I  could  recover  reams  of  paper  now 
burnt  up.  The  recollections  of  survivors  are  now  my  only 
resource. 

The  studies  in  Isaiah,  and  those  bearing  upon  collateral 
subjects,  were  carried  on  again  in  1838,  His  private  class  in 
Hebrew  was  resumed  and  continued.  His  class  duties  in  the 
Seminary  were  performed  with  exemplary  zeal  and  patience. 
The  year  is  marked  by  his  entrance  on  the  distinctive  work  of  a 
preacher.  He  was  received  as  a  candidate  under  the  care  of  the 
Presbytery  of  New  Brunswick,  in  February,  and  during  the 
month  of  April  was  licensed  as  a  probationer  for  the  Gospel 
ministry.  His  first  efforts  in  the  pulpit  were  anxiously  ex- 
pected, and  were  accepted  with  applause,  as  tokens  of  a  noble 
career  as  an  expounder  of  Scripture,  and  as  an  orator  apt  to 
teacli,  and  to  win  souls.  The  most  intellectual  were  charmed, 
the  most  frivolous  were  awed  and  arrested,  the  most  simple 
were  instructed  in  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom.  This  year 
is  also  signalized  by  his  connection  with  the  Princeton  Eeview, 
of  which  he  now  became  an  associate  editor.  The  light  now 
broadens  for  a  while  upon  his  path,  owing  to  the  comparative 
fulness  of  the  journal. 

He  was  visited  on  the  morning  of  January  the  1st,  by  a 
Mr.  Burgess,  who  w^as  then  supplying  the  place  of  Dr.'  Rob- 
nison,  in  the  Union  Seminary  of  New  York.  At  11  o'clock 
he  heard  Dr.  Puce  preach  on  the  duty  of  praying  for  a  reio-n 
ot  righteousness.  In  the  evening  he  attended  the  monthly 
concert  of  prayer  in  the  Seminary.  As  a  sample  of  his 
method  of  preparation  and  instruction  at  this  time,  I  insert 
wJiat  follows.  No  one  can  fail  to  be  struck  with  the  con- 
scientious thoroughness  and  diligence  such  statements  imply 
and  the  power  of  rapid  and  consecutive  reading  which  thev 
betray.  "^ 

"  January  2d.— I  examined  my  private  class  on  the  book  of  ITahum 
In  preparmg  for  my  lectures  to  this  class,  I  liave  read  every  word  of 
the   Septnagint,    Targam,    Peschito    and  Vulgate;    a  great   part  of 
Jerome  s  commentary ;  every  word  of  JarcLi,  Kimchi,  and  Aben-Ezra  • 


420  EXPERIMENTS    WITH    HIS    CLASS.  [1838. 

every  -word  of  Grotius,  and  in  Pool's  synopsis,  J.  D.  Micliaelis,  Rosen- 
miiller,  and  the  Oomprehensive  Coraraentury.  This  course  of  reading, 
though  laborious,  has  been  highly  satisfactory ;  the  rather  as  I  have  se- 
cured, in  black  and  "white,  the  results  for  future  use." 

It  is  somewhat  amusing  to  eonsicler  the  force  of  the  "word 
"laborious"  in  sucli  a  connection.  The  thing  so  described 
would  probably  have  broken  the  back  of  any  other  man  on 
this  side  of  Germany. 

Here  is  something  about  the  Princeton  savans  : 

"January  3d. — Attended  the  conversazione  at  Professor  Uenry's. 
Mr.  Stephen  Alexander  gave  an  account  of  the  solar  eclipse  "which  is 
to  take  place  in  September,  illustrated  by  dra"wings,  and  a  map  of  the 
United  States,  drawn  by  Professor  Henry  on  a  very  large  scale.  I 
wish  very  much  to  have  such  a  map  or  maps,  for  the  illustration  of  my 
lectures  on  Biblical  Geography  ;  and  Mr.  Henry  has  kindly  offered  to 
superintend  the  preparation  of  one  for  me." 

It  appears  from  a  record  in  another  volume,  that  he  was 
now  making  some  bold  and  singular  experiments  with  his  class 
in  the  Seminary.  Among  others  was  the  plan  of  giving  out 
Hebrew  words  and  phrases  to  be  taken  down  at  his  dictation. 
The  results  of  these  trials  are  given  in  the  subjoined  extract 
from  his  journal.     He  got  his  cue  from  Germany. 

As  this  entry  lets  us  into  the  secret  of  much  of  his  think- 
ing on  the  whole  subject  of  lecturing  and  questioning  a  class, 
I  may  as  well  bring  in  just  here  a  few  words  by  one  of  his 
pupils  Professor  Andrew  D.  Hepburn  of  Miami  University,  in 
reference  to  this  matter :  though  belonging  to  a  much  later 
period  the}^  come  in  properly  at  this  point.  After  many 
pages  of  unqualified,  though  discriminating  eulogy,  he  goes  on 
as  follows  : 

"  While  superior  to  any  man  I  ever  heard  as  a  lecturer,  I  think  Dr. 
A.  failed  in  another  part  of  the  "work  of  the  class-room ;  in  his  ques- 
tioning on  the  lectures.  The  questions  "were  always  clear  and  sbnrp  ; 
it'  was  impossible  to  misunderstand  them,  but  they  were  rigidly  confined 
to  what  had  been  said  in  the  lectui*e.  He  allowed  no  digression  ;  he 
demanded  only  what  had  been  said.     He  never  made,  so  far  as  I  recol- 


^T.29.]  QUESTIONS   IN   THE    CLASS.  421 

lect,  any  explanations  in  the  hour  devoted  to  questioning.  He  never 
allowed  another  to  put  questions  to  him  in  the  class-room.  He  onc« 
told  ns,  that  those  who  had  questions  to  ask  could  write  them  and 
place  them  on  the  desk,  and  he  would  answer  them  at  the  next  meet- 
ing ;  but  that  he  could  not  answer  extempore.  I  do  not  know  why  he 
adopted  this  method  of  requiring  the  bare  repetition  of  what  he  had 
communicated.  That  he  had  some  definite  principle  I  do  not  doubt ; 
for  more  than,  most  of  our  professors,  had  he  made  the  subject  of 
methods  of  education  a  matter  of  study." 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  record  now  to  be  given,  that  Mr. 
Alexander's  methods  were  indeed  a  matter  of  deep  and  saga- 
cious study  with  him,  and  that  at  one  time  he  permitted  ex- 
temporaneous questions  to  be  put  to  him  by  members  of  the 
class. 

The  opinion  expressed  as  to  the  failure  of  the  teacher 
as  a  catechist  will  not  be  concurred  in  by  all  his  pupils.  Of 
course  I  shall  not  presume  to  decide  such  a  point.  The  ac- 
count given  of  his  manner  of  questioning  is  undoubtedly  cor- 
rect. In  addition  it  may  be  said  that  a  series  of  questions, 
having  almost  precisely  the  same  purport  would  be  fairly 
hailed  at  a  silent  student.  The  object  of  these  questions 
which  were  all  as  simple  as  possible,  was  to  draw  out  from  the 
lips  of  the  embarrassed  student  a  single  sentence  giving  part 
of  the  substance  of  the  lecture  he  had  heard  at  the  previous 
recitation. 

"January  6. — I  adopted  a  new  method  in  my  Hebrew  recitation?. 
Instead  of  making  the  class  read  the  whole  of  the  lesson,  which  is 
very  tedious  to  them  and  to  me,  I  merely  ask  questions  on  the  differ- 
ent parts.  I  am  pleased  with  the  experiment.  I  had  previously 
adopted  the  European  method  of  lecturing  at  one  recitation  on  the  part 
to  be  recited  at  the  next ;  and  am  convinced,  now,  that  it  is  the  true 
method  of  impai'ting  the  most  knowledge  in  a  given  time.  I  was  for- 
merly, prejudiced  against  it,  as  a  plan  adopted  merely  to  save  labour  and 
make  superficial  scholars.  In  this  I  was  first  shaken  by  my  visit  to  the 
German  Universities,  which  made  me  ask  myself,  how  is  it  that  this 
method  of  instruction  is  adhered  to  in  a  country  principally  noted  for 
its  love  of  change  ?    If  anything  could  have  been  gained  by  innovation 


422  METHODS    OP   STUDY. 


asss. 


llio  Germans  would  have  trieJ  it.  I  have  now  removed  my  doubts  hj 
fair  experiment,  and  am  persuaded  that,  even  in  elementary  instructioQ 
this  plan  is  the  best.  As  for  the  usual  objection  to  it,  that  it  enables 
the  indolent  to  dispense  witli  study,  and  deprives  the  studious  of  the 
advantages  which  flow  from  independent  intellectual  etfort;  it  is 
founded  on  a  mere  mistake.  Tlie  only  effect  of  this  sort,  is,  to  elevate 
the  standard  of  acquisition  by  sparing  the  necessity  of  hunting  after 
some  things,  and  thus  leaving  time  for  the  mastering  of  others.  But 
the  great  argument  in  favor  of  the  method  is  to  my  mind,  this :  tliat 
it  enables  the  teacher  to  direct  the  student's  mind  as  to  what  he  ought 
to  study.  The  student  of  the  Bible,  for  example,  needs  to  be  informed 
by  one  who  knows  what  are  the  real  difficulties  of  a  passage  ;  not  one 
in  ten  of  which  might  possibly  suirgest  themselves.  When  there  are 
different  opinions  to  be  weighed,  he  needs  a  brief,  clear  statement  of 
them,  and  at  least  an  outline  of  the  reasons  pro  and  con.  These  he  can 
digest  and  compare  in  private  study ;  and  his  intellectual  acts  will  thus 
become  more  elevated  and  salutary  in  proportion  to  the  variety  and 
complexity  of  their  objects:  always  provided  that  the  latter  are  not  too 
various  and  complex  for  bis  time  or  strength ;  which  of  course  must  be 
left  to  the  discretion  of  the  teacher,  and  is  one  of  his  most  interesting 
and  important  duties.  These  statements  might,  indeed,  be  made  after 
the  student  has  prepared  his  lesson  ;  but  The  result  of  my  experience 
is  that  they  are  then  too  late.  After  toiling  through  a  ta-k  in  which 
he  feels  no  interest,  because  he  does  not  know  the  interesting  points 
of  it,  he  is  apt  to  regard  all  further  illustration  as  surplusage;  as  some- 
thing added  to  a  thing  of  which  he  has  already  had  enough.  When, 
on  the  other  hand,  explanatory  statements  are  made  before  he  enters 
on  the  careful  study  of  the  lesson,  his  attention  is  awakened  by  the 
hope  of  valuable  aid,  and  the  fear  of  losing  something  whicli  he  ought 
to  get  keeps  his  attention  steady.  Then  when  he  retires  to  private  study, 
what  he  studies  has  at  least  some  interest  made  from  having  been,  the 
subject  of  public  remark  ;  and  when  he  comes  to  recite,  he  comes  with 
at  least  a  curiosity  to  know  how  others  have  succeeded ;  and  however 
negligent  in  private,  what  he  has  already  heard  in  public  renders  him 
competent  in  some  degree  to  judge  his  fellows.  All  this  tends  to  make 
tlie  exercises  interesting,  which  if  not  a  ccmsa  qvd,  is  a  causa  sine  qua 
non  of  all  improvement.  The  effects  which  I  have  described,  are  not 
suggested  by  imagination.  They  are  rather  at  variance  with  my  for- 
mer fancies,  and  are  the  products  of  my  own  experiment.  I  began  the 
new  method  at  the  opening  of  the  session,  Avith  tlie  2nd  class  in  study- 
ing Isaiah.     My  plan  with  former  classes  has  been  to  assign  a  lesson 


-Et.  29.  WITH   HIS    PRIVATE    CLASS.  423 

and  to  hear  the  whole  of  it  read,  translated,  and  grammatically  ana- 
lyzed. The  effect  has  been  that  while  a  few  men,  who  would  make 
progress  under  any  method,  have  pursued  the  study  both  with  jdeasure 
and  advantage,  the  greater  number  have  been  listless,  and  learned  noth- 
ing in  the  lecture-room  beyond  what  they  acquired  in  their  rooms. 
Under  the  new  method  things  are  wholly  changed.  The  class,  by  no 
means  a  superior  one  in  intellect  or  zeal  for  knowledge,  seem  now, 
with  scarcely  an  exception,  to  be  deeply  interested  in  the  study  ;  and 
the  most  of  them  take  copious  notes,  spontaneously  of  course,  at  eacli 
lecture.  At  the  same  time,  those  who  wou'd  have  done  well  in  the 
other  case,  nppear  to  make  still  greater  progress  ;  so  that  I  am  greatly 
encouraged  in  my  labours." 

"  The  next  step  was  to  introduce  the  method  in  my  private  classes 
and  with  like  success.  I  had  no  thought  of  trying  the  experiment  wiih 
those  who  are  beginning  to  read  Hebrew,  until  very  lately.  I  had,  in- 
deed, determined  long  ago,  to  introduce  the  practice  of  wri.ing  more  ; 
and  with  that  view  had  the  lecture-room  refitted  with  conveniences  for 
writing,  and  required  the  new  class  from  the  beginning  to  write  at  my 
dictntion  the  first  outlines  of  the  grammar.  Fur  this  purpose  they 
learned  to  form  the  characters  as  soon  as  they  learned  to  read  them ; 
and  a  number  of  the  class  can  now  write  Hebrew  words  with  great 
facility— all,  I  believe,  except  some  one  or  two,  with  tolerable  correct- 
ness. In  order  to  maintain  this  habit,  I  continue  to  propound  short 
sentences  once  a  week  to  be  translated  into  Hebrew  ;  and  have  been 
surprised  not  only  with  the  execution,  but  also  with  the  interest  taken 
in  the  exercise,  which  is  wholly  voluntary.  I  had  supposed,  however, 
that  the  old  plan  of  reading  Hebrew  would  be  necessaiy,  at  least  for 
the  present  session  ;  but  the  contrast  between  these  dull  recitations  and 
my  exercises  with  the  other  classes,  led  me  to  another  experiment,  viz.  : 
that  of  explaining  beforehand  the  more  difficult  points  in  the  passage 
to  be  read,  and  directing  attention  not  only  to  grammatical,  but  also  to 
exegetical  questions  connected  with  the  lesson.  In  order  to  gain  time 
for  this,  I  mean  to  catechise  the  class  on  those  points  which  are  really 
difficult,  and  let  the  others  go,  except  so  far  as  they  are  brought  np  by 
the  questions  which  the  students  are  allowed  to  ask.  To-day,  after  ex- 
amining several  on  the  first  eight  verses  of  the  8th  chapter  of  Genesis 
I  lectured  colloquially  on  the  eight  which  follow.  Besides  mere  gram- 
matical phenomena,  I  touched  upon  the  two  words  rendered  genera- 
tions, in  V.  9,  and  the  difference  in  their  meaning ;  the  ti-ue  sense  of 
righteous  and  perfect,  as  applied  to  Noah;  the  use  of  the  words  flesh 
and  way,  in  v.  12  ;   the  meaning  of  the  end  of  all  flesh  is  come  heforc 


424  BIBLE    STUDIES.  [1838. 

me ;  the  materials  of  the  ark  and  its  dimensions ;   and  the  meaning 
of  the  word  translated  icindow,  in  v.  10." 

The  next  lets  the  reader  still  more  fully  into  his  plans,  and 
enables  him  to  comprehend  the  scale  on  which  the  young  pro- 
fessor was  projecting  the  future. 

"  Jannary  9. — At  10  o'clock  I  met  my  private  class.  Having  finished 
Nalium,  I  hegan  to-day  to  lecture  on  tlie  twelve  Psalms  of  Asaph. 
These  Psalms  I  propose  to  study  no  less  thoroughly  than  Nahum.  The 
books  which  I  expect  to  read  upon  the  subject  are  :  the  four  chief  an- 
cient versions;  the  three  Kabbins,  Jarchi,  Kimchi  and  Aben-Ezra; 
Calvin,  Oocceius,  Pool's  Synopsis,  Grotius,  J.  H.  Michaelis,  De  Wettc, 
Eosenmilller,  Klauss,  Stier,  Ewald.  I  devote  much  time  to  these  pri- 
vate classes,  not  for  their  sakes  merely,  but  for  my  own  improvement, 
which  is  sensibly  promoted  by  the  stimulus  of  teaching.  What  I  learn 
in  this  way  will  be  also  available  in  teaching  future  classes,  whether  in 
public  or  private." 

The  next  day  he  made  this  entry: 

"January  10. — Read  Genesis  xxv.  xxvi.  xxvii.  and  Matthew  xiii.  in 
course.  I  have  for  several  years  read  the  Old  Testament  once,  and  the 
New  Testament  twice  in  twelve  months  ;  according  to  a  calendar  of  my 
own  invention.  My  rule  is  to  read  four  chapters  of  the  New  Testament 
every  Sunday,  and  one  of  the  ISTew  Testament  with  three  of  the  old  every 
other  day,  besides  Sunday.  To  bring  the  numbers  out  exactly  even,  I 
divide  the  119th  Psalm  into  eleven  portions." 

The  next  entry  has  reference  to  his  studies  in  modern 
Greek. 

"Tread  to-day  a  number  of  colloquial  Greek  phrases  with  my 
friend  Constantino  Menaios,  an  Athenian  and  a  member  of  our 
college,  with  whom  I  have  read,  talked  and  written  Greek  since 
the  beginning  of  the  session.  Besides  the  assistance  which  he  gives  mo 
in  the  langua<Te,  he  is  highly  intelligent  and  well-informed  in  everything 
relating  to  his  country.  The  January  number  of  the  Princeton  Re- 
view is  through  the  press  at  last.  Since  it  Avas  put  to  press,  Mr.  Dod 
has  consented  to  become  the  editor,  conjointly  with  myself.  To  this  con- 
dition I  have  agreed  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  his  services  for  the 


iET.28.]  A    POEM   SUGGESTED.  425 

work.  I  have  written  for  the  present  number  a  desultory  article  on 
Melanchthon's  Letters,  and  a  few  short  notices  of  books  and  pamphlets, 
one  or  two  of  which  will  be  thought  ungracious,  and  perhaps  they  are." 

The  folio  wing  record  shows  what  he  w^as  doing  with  his 
private  class  : 

"January  12. — Lectured  on  the  eighth  and  ninth  chapters  of  Leviti- 
cus to  my  private  class,  consisting  of  George  Hale,  Melancthon  W. 
Jacobus,  Jacob  "W.  E.  Ker,  and  Daniel  Stewart.  These  men  are  tho 
flower  of  our  senior  class  in  relation  to  Biblical  Philology.  I  meet 
them  every  Friday  morning.  I  am  at  present  reading  "what  I  wrote 
upon  Leviticus  when  teaching  a  private  class  two  years  ago." 

The  secluded  student  did  not  forget  to  think  of  the  poor 
and  houseless,  and  few  wei-e  more  liberal  even  to  the  most 
worthless  beggars.    On  January  the  13th  he  wrote  tliese  words  : 

"  A  most  enchanting  day  :  while  the  ground  is  frozen  hard  and  tho 
•walking  therefore  good,  the  sky  is  clear,  the  sun  bright,  and  the  air 
like  that  of  May — an  Italian  winter.  "What  a  mercy  to  the  poor  in  these 
hard  times!  " 

He  sometimes  thought  of  writing  again  in  metre;  but  soon 
abandoned  the  idea.  The  most  Beautiful  of  Mr.  Alexander's 
verses  are  on  themes  connected  with  or  immediately  drawn 
from  the  Bible.  His  favourite  themes  were  those  which  com- 
bined a  sacred,  a  biographical,  and  a  dramatic  interest.  Such 
a  theme  he  had  found  in  "  Esau,"  and  such  a  theme  he  now 
thought  he  saw  in  Judas. 

"  January  13. — I  have  some  thought  of  trying  my  hand  at  a  dramatic 
poem  to  be  called '  Iscariot,'  correcting  some  popular  mistakes  as  to 
the  character  of  Judas,  and  presenting  it,  poetically,  ina  justerlight.  I 
have  little  time  for  such  employments,  but  it  might  do  good,  and  by 
printing  the  thing  in  the  Literary  Messenger  I  might  pay  my  debt  to  the 
conductor  for  the  last  two  volumes,  which  he  wishes  to  be  paid  for  not 
in  mojiey  but  in  writing." 

The  diary  of  home  events  is  then  resumed. 

"  Mr.  Dod  brought  from  New  York  several  books  for  our  review. 


426  A    SERMON. 


[1838. 


Into  mv  hands  he  put  Roberts'  Visit  to  Mnscfit,  &c. ;  for  J.  "W,  A.  ho 

brought  Gardiner's  Music  of  Nature  ;  for  Dr.  Miller,  Henry's  Christian 
Antiquities;  for  himself,  sumetliing  on  Phrenology. 

Here  is  a  specimen  of  the  exegetical  •writings  that  crowd 
his  journals  of  almost  every  year. 

"  January  14,  (Lord's  day.) — I  have  always  been  accustomed  to  sup- 
pose that  vs.  6  and  10  of  Matthew  xviii.  related  literally  to  children. 
On  reading  the  chapter  to-day  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  little  ones  in 
these  two  verses  means  liutnble  Christians,  in  reference  to  the  expression 
TrntSi'of  ToiovTou  which  is  again  to  be  explained  by  the  comparison  in 
V.  3  and  4.  2nd,  A  true  Christian  must  in  this  respect  be  a  little  child  : 
whoever  receives  such  a  little  child  as  a  true  Christian  receiveth  me  : 
whoso  shall  offend  such  a  child  is  a  child  in  this  sense,  i.  e.  an  humble 
Christian." 

Here  is  his  account  of  a  sermon: 

"  Heard  my  father  preach  from  Isaiah  xlii.  IG.  His  design  was  to  show 
that  actual  conversion  is  a  very  different  thing  from  what  the  subjects 
of  it  previously  expect.  He  mentioned  among  other  particulars,  that  a 
soul  when  under  true  conviction  seems  to  itself  to  be  growing  worse 
and  worse;  which  is  gracK)Usly  so  ordered  to  preserve  it  from  self-com- 
placency :  which  is  also  true  with  respect  to  pungent  feelings,  which  the 
awakened  soul  desires  without  obtaining.  In  like  manner  men  expect 
their  exercises  after  conversion  to  be  something  supernatural,  and 
wholly  unlike  what  they  had  before  ;  whereas  they  find  them  to  arise 
as  naturally  as  their  former  thoughts.  He  related  in  the  sermon  two 
cases  illustrative  of  the  slight  occasions  of  conversion;  one  was  that  of 
a  person  who  being  disappointed  in  his  expectation  of  going  to  a  dis- 
tant church,  walked  out  with  Doddridge's  Else  and  Progress  in  his 
hand,  to  read  alone.  During  that  walk,  as  he  ever  afterwards  believed, 
he  underwent  a  saving  change ;  the  reality  of  which  was  attested  by 
the  piety  of  fifty  or  sixty  years.  The  other  case  was  that  of  an  Irishman 
(Jno.  Ross,  I  believe)  who  had  been  brought  up  strictly  a  Roman  Catho- 
lic, and  never  heard  Protestant  preaching  till  he  made  his  escape  from  a 
British  man-of-war,  into  which  he  was  impressed  during  the  blockade  of 
New  London,  and  passing  through  the  town  went  into  a  place  of  wor- 
ship, was  awakened  and  converted,  and  became  a  student  in  the  Semi- 
nary here.     Looked  at  a  little  book  just  published  proposing  a  new 


-^T.  28.1  PRINCETON    REVIEW.  427 

order  of  missionaries:  viz.  intinerant  preaching  physicians — and  a  pe- 
culiar course  of  education  for  them,  and  substituting  medicine  for  the 
dead  language-^.  The  substance  of  the  volume  might  have  been  put 
into  a  dozen  pages;  but  the  thoughts  are  good.  We  are  too  mucli 
di?posed  to  overkiokthe  fact  that  the  way  of  the  gospel  "was  prepared 
at  first  by  miracles  of  healing,  wliich  opened  the  people's  hearts  and 
made  them  willing  to  hear  the  truth.  The  same  effect  in  kind  has  fol- 
lowed from  the  exercise  of  medical  skill  among  the  heathen," 

The  brothers  sometimes  hit  upon  the  same  solution  of  a 
diffi(!ulty.  Here  is  an  example,  "  Tlie  same  interpretation  of 
Matthew  xviii.  10,  which  I  have  suggested  on  page  20,  occurred 
to  James  in  reading  the  chapter  two  days  ago,  but  I  find  to- 
night that  it  is  given  by  Beza  and  other  old  writers."  The 
journal  of  the  day  proceeds  as  follows  : 

"  Received  the  2Sth  Annual  Eeport  of  th.e  American  Board  of  Com- 
missioners for  Foreign  Missions.  Tlie  January  number  of  the  Princeton 
Eeview  has  at  length  appeared.  A  great  improvement  in  appearance  on 
tlie  former  volumes.  The  paper  is  large  and  white,  and  the  cover  much 
more  sightly.  This  last  change  is  owing  in  a  great  measure  to  the  de- 
cision and  industry  of  the  new  editor,  who  plagued  the  printer  till  the 
object  was  accomplished,  after  much  experiment.  I  think  tlie  number 
a  fair,  rea'lable  number.  It  contains  an  article  on  Melancthon's  early 
Letters,  by  mj'self ;  one  on  Pastoral  attention  to  Children,  by  Dr.  Miller  ; 
one  on  Expository  Preaching,  by  James  W.  Alexander;  one  on  Incidents 
of  Travel,  by  Dr.  Alexander ;  one  on  the  Oxford  Tracts,  by  Dr.  Hodge  • 
one  on  The  Physical  Theory  of  Another  Life,  by  Mr.  Yeomans  of  Tren- 
ton; and  one  on  the  South  Sea  I-lands,  by  Mr.  Dod.  I  also  wrote  the 
notices  inserted  in  the  quarterly  list  of  books  and  pamphlets  at  the  end 
of  the  number  ;  as  many  more  were  excluded  for  want  of  room.  We 
were  anxious  to  begin  the  list  in  this  number,  even  on  a  contracted 
scale,  to  show  that  it  would  hereafter  form  a  regular  part  of  the  work. 
I  have  now  to  commence  my  preparations  for  reviewing  Eoberts  on 
Cochin  Chin;i  and  Muscat.  I  have  never  been  kept  so  busy  within  my 
recollection.  I  have  reason  to  be  thankful  that  my  business  is  at  once 
so  agreeable  and  useful,  whether  in  public  or  private." 

The  following  letter  to  Dr.  Hall  is  undated,  but  certainly 
belongs  to  this  year.     The  same  cover  embraces  a  translation 


428  A   LETTER.  [1838. 

of  a  Greek  prayer,  and  extracts  from  Rutherford  and  Leighton, 
of  Avliom  the  latter  especially  was  a  favourite  writer  with  him. 
He  criticized  his  behaviour  in  ecclesiastical  matters  with  im- 
partial severity.  I  have  heard  him  say  of  the  former  that  he 
did  not  please  him  as  a  writer  half  so  much  as  old  Boston. 
This  was  one  of  the  points  on  which  Mr.  Alexander  differed  from 
his  brother  James,  who  hung  over  Rutherford's  letters  with 
an  unfadins:  delischt.  The  brothers  accreed  in  admirinc:  the  o-reat 
learning  and  singular  piety  of  both.  The  exegetical  remark 
next  made  is  worthy  of  attention.  The  letter  itself  contains 
an  interesting  fact  with  regard  to  Makemic. 

"  My  Dear  Sir  : 

"As  my  day-book  is  still  in  your  hands,  I  believe  I  will  trouble  you 
to  get  a  third  bound  to  match  it.  I  am  malving  extensive  inroads  on 
the  first  already.  I  will  thank  you  to  buy  Millington  *  when  it  ap- 
pears. I  learn  from  James  that  Mr.  Packard  bad  said  something  to 
him  as  to  our  not  noticing  the  Dictionary.  Did,  or  did  I  not  explain  to 
you  that  I  bad  actually  written  a  short  notice — nay,  that  it  was  in  type 
and  bad  been  read  in  proof,  but  was  excluded  in  consequence  of  my  co- 
editor,  who  knew  nothing  of  it,  having  given  the  printer  something  to 
be  put  before  it?  I  knew  nothing  of  the  error  till  the  sheet  was  print- 
ed off.  I  liave  been  reading  Spencer's  Letters.  He  says  Makemie,  the 
first  Pi'esbyterian  minister  in  America,  left  his  library  to  your  church. 
Have  they  it  now,  and  does  it  include  the  pamphlet  on  Lord  Cornbury's 
persecution  ?  I  would  come  to  Phihidelphia  to  see  it. 
"  William  hastens  me. 

"  Yours  trulv, 

"J.  A.  A." 

He  drank  tea  on  the  17th  at  his  brother's,  where  he  met 
the  Rev.  Oscar  Harris,  originally  of  Goshen,  N.  Y.,  a  pupil  of 
Dr.  Fisk's,  and  a  graduate  of  Williams  college.  They  went  to- 
gether to  Dr.  Miller's  to  attend  the  Philosophical.  Thei-e  they 
fell  in  with  the  Rev.  David  Magie,  of  Elizabethtown,  and  Wm. 
B.  Kinney,  Esq.,  of  Newark,  and  Dr.  Carnahan,  Dr.  Rice,  Prof. 
Dod,  Prof.  S.  Alexander,  Principal  Hart,  Tutor  Cooley,  Dr. 
George  M.  Maclean,  and  their  venerable  host,  Dr.  Miller  him- 

*  MillinKtononEn^fineoriuo;. 


^T.  28.]  PHILOSOPHICAL    CLUB.  429 

self.  Messrs.  Maclean,  Dod,  Kinney,  aixl  Magie  had  just 
come  from  the  Common  School  Convention ;  "  which  "  writes 
the  enemy  of  all  conventions,  in  his  "  Day-Book,  "  "  seems  to 
have  been  a  very  interesting  meeting.  It  was  resolved  to  pe- 
tition the  Legislature  for  the  existing  School  Law,  and  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  minister  of  public  instruction.  Speeches  were 
made  last  night  by  Mr.  Frelinghuysen,  Mr.  Aaron  of  Burling- 
ton and  others." 

It  is  evident  that  the  free  and  easy  conversation  at  these 
re-unions  pleased  him;  and  though  he  may  have  been  often  a 
silent  member  of  the  club,  he  never  failed  to  pick  up  and  carry 
oif  with  him  something  in  the  way  of  knowledge  or  mental 
stimulus.  In  his  regular  journal  I  find  the  following  record  of 
this  meeting 

"January  17. — Went  to  the  Literary  and  Philosophical  meeting  at 
Dr.  Miller's.  After  prayer  by  Dr.  Carnahan,  Mr.  Dod  suggested  as  a 
theme  for  conversation,  the  expediency  of  forming  a  Few  Jersey  His- 
torical Society.  Several  facts  were  stated  in  illustration  of  the  fact 
that  what  is  done  must  be  done  quickly.  Mr.  Kinney  said  that  certain 
ancieut  records  of  tlie  town  of  Newark,  which  he  had  examined  some 
years  ago,  liad  now  disappeared.  Dr.  Miller  stated  that  a  chest  full  of 
G-en.  Morgan's  papers  had  been  found  in  Mr.  Teneyke's  barn,  some 
years  ago,  broke  open  and  the  papers  scattered.  J.  ^Y.  Alexander  re- 
ferred to  the  case  of  Dr.  Minto's  papers,  which  he  and  I  had  examined 
some  years  since,  and  out  of  Avhich  I  formed  a  sketch  of  his  biography 
and  printed  it  in  some  petty  Philadelphia  paper.  [Afterwards  reprinted 
in  the  Princeton  Magazine.]  To  show  that  original  documents  may 
yet  be  recovered,  Mr.  Kinney  stated  that  the  original  grant  of  West 
Jersey  to  Wm.  Penn  and  others,  had  been  recently  recovered  by  the 
State,  through  Mr.  John  Pv.  Brown,  to  whom  it  was  forwarded  from 
Ilarrisburg,  among  some  ancient  papers  relating  to  a  suit  in  chancery  ; 
and  that  the  original  deed  for  the  land  on  which  Newark  stands  was 
lately  brought  to  light  from  some  obscure  place  in  the  country.  Mr. 
Hart  observed  that  in  the  Morford  family  there  is  the  history  of  an  an- 
cient Princeton  family,  called  Fitz  Piandolph,  who  owned  the  ground 
on  which  the  College  stands.  Dr.  Maclean  stated  that  the  two  old 
ladies  who  nursed  Gen.  Mercer  are  still  living  in  this  neighborhood. 
Vice  President  Maclean  informed  us  that  Gen.  Mercer  was  not  buried 
here  ;  that  he  died  in  Philacielphia.     Mr,  Magie  also  gave  an  entertain- 


430  CURIOUS    INCIDENT.  [18S8. 

ing  account  of  an  old  woman  whom  he  travelled  with  from  Somerville 
to  Elizabeihtown,  in  whose  fallicr's  house  Gen.  Washington  lived,  at 
Morristown.  This  old  gentlewoman  hore  witness  to  the  General's  com- 
muning in  the  Presbyterian  church  there,  and  to  his  iiabit  of  daily 
prayer.  Tliis  led  to  a  discus-4ou  as  to  Washin.^ton's  character,  Dr. 
Miller  doubling  his  piety,  and  J.  W.  A.  and  Mr.  Magie  sngge>ting  that 
the  way  in  which  he  died  might  be  explained  from  his  habitual  reserve, 
and  Mr.  Dod  affirming  that  the  general  opinion  as  to  Washington's 
virtues,  even  if  erroneous,  was  better  than  the  truth.  Dr.  Miller  re- 
lated an  interesting  anecdote  received  from  Dr.  Barton,  the  amount  of 
which  -was,  that  when  Washington  left  home  to  tal<e  command  of  the 
Continental  Army,  he  charged  his  nephew,  Lund,  to  be  hospitable, 
kind,  and  take  care  of  his  attairs.  but  not  to  trust  any  man,  for  no  man 
can  be  trusted." 

Afterwards  lie  had  some  conversation  with  Dr.  Cai-nahan 
about  Aaron  Burr,  and  the  life  of  him  by  Davis,  "  which  we 
wish  him  to  review."  He  adds,  "  Mr.  Hart  has  Tyndale's  New 
Testament  in  his  hands  for  the  same  purpose." 

"  A  curious  incident :  four  or  five  years  ago,  John  Hart  imported 
from  Europe  Baxter's  works,  in  twenty-odd  volumes.  One  volume 
was  missing,  and  he  replaced  it  by  another  [oider],  but  with  a  volume 
which  did  not  match  the  rest  in  binding.  To-day  the  mu-s  ug  volume 
has  appeared;  brought  by  Mr.  Harris  from  Mr.  Jones  in  Brunswick,  wlio 
found  it  in  the  hands  of  one  of  his  parishioners,  by  whom  (or  some 
one  else)  it  had  been  piclced  up  in  the  streets  of  Princeton,  soaked  with 
rain ;  I  bought  the  set  from  Hart  last  year." 

I  think  it  must  have  been  at  night  after  getting  home  from 
the  Philosophical,  that  he  penned  what  follows.  It  will  be 
perceived  that  his  mind  was  still  excogitatiny  plans  of  Bible 
study  and  instruction. 

"  January  17.— I  have  conceived  a  new  plan  for  my  biblical  instruc- 
tions, if  the  Lord  should  spare  my  life  and  keep  me  here.  It  is  briefly 
this :'  to  abandon  the  practice  of  re:xding  scraps  with  the  classes;  and, 
in  lieu  tliercof,  lecture  ci;ntiuuously  on  the  whob  Old  Te-tament.  Tiio 
be-ini,ing  clasi  are  now  studyii:g  Gene-is.  Afti-r  finisliing  that  hook,  I 
propose  t'o  take  up  Exodus,  and  go  as  far  as  I  can  during  the  fi,  st  year ; 
after  which  I  can  pursue  tlie  course,  in  a  more  private  way,  with  such  of 


^T.  2S.J  MISSIONARY    HERALD.  431 

the  class  as  may  choose  to  attend.  In  this  wny  I  thinlv  I  conld  expound 
the  Pentateuch  at  least,  and  perhaps  Joshua  and  Judges,  before  the  class 
leave  the  Seminary.  My  object  in  this  method  would  be,  chiefly  to 
compel  myself  to  study  the  whole  Bible  critically  in  course,  and  to  re- 
cord the  result  of  my  researches.  In  order  to  attain  this  end  as  soon 
as  possible,  I  might  make  the  next  new  class  begin  with  Ruth  instead 
of  Genesis,  and  the  following  class  with  Esther ;  and  carry  each  for- 
ward, without  any  omission,  to  tlie  end  of  the  year.  On  this  plan,  with 
God's  blessing,  I  believe  that  I  might  finish  the  historical  books  (Gene- 
sis—Esther) in  three  years,  and  possibly  the  whole  in  five.  I  shall 
never  feel  at  heme  in  Scripture  till  I  have  accomplished  such  a  course, 
in  the  Old  Testament  at  least,  and  possibly  not  till  I  despatch  the  New. 
Quod  felix  faustumque  sit  ! 

"January  21. — Read  the  Missionary  Herald  for  1822.  I  began  to 
read  the  journals  of  our  American  Missionaries  in  order  from  the  be- 
ginning several  months  ago,  and  have  continued  so  to  do  at  intervals. 
The  connected  view  thus  presented  of  a  history  so  full  of  incident  is 
deeply  interesting.  I  wish  I  had  time  to  read  more  regularly  and  con- 
stantly." 

This  course  he  continued  till  he  had  read  and  mastered  the 
whole  series.  ISTo  one  took  more  delight  in  missionary  news, 
or  complained  more  bitterly  when  the  intelligence  was  meagre. 
He  thought  that  with  whole  boundless  continents  their  own, 
our  gifted  missionary  writers  might  oftener  get  beyond  the 
horn-book  of  the  Sunday-schools. 

"  January  19. — Mr.  Boyd  asked  my  opinion  of  Roy's  Hebrew  Lexi- 
con. I  told  him  that  the  specimens  which  I  had  seen  before  the  work 
was  published  w^ere  exceedingly  absurd,  but  that  I  had  not  examined  the 
book  since."  He  continued  the  reading  of  Baxter's  Christian  Directory, 
which  he  had  begun  long  before,  and  resumed  at  very  irregular  iniervals. 
''His fervour,  plainness,  and  directness,"  he  records,  "are  inimitable." 
On  the  21st,  (Lord's  Day)  he  drank  tea  with  his  brother  James,  who  read 
him  some  passages  from  "Essays,  Sermons,  &c.,"  by  Henry  "Woodward, 
a  clergyman  from  Ireland,  "characterized,  "  as  he  testifies,  "  by  piety, 
originality,  sober  wit,  independence,  and  a  charming  ■■^tyle  of  vigorous 
simplicity."  He  hoped  his  brother  would  review  it,  for  the  sake  of 
giving  extracts.     "  One  of  the  most  important  duties  of  the  religious 


432  DIARY.  [1838, 

press,  it  seems  to  me,  is  that  of  bringing  to  the  knowledge  of  our  pub- 
lic truly  valuable  matter  ah  extra.''''  lie  heard  Dr.  Rico  preach  from 
"  They  that  are  whole  need  not  a  physician,  but  they  that  are  sick." 
"First  letter  from  Malta  (Missionary  ilerald,  1822,  page  1V9)  says,  'I 
■write  you  in  much  haste,  and  you  will  not  forget  that  I  am  only  giving 
you  a  prima  facie  view  of  things  here.'  Would  that  he  and  other  mis- 
sionaries would  continue  to  give  prima  facie  views,  instead  of  abridging 
road-books  and  geographies. 

"January  22. — The  Watchman  of  the  South  to-day  contained  an 
extract  from  Dr.  Chalmers,  addressed  to  his  own  students  and  advising 
them  how  to  conduct  their  own  studies.  I  was  much  pleased  with  the 
whole  of  it,  but  most  with  what  he  says  about  the  critical  study  of  the 
English  Bible.  I  have  myself  been  thinking  of  a  lecture,  speech,  or 
article  on  that  same  subject,  and  may  hatch  it  before  long.* 

"January  25. — One  of  the  chief  pleasures  of  exegetical  study, 
when  rightly  conducted,  is  the  gradual  reduction  of  confusion  into  or- 
der, and  the  gradual  dawn  of  day  upon  the  darkness  of  the  text." 

"  January  26.'^Received  a  letter  from  Eev.  John  0.  Brown,  a  grand- 
son of  Brown  of  Haddington,  and  now  a  missionary  at  St.  Petersburg, 
who  was  here  a  few  years  since,  and  was  then  requested  by  my  father  to 
enquire  whether  Persian  manuscripts  could  be  procured  there.  He 
writes  that  the  Rev.  Mr.  Glenn,  Missionary  in  Persia,  would  gladly  aid 
us  in  procuring  anything  of  that  kind,  but  requests  me  to  send  a  list  of 
what  I  want,  and  what  I  am  willing  to  give,  promising  to  submit  it,  if 
I  choose,  before  he  forwards  it  to  Mr.  Glenn,  to  Mirra  Carim  Bey,  Ad- 
junct Professor  of  languages  (oriental)  at  St.  Petersburg,  and  considered 
the  most  learned  Persian  in  Europe.  Such  commissions  have  frequent- 
ly been  given,  but  seldom  recollected  after  such  a  lapse  of  time,  even 
by  missionaries  of  our  own  church  and  country.  I  am  therefore  the 
more  indebted  to  Mr.  Brown's  kindness.  Received  the  Foreign  Mis- 
sionary Chronicle  for  February.  It  is  now  conducted  on  an  excellent 
plan  (that  of  the  Church  Missionary  Register),  giving  a  general  view 
of  Protestant  Missions.  The  Herald  has  kept  all  missions  but  its  own 
too  much  in  the  dark. 

"  January  27.— I  have  been  reading  lately  a  file  of  the 'Friend  of 
India,'  edited  by  John  C.  Marshman,  son  of  the  Baptist  Missionary.  He 
was  educated  in  England ;  and  was  evidently  connected  with  the  public 
press  there,  probably  as  a  reporter.  This  appears  from  that  peculiar 
tact  and  style  for  Avhich  the  regular  English  editors  are  so  distinguished. 

*  Here  wc  have  tlie  {;cnr.  of  tlie  inaugiu-al  address. 


^T.28.]  A    SERMON. 


433 


The  paper  is  a  general  one,  not  exclusively  religious,  and  is  not  only 
conducted  in  an  admirable  spirit,  but  affords  the  best  views  of  East 
India  affairs  that  I  have  ever  been  able  to  obtain.  I  have  read  it  with 
special  reference  to  the  controversy  respecting  the  expediency  of  print- 
ing oriental  hooks  in  Roman  letters,  on  which  subject  I  have  some  idea 
of  writing  a  review.*  The  papers  were  lent  to  me  by  the  Rev.  John  C 
Lowrie."     His  notion  of  Dickens  is  given  below  : 

"  I  read  to-day  some  parts  of  the  last  volume  of  the  Pickwick  Club. 
The  author  I  have  long  regarded  as  possessed  of  an  original  vein  of 
humour,  and  an  unrivalled  talent  for  describing  personal  habits  and  ap- 
pearance. He  has  ruined  himself  here  by  undertaking  a  continuous 
story.  I  tlimk  his  original  sketches  by  Boz  equal  to  all  the  Pickwick 
Club  together.  Mr.  Dod  returned  to-day  from  Philadelohia,  brin-inc. 
a  new  edition  of  Bentley's  works,  Upham's  Mental  Philosophy,  "and 
John  Aug.  Smith's  Discourse  against  Materialism." 

"January  29,  Lord's  day.— Heard  Dr.  Rice  preach  from  Rev  ii  05__ 
agamst  antinomianism.    (1)  What  have  Christians  already?     (2)' How 
must  they  hold  it  fast  ?     He  suggested  two  interpretations  which  were 
new  to  me  :  one  was,  that  when  our  Lord  says  that  Abraham  desired  to 
see  his  day,  and  saw  it,  and  was  glad,  he  referred  to  the  trial  of  Abra- 
nam's  faith,  (Gen.  xxii)  ;  where  the  doctrine  of  vicarious  atonement  was 
taught  by  the  substitution  of  the  ram  for  Isaac.     This  thouo-ht  suo-- 
gested  one  to  me,  entirely  different,  viz.  that  this  trial  was  intended  to 
give  some  idea  of  God's  love  in  sending  his  own  Son  to  die  for  sinners 
I  must  pursue  both  ideas  at  some  other  tims.     The  other  interpretation 
newto  me,  was  that  by  our  Lord's  being  glorified  in  his  saints,  and 
admired  m  his  believers,  we  are  to  understand  that  the  angels  who  at- 
tend  him  at  his  coming,  unable  to  look  upon  the  brightness  of  his 
glory,  will  admire  it  as  reflected  in  his  people.    I  have  read  the  survey 
of  Prot^estant  Missions  in  the  last  two  numbers  of  the   Missionary 
Clironicle :  it  puts  a  new  face  upo.n  the  whole  matter.     Our  American 
Missionaries,  instead  of  being  every  thing,  are  but  a  fraction  of  this 
glorious  unit.     I  am  surprised  at  tbe  accumulation  of  missionarv  effort 
in  South  Afnca.     There  are  representatives  of  the  United  Brethren  the 
London  M.  S.,  the  Glasgow  M.  S.,  the  Rlienish  M.  S.,  the  French  Pro- 
testant M  S.,  the  American  Board,  the  American  Baptist  Board,  the 
Church  Missionary  Society,  and  the  Wesleyan  M.  S.     What  a  brilliant 

*  He  afterwards  wrote  copiously  on  this  subject.     See  article  iu  the  Piiuce. 
ton  Repertory  on  Robinson's  &  Smith's  Palestine. 
19 


434  EXEGETICAL    STUDY  [1838. 

constellation  !      There  are  three  missionary  families  in  as  many  ships, 
sent  by  our  Presbyterian  Board,  now  on  the  ocean  and  in  need  of  prayer. 

His  method  of  exegetical  study  is  thus  recorded : 

"Jau.  27.   I  have  been  studying  Ps.  Ixsiii  to-day,  with  the  com- 
mentaries of  Be  Wette,  Pvosenmiiller,  Klaus,  and  Ewald.     This,  I  think 
has  been  the  most  delightful  exegetical  investigation  I  have  made  (I 
do  not  mean  to-day's  work  only).    I  am  now  persuaded  that  I  greatly 
erred  in  making  it  a  rule  to  read  a  number  of  commentaries  through  con- 
secutively ;  in  consequence  of  which  I  felt  no  special  interest  in  any 
part,  and  was  scarcely  able  to  distinguish  the  hard  parts  from  the  easy  ; 
and  although  I  was  glad  to  finish  my  task,  the  doing  of  it  was  more 
irksome  than   agreeable.     In   studying   this    Psalm   I  have   pursued 
another  method.     I  first  read  it  carefully  in  English  to  obtain  an  im- 
pression of  its  import  and  arrangement,  and  observe  what  passages 
appeared  obscure.     I  then  compared  the  English  with  the  Hebrew  to 
determine  how  far  the  former  seemed  to  need  correction.     By  this 
time,  one  or  two  verses  had  begun  to  stand  out  from  the  rest  as  specially 
difficult  and  interesting  (e.  g.  vv.  10  and  25),  while  others  appeared  so  _ 
in  a  less  degree,  and  the  remainder  seemed  entirely  plain.   I  then  com- 
pared the  four  ancient  versions— Greek,  Latin,  Chaldee,  Syriao  :  first  on 
the  more,  then  on  the  less,  perplexing  passages;  during  which  process 
several  new  modes  of  explication  started  into  view.     I  then  read  Cal- 
vin and  Cocceius  on  the  same  parts ;  then  De  Wette  and  Kosenmiiller  ; 
then  Klaus  and  Ewald.     Before  I  finished  this  course,  I  felt  a  curiosity 
and  interest  almost  intense  with  respect  to  the  meaning  of  the  obscure 
parts,  which  feeling  eftectually  precluded  that  of  weariness.     I  believe 
that  I  have  also  been  too  much  in  the  habit  of  writing  while  actually 
studying  a  passage.     This  not  only  broke  the  train  of  thought,  but  kept 
me  uneasy  through  the  fear  of  losing  something  which  I  ought  to  note 
down.     On  the  other  hand,  I  find  that  my  memory  commonly  retains 
every  suggestion  worth  remembering,  and  when  I  have  to  look  back 
for  something  I  forget,  the  repeated  reference  is  really  an  advantage." 

The  Presbytery  of  New  Branswick  met  on  Tuesday,  the  lih 
of  February.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Comfort,  of  Kingston,  preached  the 
sermon.  There  was  a  large  attendance.  The  event  of  interest 
was  the  reception  of  Mr.  Alexander  under  tlic  care  of  Presby- 
tery, after  an  examination  ^^ro  forma.  The  adjournment  was 
to  the  second  Tuesday  in  August ;  the  meeting  to  be  at  New 


^T.28.]  A    CANDIDATE.  436 

Brunswick.  The  tidings  from  every  quarter  were  of  awakenings 
and  revivals.  Philadelphia,  New- York,  Pennington,  and  other 
places,  were  mucli  stirred.  The  conversazione  on  the  14tL  was 
at  Professor  Stephen  Alexander's.  The  sound  of  sleighbells 
might  be  heard  late  at  night,  and  the  merry  ring  of  laughter 
from  the  young  people  who  were  pleasure- taking. 

Mr.  Alexander  thus  refers  to  his  own  connection  with  the 
Presbytery  : 

"February  7.  This  day  I  was  received  under  the  care  of  the  New 
Binuiswick  Presbytery  as  a  candidate  for  license.  Quod  felix  faus- 
tunique  sit !  Sine  te,  Doniine,  nil  possum !  This  is  the  first  step  toward 
the  execution  of  a  purpose  which  I  formed  eight  years  ago."  * 

The  same  day  Dr.  Yeomans  called  upon  him  to  borrow  a 
number  of  the  Christian  Baptist  Review,  intending  to  write 
on  the  Bible  translation  controversy,  about  which  he  and  Mr. 
Alexander  had  some  talk. 

Here  is  a  continuation  of  the  journal : 

"Feb.  11.  Dr.  Miller  brought  me  an  article  which  he  lias  written 
for  the  Eeview,  on  Henry's  Christian  Antiquities,  which  I  am  to  revise 
and  complete  in  some  way. 

"  Feb.  15.  The  exercises  of  the  Seminary  recommenced.  I  liave 
been  busy  nil  day  preparing  articles  for  the  Review.  Finished  the  ar- 
ticle on  Ciiristian  Antiquities,  and  continued  my  own  on  Nordheimer's 
Grammar. 

"  Feb.  17.  I  finished  a  review  of  tlie  first  part  of  Nordheimer's  He- 
brew Grammar  and  laid  it  aside  until  I  get  the  rest. 

"  Feb.  22.  This  being  the  day  set  apart  for  prayer  in  behalf  of  Col- 
lege-, Dr.  Miller  preached  a  sermon  in  the  church  from  Job  ii,  4,  5. 
Chiefly  remarkable  for  a  severe  denunciation  of  those  persons  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Colleges,  and  particularly  here,  who  for  the  sake  of 
gain  encourage  the  students  in  vice,  and  even  tempt  them  to  it.  At- 
tended a  prayer-meeting  in  the  church  at  night ;  Dr.  Eice  made  an  ad- 
dress. 

"  Feb.  24.  Eeceived  an  article  from  Mr.  Dod  on  India  as  a  mission- 
ary field,  by  John  C.  Lowrie,  lately  a  missionary  to  Lodiana.     I  sent 

*  And  consequently  while  he  was  tutorial  professor  iu  the  college,  and  not 
long  after  the  time  of  his  conversion. 


43G  BEGGARS.  [1838. 

some  time  ago  for  the  remainder  of  Nordheimer's  Hebrew  Grammar, 
and  yesterday  it  arrived  by  mail  charged  with  four  dollars  postage. 
Finished  my  article  '  On  Naming  Places,'  and  sent  it  to  the  Southern 
Literary  Mes-enger,  The  first  article  of  ten  for  the  Princeton  Review 
(next  number)  is  in  type ;  it  is  on  Henry's  Christian  Antiquitias  :  the 
second  (on  Roberts's  Embassy)  is  also  in  the  printer's  hands :  a  third  was 
received  to-day  (on  India) :  and  a  fourth  on  Kordheiraer's  Hebrew  Gram- 
mar ;  a  fifth  on  Tyndall's  New  Testament ;  a  sixth  on  Phrenology  ;  a 
seventh  on  the  Baptist  Bible-translation  controversy;  and  an  eighth  on 
the  State  of  the  Church,  are  nearly  ready. 

"Feb.  25.  Heard  my  father  preach  from  Psalm  ii,  12.  'Blessed 
are  all  they  that  put  their  trust  in  him.'  God  oftentimes  leaves  his 
children  to  conflict  with  doubts  and  temptations  all  their  lives,  be- 
cause spiritual  comfort  would  betray  them  into  self-complacency  and 
spiritual  pride.  The  reason  we  are  unhappy  even  under  a  sense  of  sin 
is  because  we  cannot  trust.  Finished  the  Missionary  Herald  for  1827. 
There  is  a  pleasing  alternation  in  the  interest  of  the  different  missions. 
As  the  Sandwich  Island  Mission  becomes  settled  and  established,  the 
Palestine  Mission  becomes  highly  interesting. 

"  Feb.  26.  Received  the  remainder  of  Nordheimer's  Grammar  and 
completed  my  review." 

Wednesday,  the  28tli  of  February,  tlie  Club  met  at  Dr. 
George  Maclean's.  ]Mr.  Alexander  this  day  received  a  charm- 
ing letter  from  the  grammarian  Nordheiraer. 

On  the  4th  of  March,  four  English  beggars  were  on  the 
tramp  through  Princeton.  If  strollers  called  at  the  door  of  Mr. 
Addison  Alexander,  they  Avere  either  eagerly  admitted  or  else 
abruptly  dismissed.  Sometimes  he  invited  them  in  of  his  own 
accord,  and  picked  up  much  useful  and  amusing  information 
from  the  wretched  vagabonds.  He  was  especially  pleased  if  they 
were  from  continental  Europe  and  spoke  a  foreign  language. 
He  was  amused  at  their  contradictory  stories,  and  often  imitated 
their  incredible  relations  in  his  talcs  to  children.*     He  kept  at 

*  He  used  to  tell  a  story  about  a  wifeless  and  childless  bcggarman  (whom 
he  wovikl  personate)  that  had,  together  with  his  consort  and  otrspring,  passed 
through  some  surprising  adventures;  having  been  blown  up  iu  an  eaithquake, 
shipwrecked  in  a  volcano,  etc.,  etc.  Compare  this  with  Charles  Lamb's  closing 
words  in  bis  "  Complaint  of  the  Decay  of  Beggars." 


■^T.  28.1  GROWTH   IN    GRACE.  437 

one  time  a  large  volume  in  which  he  recorded  their  histories  and 
imaginary  escapes,  and  which  he  styled  the  "  Book  of  Beg- 
gars." *  At  another  time  he  kept  a  boy  posted  at  the  door 
with  directions  to  slam  it  in  their  faces  after  giving  them  a  few 
cents.  In  Ireland  and  among  the  Alps  these  creatures  only 
tormented  him,  and  he  could  hardly  rid  himself  of  their  filthy 
company  by  talking  Persian  and  Arabic  at  them  and  making 
impassive  gestures  which  seemed  to  shoAV  that  he  was  a 
traveller  from  some  strange  country  and.  unacquainted  with 
the  tongues  of  the  Continent  or  of  Great  Britain.  A  single 
extract  from  his  journal  will  illustrate  the  way  in  which  he 
derived  information  from  wandering  mendicants. 

'  Talked  French  to  a  Spanish  priest  from  Mexico  and  gave  liim  an 
alms.  He  gave  me  an  account  of  the  way  in  whicli  he  preached.  He 
says  that  it  is  customary  in  Catholic  countries  to  preach  sermons  out  of 
printed  books,  and  that  another  priest  usually  sits  below  the  preacher 
and  prompts  him.     Very  few,  he  says,  make  sermons  dc  la  tete: 

The  next  record  he  makes  seems  to  show  plainly  that  he 
was  making  advances  in  the  Divine  life. 

"March  11.  I  have  experienced  to-day  a  new  religious  impulse 
leading  me  to  take  delight  in  the  reading  of  the  Scripture-^  in  prayer, 
and  in  the  ordinances  of  God's  house,  and  dispelling  the  guilty  gloom 
which  has,  for  some  time,  brooded  over  me.  The  Lord  preserve  me 
from  delusion  !  I  have  renewed  my  vows  and  here  record  the  fact." 

His  studies  went  on  pretty  much  in  the  usual  way. 

A  few  days  after  this,  he  finished  Deuteronomy  again,  hav 
ing  read  it  in  Hebrew,  comparing  the  English  version  and  De 
Wette's    German.     He   has   now,  i.  e.  by  the  14th,   read  the 
Pentateuch  again  in  Hebrew  since  the  beginning  of  the  year. 

The  entries  which  follow  may  serve  as  examples  of  all. 

"  March  14, 1838.  Attended  the  conversazione  at  Dr.  Pace's ;  Present 
Drs.  Miller,  Rice,  and  Torrey ;  Professors  Maclean,  Dod,  J.  W.  Alex- 

*  Doubtless  with  rcmembrauce  of  the  eccentric  volume  to  which  Luther 
condescended  to  write  a  preface  or  introduction. 


438  SCRIPTURE   READING.  ^838. 

ander,  Henry,  J.  A.  Alexander,  S.  Alexander ;  Tutor  Cooley.  Dr. 
Torrey  exhibited  some  specimens  of  the  metal  magnesium,  which  ho 
converted  into  magnesia  by  burning.  The  next  meeting  is  to  be  at 
Professor  Maclean's. 

"  March  20,  1838.  Received  as  a  present  from  the  American  Sun- 
day School  Union  a  copy  of  their  new  Bible  Dictionary,  elegantly 
Dound.  Received  at -the  same  time  a  number  of  English  papers  of 
December  and  January ;  saw  a  letter  to  my  father  from  our  former 
pupil.  Professor  S.  B.  Jones  of  Oakland  College.  Another  old  pupil  of 
ours  is  now  in  Princeton,  the  Reverend  Geo.  Eurrowes,  of  Port  Deposit, 
Maryland,  Avho  graduated  here  in  1832,  and  was  afterward  a  tutor  in 
the  College  and  a  student  in  the  Seminary.  Received  to-day  a  copy  of 
a  new  hook  on  the  Limits  of  Human  Responsibility,  by  Dr.  Wayland. 

"  March  23.     Finished  the  Book  of  Joshua  again." 

He  then  announces  another  change  of  programme  : 

"I  have  reluctantly  determined  to  suspend  my  rule  of  scriptural 
reading  by  a  Ciilendar,  and  to  adopt  another  method.  I  find  that  it  is 
too  much  of  a  task  at  present,  and  that  it  does  not  answer  any  useful 
purpose,  to  read  just  so  much  without  regaril  to  tlie  difficulty  or  import- 
ance of  the  passage.  I  propose  to  begin  Romans  and  Judges,  on  the 
plan  of  reading  everything  attentively  and  more  than  once  ;  tlie  quantity 
to  be  determined  by  tlie  time.  If  I  do  not  like  the  method,  I  can  return 
at  any  time  to  my  calendar,  which  is  made  out  to  the  end  of  the  year. 

"  March  24.  Drank  tea  and  spent  the  evening  with  my  brother. 
Looked  at  the  new  Nova  Scotian  jeu  (Tesprit — Sam  Slick.  It  is  much 
superior  to  Jack  Downing ;  less  exaggerated,  and  constructed  for  a  defi- 
nite moral  purpose.  It  must  be  a  great  treat  to  John  Bull.  I  have 
formed  two  new  plans  to-day.  One  is,  to  reduce  my  diet,  both  in  quan- 
tity and  quality ;  with  a  view  to  intellectual  and  moral  cftect.  Tho 
other  is,  to  suspend  my  commentary  on  Isaiah  and  write  a  popular  analy- 
sis instead.  This  might  excite  an  interest  in  the  prophet  and  prepare 
the  way  for  detailed  exposition  ;  though,  in  my  opinion,  analysis  is 
three-fourths  of  the  exposition  wanted." 


CHAPTER  XIY 

The  beginning  of  the  career  of  such  a  preacher  as  the  sub- 
ject of  this  memoir  is  commonly  admitted  to  have  been,  is  an 
event  that  will  be  approached  with  a  quickened  interest  on  the 
part  of  the  reader  who  is  inquisitive  as  to  the  sources  of  the 
young  minister's  poAver.  Great  attention  was  of  course  paid 
to  the  rumour  that  Mr.  Alexander,  who  though  he  had  so  long 
occupied  one  of  the  chairs  of  a  school  of  theology  had  not 
yet  entered  the  pulpit,  was  to  be  carried  through  the  usual 
course  of  interrogations  and  formally  authorized  to  preach 
that  good  news  with  his  lips  which  he  already  published  by 
his  example.  His  diaries  disclose  the  fact,  that  his  own  spirit- 
ual exercises  in  prospect  of  this  crisis  were  profound  and 
humble.  The  church  court  before  which  he  expected  to  ap- 
j^ear  was  holding  its  sessions  but  a  few  miles  off,  at  Lawrence- 
ville.  He  accordingly  made  no  delay,  but  accepted  the  ofter 
of  Dr.  Benjamin  H.  Rice  and  rode  over  to  the  little  village 
where,  after  the  preliminary  trials,  he  was,  on  the  25th  of  April, 
duly  licensed  by  the  Presbytery  of  ISTew  Brunswick  as  a  pi'o- 
bationer  for  the  Gospel  Ministry.  The  following  account  of 
the  proceedings  is  from  his  journal.  It  will  be  perused  with 
gratification  by  such  as  desire  to  be  minutely  informed  as  to  all 
the  particulars  relating  to  the  affair,  as  it  were  from  the  lips  of 
the  person  himself  most  deeply  interested  in  the  issue  of  the 
business. 

On  the  2oth  of  April  he  records : 

"Dr.  Rice  called  for  me  with  his  carriage  at  8  o'clock,  and  I  went 
■with  him  to  Lawrence,*  where  we  found  the  Presbytery  sitting  in  Mr. 

*  A  familiar  abbreviation. 


440  AS    A    PREACHER. 


[1838. 


Ham^ill's  schoolhouse.  I  tben  read  my  exegesis  De  SacriJicUs,  my 
cri;ieal  exercise  on  Gen.  xlix,  8-12,  and  my  lecture  on  Micali  iv,  1- 
5;  nnd  was  examined  on  Theology  by  Mr.  Perkins,  on  Church  History 
by  Dr.  Eice,  and  on  Church  Government  and  the  Sacraments  by  Dr. 
Miller.  We  then  repaired  to  the  church  where  I  delivered  my  sermon 
on  John  iii,  3G.  Dr.  Miller  anJ  Mr.  Dod  were  in  the  pulpit  with  me. 
The  latter  read  the  hymns  and  m.ade  both  prayers.  We  then  descended 
from  the  pulpit.  I  answered  the  constitutional  questions  and  was 
licensed." 

This  is  the  whole  of  the  simple  narrative.  He  has  j^re- 
served  his  "  Latin  exegesis  "  (as  it  is  absurdly  called)  in  one 
of  his  manuscript  Looks.  There  is  nothing  specially  notice- 
able about  it,  except  that  it  is  short,  and  in  a  very  difterent 
style  from  Turretin's. 

The  advent  of  the  young  preacher  created  a  decided  sen- 
sation among  the  ministers  as  "V\'cll  as  the  mass  of  ordinary 
bearers.  The  venerable  President  Green  heartily  said  that  he 
■was  "  orthodox."  Other  dignified  and  famous  clergymen, 
men  who  were  not  easily  driven  from  their  self-possession, 
were  heard  to  echo  this  sentiment  and  to  express  themselves 
in  the  language  of  unbounded  eulogy.  In  the  midst  of  this 
commotion  there  Avas  one  at  least  wbo,  though  deeply  inter- 
ested in  what  Avas  going  on,  was  not  at  all  excited  and  was 
as  simple  as  a  child  in  the  expression  of  such  feelings  as  he 
had.     This  was  Di-.  Archibald  Alexander. 

A  member  of  the  senior  class  of  1838,  gives  the  following- 
account  of  the  manner  in  which  the  happy  father  received  the 
news  that  his  son  had  preached  his  first  sermon. 

"  It  was  while  I  was  at  the  Seminary  that  he  was  licensed  to 
preach.  The  interest  excited  by  his  first  sermon  was  very  great,  as 
you  know,  both  in  Princeton  and  in  the  cities.  I  happened  to  be  in  Dr. 
Alexander's  parlour  one  Monday  evening,  after  Addison  had  preached 
the  day  before  for  the  first  time  in  New- York,  when  a  lady  from  New- 
York  who  had  just  arrived  came  into  the  room.  She  began  at  once  to 
tell  of  Addison's  preaching,  and  the  great  interest  it  had  excited." 
The  venerable  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  was  present,  and  was  greatly 
animated  by  what  he  heard.     These  were  tidings  he  had  long  wished 


^T.  29.]  DR.    RAMSEY  S    ESTIMATE.  441 

and  expected  to  hear  about  his  son.  No  one  had  ever  better  gau2;ed 
the  young  man's  capacity.  But  he  had  doubts  on  one  point :  and  that 
■was  his  voice.  He  feared  he  could  not  be  heard  in  a  Jarge  church. 
How  natural  and  affecting  the  picture  that  is  brought  before  us  by  Dr. 
Ramsey ! 

"I  well  remember,"  he  says,  "how  eagerly  the  good  old  man 
listened  and  enquired,  and  how  delighted  he  seemed.  '  Did  he  speak 
loud  enough? '  he  asked,  'I  was  afraid  Addison  would  not  speak  loud 
enough.' " 


Dr.  Ramsey  continues  that  lie  himself  always  loved  to  hear 
him,  and  never  heard  him  without  profit. 

"You  know  that  everybody  rejoiced  to  listen  to  him,  that  could 
appreciate  God's  truth  declared,  illustrated  and  enforced,  by  all  that 
genius,  learning,  and  simple,  forcible,  transparent  diction,  which  in 
him  were  so  remarkably  combined.  It  seems  to  me  you  will  not  find 
it  a  very  easy  task  to  characterize  his  preaching.  I  could  not  do  it. 
It  was  so  endlessly  varied.  At  one  time,  brilliant,  dazzling,  overwhelm- 
ing; at  another  so  plain  as  to  be  almost  without  an  illustration,  ex- 
cept of  the  simplest  kind,  yet  deeply  interesting;  at  another,  severely 
exegetical  so  as  to  be,  in  the  estimation  of  many,  dry.  Did  he  ever,  do 
you  suppose,  compose  two  sermons  on  any  one  xjlan?  It  seems  to  me 
that  his  two  volumes  of  sermons  are  enough  to  show  how  the  church 
has  suffered  by  Procrustean  rules  for  sermonizing,  by  making  the  ser- 
mon a  thing  so  different  from  every  other  kind  of  composition,  except 
in  its  being  an  exposition  of  God's  word. 

"The  power  of  perfectly  natural  intonations  in  delivery  was  shown 
very  fully  by  his  preaching.  Eeading,  as  he  did  generally  when  I  heard 
him,  quite  closely  and  with  scarcely  a  gesture,  he  thus  always  managed 
to  secure  attention,  and  to  hold  it  to  the  end  without  weariness  either 
to  himself  or  his  auditor.  His  tones,  almost  as  much  as  his  words, 
contributed  to  the  strange  art  by  which  he  was  wont  to  cause  his 
thoughts  to  be  immediately  apprehended  by  the  hearer." 

Among  those  who  listened  to  his  first  discourse  after  licen- 
sure was  one  who  has  never  ceased  to  cherish  a  glowino-  sen- 
timent  of  admiration  for  the  genius  and  piety  of  Mr,  Alexan- 

19* 


442  FIRST    SERMON.  D838L 

der,  and  who  has  associated  bis  own  name  with  Christian 
authorship.* 

"It  was  my  good  fortune,"  he  writes,  "  to  hear  the  first  sermon  he 
prenched  on  being  licensed  by  tlic  Presbytery.  It  was  in  the  Prince- 
ton Church,  before  a  crowded  auditory  composed  of  the  faculty  and 
students  of  the  Seminary  and  College,  with  all  the  principal  families 
of  the  viUago,  who  were  attracted  to  hear  the  first  efi:ort  of  thele:irned 
Professor  in  what  had  been  to  liim,  till  then.,  the  untried  art  of  public 
speaking.  His  success  was  perfect.  He  went  through  the  whole  ser- 
vice with  an  ease,  self-possession,  propriety,  and  solemnity  which  would 
seem  to  have  marked  a  preacher  of  many  years.  That  first  sermon 
established  his  reputation  as  an  attractive  popular  preacher,  and  from 
that  time  forward  it  needed  only  to  be  known  that  he  wouUI  preach  to 
fill  any  house  of  worship  in  Priuceton  with  the  elite  of  the  place."  t 

*  The  Rev.  Professor  L.  I.  Halsey,  D.D.,  of  the  Seminary  of  the  Northwest, 
the  biographer  of  Lindsley,  and  the  author  of  "  Literary  Attractions  of  the 
Bible." 

f  In  a  series  of  letters  to  the  Northwestern  Presbyterian,  on  the  great 
preachers  of  the  List  quarter  of  the  century,  the  same  writer  thus  refers  to 
this  peculiarity  of  Mr.  Alexander's  modes  of  preaching: 

"As  a  preacher  he  possessed  endowments  of  the  highest  order,  and  he  was 
equallv  successful  in  wliatever  style  he  chose  to  deliver  the  sermon.  He  could 
enchain  the  attention  of  an  audience  when  he  read  his  discourse  closely  from 
a  manuscript,  with  scarcely  more  gesture  than  was  necessary  to  turn  the  pages; 
and  he  could  thrill  and  electrify  the  same  audience,  when  without  a  lino  before 
him  he  poured  out  a  swelling  and  magnificent  stream  of  thought  with  all  the 
fervid  animation  of  the  most  impassioned  delivery.  From  the  time  he  was 
licensed,  he  took  his  position,  as  it  were  by  a  single  bound,  among  the  most 
admired  and  powerful  pteichers  of  the  times ;  and  his  services  were  in  con- 
stant demand,  not  only  in  the  pulpit  at  Princeton  and  its  vicinity,  but  in  the 
largest  and  most  intelligent  congregations  of  New- York  and  Philadelphia." 

It  is  in  connection  with  his  account  of  this  sermon,  that  Dr.  Ilalsey  in- 
troduccs  the  following  passage  into  his  "  Distinguished  Preachers  of  the  Last 
Forty  Years:  " 

"Nothing  could  exceed  the  rapidity,  energy,  force  and  fire  of  his  impas- 
sioned delivery.  At  times  it  was  like  a  rising  flood  ;  it  was  a  sweeping,  on- 
rushing,  impetuous  torrent.  And  yet  it  was  always  free  from  any  approach  to 
extravagance  or  verbiage.  It  was  the  lightning  of  thought.  It  was  the  heavy 
artillery  of  truth.  Ic  was  the  eloquence  which  combined  the  four  elements  of 
original,  stirring  thought,  brilliant  diction,  magnificent  imagery,  and  a  soul  in 


<Et.  29.]  DIVERSITY    OF    METHODS.  443 

It  was  no  doubt  painfully  embarrassing  to  the  young  Pro- 
fessor to  deliver  that  sermon.  It  was  an  experiment  even  to 
himself.  He  had  always  low  views  of  his  fitness  and  calling  as  a 
preacher.  He  thought  his  proper  place  was  in  the  chair.  In 
this  he  resembled  his  old  preceptor  Lindsley,  and  like  him  was 
strangely  ignorant  that  perhaps  "  his  forte  was  his  magnificent 
preaching." 

One  of  the  first  things  about  his  pulpit  efforts  that  attracted 
general  notice,  was  the  diversity  of  his  methods.  The  imex- 
ampled  variety  in  the  plans  of  his  sermons  and  the  modes  of 
his  delivery  of  them,  struck  everybody  who  heard  them.  There 
was,  however,  a  rich  peculiarity  of  thought  and  diction  in  all 
of  them.  The  gentleman  just  quoted,  who  heard  him  constantly 
at  this  period,  testifies : 

"From  the  first  his  style  of  preaching  was  unique  and  original— I 
sliould  rather  say  his  styles  of  preaching  ;  for  I  have  never  heard  any 
one  preach  ia  so  many  different  ways  as  marked  his  manner  during 
tliese  first  years  of  his  ministry.  His  services  were  in  great  demand, 
and  he  preached  often,  both  in  the  Church  and  the  Seminary  Chapel, 
besides  being  frequently  called  to  ISTew-York  and  Philadelphia.  At 
times  he  appeared  in  the  pulpit  without  a  line  of  manuscript,  and  de- 
livered what  seemed  an  unwritten  discourse,  teeming  with  profound 
and  striking  thought  and  brilliant  imagery,  with  a  precision  and  wealth 
of  diction  wliich  nothing  could  exceed,  and  with  all  the  impassioned 
animation  and  ardor  of  an  extemporaneous  orator.  At  other  times  he 
would  place  his  manuscript  of  large  size  paper  on  the  pulpit  desk  and 
read  it  without  indeed  appearing  to  read  it,  turning  the  pages  as  he 
advanced,  but  no  more  trammelled  or  constrained  as  to  gesture,  look,  or 
voice  by  the  paper  than  if  lie  had  been  preaching  without  notes.  Then 
again  I  have  seen  him  stand  in  the  pulpit  and  preach,  reading  from  a 
httle  sermon-book  which  he  held  up  in  both  hands,  going  through  the 
entire  discourse  without  a  gesture,  or  a  look  at  the  audience,  while  every 
eye  was  fixed  upon  him,  and  the  attention  of  every  hearer  riveted  by 

earnest.  Without  any  thing  of  what  would  be  called  the  graces  of  manner, 
or  the  attitudes  of  oratory,  he  had  the  very  essentials  of  true  and  powerful 
pulpit  eloquence  in  the  truth  he  uttered,  in  the  words  and  images  with  which 
he  clothed  it,  and  in  the  ardour  of  his  delivery." 


444  TRUE    ELOQUENCE.  DSSa 

the  perfect  articnlation  and  emphasis  of  his  voice,  and  the  exceeding 
richness  and  originality  of  his  matter." 

The  effect  was  the  same  imder  all  these  various  methods. 

"It  mattered  not  in  which  of  these  methods  he  preached.  He  was 
ahvays  interesting,  and  at  times  sublime  and  thrilling.  I  could  scaicely 
say  in  which  of  the  styles  I  admired  him  most.  I  never  heard  any 
preacher  who  seemed  to  me  so  completely  independent  of  all  the  aids 
of  external  method.  In  every  method  alike  he  poured  out  the  richest 
treasures  of  Gospel  truth.  With  him  the  form  seemed  to  be  nothing. 
In  every  style  it  was  the  eloquence  of  brilliant  imagery,  of  powerful 
thought,  of  rich  and  choice  diction,  of  impassioned  feeling.  I  never 
heard  any  preacher  who  seemed  so  little  indebted  to  the  rules  of  rhe- 
torical art,  or  rather  so  fully  the  creator  and  master  of  his  own  art.  In 
this  respect  he  was  a  law  unto  himself.  It  would  be  difficult  to  say 
which  was  the  most  remarkable  characteristic  of  Ijis  preaching:  the 
fervor  of  his  own  spiritual  emotion,  the  grand  movement  of  -his 
thought,  his  magnificent  imagery,  or  masterly  command  of  language. 
His  diction  was  at  once  simple,  chaste,  ornate,  copious,  and  forcible. 
It  was  perfectly  radiant  with  tlionght,  luminous  with  flashes  of  imagi- 
nation, and  surcharged  with  feeling.  Though  he  always  spoke  with 
clear  and  distinct  articulation,  his  words  flowed  with  great  r;ipidity, 
indicating  the  quick  and  powerful  movement  of  his  mind.  I  cannot 
recall  a  single  instance  in  which  he  ever,  either  in  the  pulpit  or  lec- 
ture-room, hesitated  a  moment  for  a  word,  or  fiiilcd  to  get  the  right 
one;  although  his  utterance  on  all  occasions  was  remarkable  for  its  ra- 
pidity. His  reading  of  the  Scriptures  was  also  marked  by  the  same 
rapid  and  yet  distinct  articulation.  This  power  of  expression,  both  by 
the  tongue  and  the  pen,  was  but  the  natural  exponent  of  the  clear  and 
powerful  intellect  with  which  the  Almighty  had  endowed  him." 

He  was  now,  of  course,  busier  than  ever  as,  in  addition  to 
his  usual  engagements,  he  immediately  took  to  writing  sermous, 
and  was  continually  in  request  as  a  preacher.  His  valuable 
aid  was  greatly  sought  after,  especially  by  churches  in  New- 
Jersey  and  Philadelphia  ;  and  the  eloquent  licentiate  was  not 
at  all  unwilling  to  oblige  his  friends  and  serve  his  Master  by 
speaking  to  sinners  of  the  joys  and  wonders  and  dangers  con. 
nected  with  redemption. 


^T-  29.]  TRAVELLING.  445 

On  the  3d  of  May,  1838,  the  cautious  scholar  wrote  a  letter 
to  the  President  of  the  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Seminary,  ac- 
cepting  the  Professorship  to  Avhich  he  had  been  appointed  by 
the  assembly  of  1835.  The  Directors  on  receiving  his  accept- 
ance resolved,  that  he  should  be  inaugurated  at  their  next 
meeting,  which  would  occur  in  Sei^tember,  and  that  he  should 
pronounce  an  inaugural  address.  Dr.  Spring  was  appointed 
to  deliver  the  charge  to  the  Professor. 

During  parts  of  April,  May,  June,  August,  and  September, 
he  was  travelling  ;  chiefly  to  and  from  points  between  Prince- 
ton and  Washington.  He  took  several  extensive  tours  and 
many  short  rambles.  He  was  at  various  times  at  Philadel- 
phia, Wilmington,  Baltimore,  and  the  Federal  Capital.  Some- 
times he  was  alone,  and  sometimes  accompanied  by  one  of  his 
brothers.  His  longest  sojourns  were  at  Philadelphia.  I 
have  found  among  his  papers  minute  accounts  of  the  little 
humdrum  incidents  of  these  excursions,  stating  the  events  of 
each  day  with  a  precision  and  uniformity  that  would  exhaust 
the  patience  of  the  reader.  The  truth  was,  his  pleasure  lay 
mainly  in  the  substitution  of  other  scenes  and  associations  for 
those  to  which  he  was  daily  accustomed,  the  rapid  transit 
from  city  to  city,  and  the  agreeable  alternation  of  travel  by 
water  and  travel  by  land.*  Nothing  of  lively  interest  oc- 
curred to  vary  the  essential  monotony  of  these  ever  shifting 
and  never  changing  diversions.  But  few  extracts  from  thil 
narrative  need  be  given  here.  In  the  intervals  he  was  as  busy 
as  at  any  other  time. 

When  in  Philadelphia,  where  he  was  thoroughly  at  home, 
he  commonly  put  up  at  the  public  house  known  as  Sander- 
son's ;  walked  hither  and  thither  in  search  of  small  adven- 
tures (that  would  have  been  adventures  to  nobody  else)  on 
the  streets,  and  made  necessary  or  trivial  imrchases  at  the 

*  "  He  unconscious  whence  the  bliss, — 
Feels    .     .     . 

That  all  the  circling  joys  are  his, 
Of  dear  vicissitude." 

Gray.     (Little,  Brown  &  Co.,  1853,  p.  128.) 


446  PREACHING.  [1838. 

shops.  On  Sunday,  wlien  he  was  not  engaged  to  preach  him- 
self, he  went  to  hear  some  one  or  other  of  the  city  pastors,  or 
strangers  who  were  advertised  in  the  newspapers.  Now  and 
then  he  fell  in  with  an  acquaintance ;  and  though  avoiding  obser- 
vation and  recognition  as  much  as  possible,  indulged  in  a  good 
deal  of  casual  intercourse  with  old  and  new  friends,  and  ap- 
peared at  times  to  enjoy  these  wayside  encounters  with  no 
little  zest. 

Dr,  Joseph  H.  Jones  has  told  me  that  he  could  scarcely 
ever  get  a  glimpse  of  the  ubiquitous  linguist ;  of  whose  society 
he  was  very  fond  and  whose  memory  he  holds  in  exalted  esti- 
mation. The  same  is  true,  without  doubt,  of  the  majority  o  f 
his  Philadelphia  confreres. 

In  addition  to  these  journeys  taken  commonly  without 
definite  object  and,  as  it  were,  with  malice  prepense,  he  was 
constantly  going  off  somewhere  to  preach.  He  was  invited 
hither  and  thither ;  had  his  bag  full  of  fresh  sermons  (the  best  in 
a  popular  point  of  view  that  he  ever  wrote) ;  was  in  the  luxu- 
riant bloom  of  his  bodily,  mental,  and  emotional  powders ;  and 
was  ready  and  even  eager,  on  all  fit  occasions,  to  make  full 
proof  of  his  ministry  and  to  preach  "  the  glorious  Gospel  of 
the  blessed  God."  He  astonished  and  enraptured  the  best 
minds  and  the  warmest  hearts  of  every  assembly  over  which 
he  threw  the  spell  of  his  glittering  eye  and  thrilling  accents ; 
and  many  a  hardened  sinner  was  made  to  feel  his  guilt  and 
danger,  and  to  see  the  ample  provision  that  had  been  made 
for  his  salvation.  His  own  soul  often  took  fire  under  these  awak- 
ening influences,  and  his  voice  rang  out  as  sweet  and  j-tassionate 
as  the  note  of  a  bugle. 

He  was  in  Washington  on  the  9th  of  May,  with  one  of  his 
brothers.     He  records  : 

"After  tea  we  walked  through  Pennsylvania  Avenue,  and  fonnd 
the  villnge  (city)  very  dismal.  It  is  a  mere  collection  of  suburbs 
without  any  urbs,  or  as  James  describes  it,  a  moderate  town  pulled 
out  like  India-rubber  to  make  it  big.  It  has  all  the  discomforts  of  a 
city,  witli  few  of  its  comforts.  "What  a  mistake  it  was  to  leave  Phila- 
delphia for  the  pm-pose  of  creating  a  central  city  which  is  now  far  less 


-^T.  29.]  VIEWS    OF    THE    MSEUPTION.  44) 

centra]  to  the  twenty-sis  States  than  Philadelphia  then  was  to  the  old 
thirteen — a  great  citj  without  commerce  or  government  munificence! 
What  a  chimera. 

"  Wednesday,  May  16.  I  had  intended  to  go  to-day,  but  as  I  hear  I 
can  reach  Philadelphia  to-morrow  bef.^re  2  o'clock,  and  as  Iloifman 
has  the  floor  in  the  House  of  Representatives,  I  have  determined  to  re- 
main one  day  longer.  I  did  remain  accordingly,  and  heard  Ogden 
Iloftman,  who  was  interrupted  or  answered  by  Rhett,  Legare.  and 
Waddy  Thompson.  I  also  heard  J.  W.  Jones  of  Virginia,  and  Henry 
A.  Wise  in  reply." 

The  spring  had  been  very  tardy  in  its  advances.  May  was 
more  like  one  of  the  earlier  vernal  months.  The  weather,  how- 
ever, was  soft  and  balmy,  after  a  period  of  unseasonable  cold. 
From  Philadelphia  came  the  important  tidings  onthelSth, 
that  the  General  Assembly  was  divided,  and  that  the  new- 
school  party  had  seceded.  Dr.  Plumer  was  moderator  of  the 
old  assemblj^,  and  Dr.  Fisher  of  the  new.  These  were  excit- 
ing times,  and  Mr.  Alexander  took  a  deep  and  lively  interest 
in  them,  and  kept  himself  informed  of  all  the  ecclesiastical 
movements ;  but  it  does  not  appear  that  he  entered  actively 
into  tlie  controversy.  His  ecclesiastical  life  dates  from  the 
disruption  of  the  church.  He  sided  heartily  with  the  old- 
school  incumbents.  The  article  condemning  the  Exodus  of 
the  new  school  men  came  out  during  his  editorship  of  the 
Repertory,  but  Avas  not  written  by  him.  No  man  was  more 
strictly  old  fashioned  on  all  points  of  doctrine,  and  on  most 
points  of  policy.  Whatever  were  his  views,  none  could  call 
in  question  his  honesty  or  independence,  or  his  courage.  As- 
sured in  his  own  conscience,  he  was  indifferent  to  censure, 
and  laughed  at  intimidation.  It  had  been  as  easy  to  govern 
John  Knox  or  Martin  Luther. 

On  Lord's  Day,  May  20th,  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander 
preached  one  of  the  most  eloquent  sei-mons  ever  heard  in 
Princeton,  on  the  text.  Sin  no  more.  He  awakened  the  cold 
and  somewhat  academic  audience  as  he  had  done  the  warm 
assemblies  in  his  youth.  His  hearers  were  deeply  impressed. 
Xot  long  after  this,  his  old  teacher  Mr.  Baird  was  in  town, 


448  m   BOSTON.  ri834 

and  received  a  pleasant  greeting  from  one  or  more  of  his 
former  pupils.  He  was  becoming  a  great  traveller,  and  fre- 
quently showed  his  face  in  Princeton  on  returning  from  one 
of  his  tours  abroad.  He  liked  nothing  better  than  to  re- 
count the  incidents  of  these  journeys.  I  find  that  Mr.  Alex- 
ander was  at  this  time  absent,  having  gone  to  Philadelphia 
with  his  father.  He  seems  to  have  proceeded  to  Boston 
and  other  j^laces  in  New-England,  and  then  returned  to  the 
Pennsylvania  Capital.  He  wrote  home  almost  daily ;  an  un- 
usual thing  with  him.  Saturday,  the  26th,  he  had  diverged 
as  far  as  Elizabethtown  ;  where  he  was  to  preach  on  Sunday. 
I  give  below  the  only  record  he  has  left  of  this  journey. 
It  seems  to  have  been  j^enued  in  Boston  : 

"  Lord's  Day,  May  20.  Waterbnry's  Church.  Eeecher,  '  Have  I  any 
pleasure  in  the  death  of  the  wicked.'  Beecher  again,  '  Seek  first  tlio 
kingdom  of  God.'  " 

It  is  hard  to  clothe  a  skeleton  journal  with  flesh  and  blood. 
The  days  were  not  alike,  but  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  revive 
them  in  their  distinct  individuality.  The  materials  at  my 
disposal  are  not  such  as  to  enable  me  to  hit  off  the  physiog- 
nomy of  each  transient  period ;  a  few  touches  here  and  there 
must  suffice.  Professor  James  Alexander  could  not  be  in- 
duced to  give  a  favourable  answer  to  a  solicitation  from  the 
church  in  Petersbui-g,  which  he  received  about  this  time.  The 
younger  brother  was  still  in  motion  upon  various  neighbour- 
incr  railways.  On  the  18th  of  September  he  came  home  from 
New-Brunswick,  bringing  with  him  clouds  and  signs  of  bad 
weather.  He  dined  with  his  brother,  and  was,  I  doubt  not, 
very  communicative  and  entertaining  about  his  journey.  He 
was  never  more  agreeable  than  after  such  returns.  His  eyes 
would  fairly  sparkle  Avith  fun  and  pleasure,  and  the  little  ones 
would  laugh  louder  than  ever  at  his  amusing  inventions. 

On  November  the  11th,  he  records  : 

"To-night  I  heard  Dr.  Rice  preach  from  Acts  xvii.  30,  on  the  duty 
of  repentance.     Anniversary  of  my  last  awakening.     Thanks  bo  to  God 


^T.  290  DR.    HODGES   ESTIMATE.  449 

for  his  unspeakable  gift!  I  have  lately  finished  Lockhart'sLife  of  Scott, 
which  I  read  with  much  interest. 

"ISTov.  17.  Yv'itLia  a  few  days  I  have  read  the  trial  of  Warreu 
Hastings." 

On  Sunday  the  8tli  of  December,  he  arose  for  the  first 
time  in  the  Seminary  Chapel;  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
he  was  listened  to  with  the  greatest  attention. 

Among  those  who  Avatched  with  interest  his  dawning  rep- 
utation as  a  preacher,  was  Dr.  Charles  Hodge,  the  friend  of  his 
boyhood  and  his  colleague  in  the  Seminary  ;  a  man  who  above 
almost  all  other  men,  had  opportunity  and  ability  to  know  and 
rightly  estimate  the  greatness  and  variety  of  the  gifts  Avith 
which  God  had  endowed  him,  and  the  breadth  of  the  charmed 
circle  that  limited  his  attainments  and  means  of  influence. 
Mr.  Alexander's  intellectual  wealth  was  like  treasure  hid  in  a 
field.  One  had  to  resort  thither  for  it ;  it  was  not  exposed  in 
the  market-place.  Dr.  Hodge  had  seen  the  treasure  buried, 
and,  of  course,  knew  wiiat  it  was.  He  writes  as  follows  as  to 
his  mode  of  preaching : 

"As  a  preacher,  he  had,  for  an  intelligent  audience  at  least,  few 
equals.  His  mode  of  constructing  his  sermons  was  various.  Some- 
times his  preaching  was  exegetical.  He  would  take  a  passage  of  greater 
or  less  extent,  and  so  expound  it  that  his  hearers  would  be  astonished 
at  the  treasures  of  truth  which  it  contained  beyond  what  before  they 
had  apprehended.  Sometimes  his  discourses  were  graphic ;  abounding 
in  tlie  highest  kind  of  description  ;  filling  the  mind  with  aesthetic  and 
devotional  feelings  so  mingled  as  to  be  hardly  distinguishable ;  and  dif- 
fusing through  it  a  purifying  delight. 

"  He  generally  wrote  his  sermons  and  used  his  manuscript  in  the 
pulpit;  but  never  slavishly,  as  though  he  needed  it.  He  always  ap- 
peared to  be  master  of  himself  and  of  his  subject.  I  have  heard  him 
in  the  Seminary  Chapel  (if  the  solecism  be  intelligible),  read  extem- 
pore. That  is,  he  has  gone  into  the  pulpit  with  blank  paper,  and  in  a 
level  tone  of  voice,  and  without  tlie  shghtest  hesitancy,  deliver  a  dis- 
course as  though  he  were  reading  from  a  book ;  not  addressing  his 
hearers,  but  reading  to  them.  This  was  not  an  exhibition  of  a  power 
of  committing  to  memory  without  writing,  but  was  done  apparently 
off-hand,  with  little  or  no  premeditation.  This,  of  course,  was  not  done 
for  display,  for  he  did  not  expect  to  be  detected;  but  if,  when  called 


450  LETTERS    TO    A   BOY.  tissa 

on  to  preach,  lie  could  not  lay  liis  hand  on  a  sermon  wliicli  suited  his 
purpose,  he  would  adopt  this  method.  Preaching  to  theological  stu- 
dents was  not  so  agreeable  to  him  as  addressing  a  promiscuous  audi- 
ence, and  he  seldom  spoko  in  the  Chapel  with  the  animation  which 
characterized  his  manner  under  other  circumstances." 

This  year,  Mr.  Alexander  became  one  of  the  editors  of  the 
Biblical  Repertory ;  to  which  he  had  already  contributed  a 
series  of  remarkable  essays  upon  exegetical,  critical,  biographi- 
cal, historical,  and  miscellaneous  subjects.  Associated  with  this 
change  was  that  of  the  title  of  the  periodical,  which  now  ac- 
quired new  fame  in  connection  with  the  additional  description, 
"  and  Princeton  Review."  He  loved  to  call  it  so  himself;  but 
the  old  title  is  still  the  more  popular  one. 

Some  letters  written  to  one  of  his  young  pupils  at  this 
time,  Avill  give  us  some  idea  of  the  kind  of  influence  which 
he  exercised  upon  them. 

"JuLxr,  1838. 
"Mt  Dear  Boy: 

"As  you  are  improving  in  your  mathematical  studies,  I  propose  to 
reward  you  with  a  letter  of  unusual  length.  It  is  sometimes  said  that 
people  of  quick  tempers  are  more  affectionate  than  others ;  and  this 
may  be  partly  true.  But  that  can  be  no  reason  for  neglecting  to  re- 
strain your  temper.  "Why  may  you  not  be  both  good-tempered  and 
affectionate?  If  you  had  a  dog  which  was  extremely  fond  of  you  for 
six  days  in  the  week,  but  on  the  seventh  would  go  mad  and  bite  you, 
do  you  think  that  his  good  habits  and  behaviour  in  general  would  recon- 
cile you  to  his  bites  at  other  times?  I  am  the  more  disposed  to  urge 
you  to  improve  in  this  respect,  because  you  have  improved  so  mnch 
already  since  I  first  became  acquainted  with  you.  Go  on,  my  dear  lad  1 
and  with  Divine  help  you  may  conquer  this  and  every  other  evil  disposi- 
tion. 

'"Aurrj  ecTTiv  i]  vIki]  tj  viKi](Tii(ra  rov  k6(T[iov.,  t]  inaTis  ijixaiv. 

"  And  now  let  us  change  the  subject  of  discourse.  I  am  sorry  for 
the  accident  which  befel  your  hat  on  the  fourth  of  July,  and  hear  that 
yon  are  somewhat  extravagant  in  your  expressions  of  delight  and  grat- 
itude fin-  national  independence.  Do  you  not  think  that  many  people 
celebrate  the  day  without  remembering  why  it  is  kept?  And  can  you 
tell  me  what  is  the  connection  between  liberty  and  rockets — independ- 


^T.  29.]  DAY-BOOK.  451 

ence  and  turpentine?  The  accidents  which  happen  on  the  fourth 
of  July  tlirougliont  the  country,  are  very  numerous  and  often  very 
lamentable.  But  the  worst  of  all  is  the  intemperance  and  riot  which 
prevail,  under  the  pretext  of  rejoicing  in  our  freedom.  Many  prove  iti 
this  way,  that  although  they  hoast  of  freedom  they  are  utterly  unfit  for 
it.  And  now  as  this  may  be  the  last  letter  which  I  shall  address  to 
you,  I  wish  before  I  close  to  beg  that  you  will  loss  no  time  in  gaining 
all  the  knowledge  that  may  be  within  your  reach  ;  as  life  is  short  and 
you  have  much  to  do.  With  this  advice  and  my  best  wishes,  I  bid  you 
adieu.  Tours  sincereh^, 

"  Addison  Alexandee." 

In  another  letter  to  the  same,  of  Sept.  21,  1838,  he  tells  liim 
he  must  keep  a  journal. 

"To-morrow  you  will  please  to  commence  a  journal  of  your  own 
adventures,  studies,  and  employments,  which  I  wish  you  to  keep  for 
my  information  and  your  own  improvement  until  you  can  resume  your 
correspondence,  eiiher  wilh  me  or  with  another  teacher.  In  writing  this 
journal,  you  must  be  particular  and  put  down  everything  which  is  at  all 
important  on  the  one  hand,  or  amusing  on  the  other.  Write  very  often 
and  little  at  a  time,  putting  down  things  as  tliey  happen,  before  you  have 
had  time  to  forget  tliem.  As  this  will  be  your  principal  employment  for 
some  time,  I  hope  you  will  take  pains  to  tell  me  a  great  deal  and  to  im- 
prove in  writing.  '  Your  affectionate  friend, 

"Jos.  Addisox  Alexandee." 

During  the  summer  of  1838  and  the  winter  of  1838-1839, 
Mr.  Alexander  wrote  most  of  his  best  sermons,  and  was  con- 
tinually called  from  home  to  pi'each.  The  record  of  his  stud- 
ies and  reflections  for  the  earlier  part  of  this  period  is  pre- 
served in  a  volume  of  singular  but  eccentric  interest.  It  is, 
regarded  outwardly,  a  square  thick  quarto  bound  in  sheep  and 
made  of  unsized  white  paper,  and  is  labelled  on  the  back,  "Day 
Book  Ko.  I."  In  this  volume  he  not  only  kept  as  usual  a  co- 
pious journal  of  thoughts  on  different  parts  of  .the  Old  Testa- 
ment, especially  Isaiah  and  Nahum,  and  the  earlier  historical 
books,  as  v/ell  as  plans  of  sermons,  bare  skeletons,  random 
hints,  and  sermons  in  extenso  ;  but  wrote  doggerel  verses,  and 


452  WRITING   SERMONS.  nsss. 

scribbled  letters  in  every  sort  of  hand- writing  and  in  every  style 
of  courtly  periphrasis.  Scraps  of  unintelligible  nonsense  are 
here  and  there  scrawled  right  across  a  profound  comment  on 
Isaiah.  Sometimes  there  is  nothing  but  the  signature,  and  the 
sugared  complimcnt-s  that  were  then,  and  are  still,  somewhat 
fashionable  among  foreign  ambassadors  ;  or  the  assurances  of 
chilling  politeness  which  we  look  for  from  persons  who,  though 
inimical  to  one  another,  are  yet  not  quite  at  dagger's  draw. 
The  book  also  contains  amusing  epistles  to  Coustantiue  Menseus 
in  modern  Greek.  It  is  one  of  the  finest  specimens  of  his 
calligraphy. 

Here  are  a  few  more  records  from  his  journal ; 

"Sunday,  July  1.  Serraonby  my  father;  communion  administered 
by  Dr.  Eice.  Monthly  concert  in  the  afternoon.  Sermon  at  night  by  Dr. 
Eice,  on  the  First  Commandment.  [Opened]  Bryan  Owen's  treatise  on 
tlie  Mortification  of  Sin,  and  read  several  chapters  with  a  deeper  effect 
upon  my  heart  and  conscience  than  I  have  experienced  for  years  from 
any  book.  Eecommenced  the  reading  of  tlie  Bible  by  my  calendar; 
began  with  Job  xxxiii,  and  Matthew  vii.  "With  the  former  I  used 
Eosenmtiller''s  Scholia  in  a  cursory  manner.  Began  to  write  a  sermon  on 
Eomans  x.  4. 

"July  3.  Abandoned  the  writing  of  my  sermon,  and  concluded  to 
prepare  without  writing. 

"  July  7.  Eesumed  and  finished  tlie  writing  of  my  sermon  on  Eo- 
mans X.  4.  Tills  is  the  second  sermon  I  have  written.  I  have 
preached  ten;  two  of  these  twice,  and  one  three  times.  Dr.  Eice  has 
invited  me  to  preach  to-morrow  evening. 

"July  8.  I  heard  Dr.  Miller  preach  in  the  Chapel  from  Eom.  viii. 
33.  I  read  the  Missionary  Herald  for  July,  and  Owen  on  Temptation.  At 
night  I  preached  in  the  Church  my  sermon  on  Eom.  xx.  14.  Every  ex- 
periment brings  me  nearer  to  the  conclusion  that  I  can  preach  more 
acceptably  and  profitably  '  without  notes '  than  with  them.  My  pres- 
ent purpose  is  to  write  most  of  my  sermons  and  to  read  none  of  them. 
I  wish,  as  early  as  possible,  to  form  such  a  habit  as  will  tend  most  to 
increase  my  ministeriul  usefulness.  Lord  guiJe  me!  On  this  occasion 
I  read  iny  sermon.     It  is  the  second  that  I  have  written. 

"  July  9.  Wrote  six  pages  of  a  sermon  on  Ephesians  iii.  14.  Ee- 
ceived  a  letter  from  the  Eev.  J.  TI.  Jones,  requesting  me  to  supply  his 
pulpit  on  the  22d  instant :   '  agreed.' 


^''-  29- J  JOURNAL.  453 

"  July  15.  Preached  in  the  first  Presbyterian  Church,  New-York, 
an  expository  sermon  (John  iii.  3G),  without  the  manuscript.  At  night  I 
went  to  John  Macauley's  Church,  and  heard  liim  preach  from  the  text, 
'  I  remembered  God  and  was  troubled.' 

"July  17.  Keceived  a  letter  from  Dr.  Pennington,  inviting  me  to 
preach  before  the  Young  Men's  Society  of  Newark,  on  the  evening  of 
the  last  Sabbath  in  August. 

'•  July  22.  Expounded  the  6th  of  Isaiah  in  the  Spruce-street  Church, 
Philadelphia.  Dined  at  Mrs.  Hall's,  and  in  the  afternoon  read  my  ser- 
mon on  Hebrews  xi.  10.  Drank  tea  at  John  Hall's  again,  and  went 
with  him  to  hear  Bascomb  preach  in  Dr.  Skinner's  Church. 

"  July  23.  '  No  peace  to  the  wicked.'  Wrote  a  full  analysis  of  a 
sermon  on  the  above  text,  with  one  or  two  paragraphs  written  out  at 
length.  I  propose  to  try  this  method  of  preaching,  as  compared  with 
the  reading  and  the  pure  extempore  method. 

"July  25.  Wrote  a  similar  analysis  of  a  sermon  on  Psalm  xvii.  15. 
My  method  is  to  write  the  leading  ideas  under  every  head,  on  the 
right-hand  page,  having  the  left  for  any  passages  that  I  may  choose  to 
write  at  length.  I  propose  to  try  this  method  in  Philadelphia  next 
Lord's  Day.  This  evening,  several  of  us  met  at  Dr.  Hodge's  to  take 
leave  of  Dr.  Breckinridge,-  after  some  conversation  we  joined  in  prayer 
with  Dr.  Hodge,  and  bade  Dr.  Breckinridge  farewell. 

"  July  26.  My  brother  began  to  remove  his  effects  to  Dr.  Breck- 
inridge's house.  His  wife  and  I  dined  there,  and  I  lodged  there  at 
night,  as  I  expect  to  do  hereafter.* 

"  July  29.  Preached  in  Dr.  Boardman's  Church,  Philadelphia,  from 
full  notes  on  the  text,  '  There  is  no  peace,  saith  my  God,  to  the  wicked.' 
In  the  afternoon,  I  read  my  sermon  from  the  text,  'Awake  thou  that 
sleepest  and  arise  from  the  dead,  and  Christ  shall  give  thee  light.'  " 

The  journal  is  filled  with  statements  of  this  nature.  The 
few  extracts  given  may  serve  as  samples. 

One  of  the  most  intelligent  of  his  Princeton  hearers  f 
thus  refers  to  his  powei-  over  his  congregation  : 

"I  only  knew  him  by  his  sermons  and  his  writings.     Judging  of 

*  The  house  he  had  occupied  since  April  of  the  last  year,  was  at  Mr.  Voor. 
hces's,  corner  of  Nassau  street  and  John's  Alley  ;  aud  in  the  very  centre  of  the 
village  hubbub. 

t  The  Hon.  Richard  S.  Field. 


454  AN    ELOCUTIONIST.  [1838, 

him  by  them,  I  Avould  say,  he  was  a  man  of  great  learning,  great  elo- 
quence, and  great  intellectual  power.  I  frequently  heard  liim  preach  ; 
and  embraced  every  op[)ortunity  of  doing  so.  He  was  by  fir  the 
greatest  preacher  I  have  ever  heard.  I  have  never  known  any  one  to 
compare  with  him.  He  possessed  every  quality  for  a  great  pvdpit  oia- 
tor,  physical  as  well  as  intellectual.  His  facd  and  forehead  were  mass- 
ive, large,  and  round  ;  his  voice  combined  the  highest  degree  of  melo- 
dy and  the  greatest  compass  and  volume;  and  when  he  chose  to  be 
eloquent,  his  eloquence  was  of  the  very  highest  order.  I  say,  when 
he  chose  to  be  eloquent;  fur  what  always  struck  me  more  than  any 
thin"  else  was  this— that  he  never  seemed  to  put  forth  all  his  power, 
but  on  the  contrary,  impressed  you  with  the  idea  that  he  had  a  fund  in 
reserve  upon  which  he  might  have  drawn  to  any  extent.  What  he 
did,  never  seemed  to  cost  him  the  slightest  effort.  I  always  felt  that 
there  was  nothing  in  the  way  of  eloquence  which  he  might  not  have 
done." 

By  the  30tli  of  July,  the  family  of  the  elder  brother  were 
well  settled  in  their  new  house,  aiid  could  give  thanks  for  a 
profusion  of  comforts  ;  though  during  all  this  period  they 
were  passing  through  a  sore  trial.  Mr.  Alexander,  at  their 
warm  entreaty,  took  up  his  lodgings  under  the  same  roof  At 
one  time  or  another,  he  had  nearly  every  room  in  the  building. 

The  advent  of  a  teacher  of  elocution  set  the  brothers  about 
the  business  of  guarding  and  strengthening  their  voices. 
They  both  took  lessons,  but  afterward  concurred  in  very 
contemptuous  views  of  this  branch  of  instruction.  Perhaps 
they  carried  this  prejudice  too  far.  The  older  brother  used 
to  say  that  the  great  pulpit  orators,  such  as  Bourdaloue,  Massil- 
loh,  Hall,  and  Chalmers,  were  not  made  by  the  elocutionists 
but  in  despite  of  all  their  artificial  rules.  The  subjoined  record 
shows  what  progress  they  were  making  under  Mr.  Bronson  : 

"  Addison  and  I  are  taking  lessons  in  barking  and  howling,  and  ven- 
triloquism, from  an  elocutionist  named  Bronson,  and  who  with  much 
stuff,  has  also  certain  discoveries  on  which  I  thought  I  mypelf  had  hit  ;  * 

*  He  refers  to  his  own  review  of  Gardiuer's  Music  of  Nature,  in  tlie  July 
number  of  the  Repertory,  p.  268. 


^T.  29.J  DR.    ABEL   STEVENS.  455 

but  which  he  carries  so  far  as  to  convince  me  that  the  Laryngitis 
(erroneously  called  Bronchitis)  is  preventable." 

It  is  worthy  of  remark  that  in  his  last  journey  to  Phila- 
delphia, shortly  before  his  death,  the  younger  brother  jotted 
down  in  a  copy  of  the  History  of  Methodism  by  Dr.  Abel 
Stevens,  the  word  "  excellent,"  in  approval  of  a  long  pas- 
sage in  that  admirable  work  on  this  subject  of  "elocution" 
as  related  to  true  eloquence  and  as  illustrated  by  Whitefield. 
Plis  notion  and  that  of  Dr.  Stevens  was,  that  if  a  man  had  the 
soul  of  oratory,  he  would  be  very  apt  to  have  the  form ;  and 
that  ardent  and  melting  sympathy  have  more  to  do  with  the 
highest  eflects  of  eloquence  than  terror. 

This  was  the  secret  of  Mr.  Alexander's  own  power  in  the 
pulpit.  He  had  not  the  tricks  and  graces  of  the  mere  histri- 
onic performer.  His  influence  was  that  of  a  man  thoroughly 
in  earnest  and  in  loving  sympathy  with  his  hearers,  importu- 
nately pleading  with  them  to  be  saved  through  the  great  sacri- 
fice for  sinners.  I  am  glad  to  refer  in  this  connection  to  the 
words  of  a  thoughtful  admirer  of  Mr.  Alexander's  preaching, 
who  brings  out  his  character  in  this  respect  very  forcibly. 
The  writer  I  am  about  to  quote  is  a  i>hysician  living  in  the 
West,  f:ir  in  the  interior. 

He  knew  Dr.  Addison  Alexander  well,  and  in  all  his  phases. 
He  says : 

"  Mr.  Alexander  was  one  of  the  most  attractive  preachers  to  me 
that  I  ever  listened  to.  He  w;is  no  orator  in  the  ordinary  acceptation 
of  the  word.  His  sermons  were  generally  written  and  closely  read,  or 
if  not  written,  delivered  without  raising  his  eyes  from  the  Bible  bef -re 
him;  his  utterance  rapid  beyond  that  of  any  other  speaker  I  ever  lis- 
tened to  except  Dr.  Kobley  Dunglison,  of  Jefferson  Medical  College, 
Philadelphia;  making  no  gestures,  only  an  occasional  emphasizing  fall 
of  his  right  hand,  with  the  fingers  closed,  standing  firmly  and  squarely 
on  his  feet,  without  motion,  there  were  yet  but  few  men  I  ever  hoard 
preach  to  whom  I  would  sooner  give  the  palm  for  eloquence.  I  remem- 
ber hearing  him  deliver  a  sermon  on  the  text,  '  Remember  Lot's  wife,' 
which  I  shall  never  forget  while  I  live,   if  I  forget  it  ever.     The 


466  STYLE    OF    PREACHING.  [183a 

effect  upon  the  audience  was  visible  and  audible :  all  present  ?eemed 
drawn  Ibrv/ardin  tlicir  seats,  and  holding  their  breath  ;  and  when  he 
paused  to  breathe,  j^ou  could  hear  the  inhalation  of  the  mass  of  his 
hearers  over  the  whole  church.  It  always  seemed  to  me  that  if  there 
ever  was  a  man  whose  sermons  would  read  as  well  as  they  sounded, 
it  was  Addison  Alexander :  but  many  years  after  I  read  this  very 
sermon,  printed  among  others  in  the  volume  of  his  sermons,  and  I 
must  say  that  I  felt  as  if  a  portion  surely  had  been  left  out.  I  mitsed 
something — which  something  I  now  feel  must  have  been  the  intense 
biotic  force,  magnetism,  brain-power  of  the  man.  This  sermon  was  one 
which  no  one  but  himself  coyld  have  produced,  or  have  delivered  with 
the  same  effect.  You  know  that  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  was  con- 
sidered unapproachable  in  his  own  peculiar  style  of  preaching,  and  yet  I 
have  heard  his  son  Addison  fully  equal  him  in  that  very  style ;  except 
that  the  glance  of  the  eye,  and  the  individualizing  dart  of  the  forefinger 
with  which  the  'old  man  eloquent'  was  accustomed  to  launch  the 
truth  into  the  very  heart  of  some  particular  person  before  him,  were 
always  wanting.  And  so  also  I  have  heard  him  preach  in  the  styles 
that  were  thought  peculiar  to  Dr.  Miller  and  to  Dr.  Hodge,  and,  7ne 
jiidice,  equalling  if  not  surpassing  them  in  their  very  best  efforts." 

He  cannot  say  that  these  eiforts  of  his  were  predetermined 
adoptions  of  the  peculiar  modes  of  thought  of  these  other 
ministers.  He  rather  thinks  not :  but  only  that  the  coincidences 
or  resemblance  of  styles  resulted  from  the  *'  exuberance  of  liis 
mental  activity  that  led  him  to  try  every  mode  by  which  it 
was  possible  for  thought  to  be  communicated  from  one  mind 
to  another." 

One  of  his  pupils,  the  Rev.  B.  T.  Lacy,  D.D.,  of  St.  Louis, 
gives  the  following  account  of  the  matter : 

"  His  preacliinj;  was  to  mee  xceedingly  attractive  and  impressive. 
The  style  was  so  fine,  and  the  order  so  lucid.  The  truth  was  so  clearly 
and  boldly  stated,  and  the  fervour  so  genuine  and  so  animating.  Al- 
though he  seldom  touched  the  chords  of  pathos,  at  times  1  have  heard 
him  when  he  was  scarcely  surpassed,  either  in  tenderness  of  emotion  or 
depth  of  solemnity.  All  the  varied  powers  of  his  mind  seemed  to  work 
together,  and  to  move  in  perfect  Iiarmony  with  each  other.  Hence  his 
discourses  were  ordinarily  distinguished  as  much  for  one  quality  of  excel- 
lence as  for  another.    He  was  always  logical  and  argumentative  ;  always 


2KT.29.]  INVITATIONS    TO    PREACH.  45'7 

rhetorical  and  imaginative  ;  always  fervent  and  solemn.    And  these  dif- 
ferent and  diss  milar  elements  were  not  separated  and  disposed  into  dif- 
ferent part:^  of  the  discourse :    they  interpenetrated  each   other,   and 
were  beautifully  and  naturally  blended  into  every  portion  of  the  ser- 
mon.    His  7nanner  was  peculiar,  and  consisted  chiefly  in  the  distinct 
and  very  rapid  reading  of  his  manuscripts,  with  great  stress  of  voice 
and  force  of  emphasis,  which  impressed  you  with  the  earnestness  of 
the  speaker  and  the  importance  of  the  message,  and  which  invariably 
carried  you  on  with  him.     He  always  secured  the  undivided  attention 
of  his  audience,     No  preacher  ever  impressed  me  so  much  with  the 
sense  of  his  power— a  power  both  intellectual  and  spiritual— both  in 
the  man  and  in  the  message.     If  such  a  comparison  may  be  tolerated, 
or  will  serve  to  illustrate  the  idea,  the  impression  of  power  which  ho 
made  as  he  swept  right  on  through  his  manuscript,  in  the  earnest  ra- 
pidity of  his  utterance,  was  not  unlike  that  produced  by  a  train  of  cars, 
propelled  by  a  mighty  engine,  with  great  speed  and  irresistible  force 
right  on  upon  the  iron  track.     And  the  resemblance  did  not  end  here  : 
the  hearer  felt  that  if  he  did  not  attend  closely  to  every  sentence,  he 
should  be  left  behind  and  should  not  again  be  able  to  recover  his  lost 
position." 

I  now  return  to  the  narrative.  August  the  8th  was  the 
centennial  anniversary  of  the  Presbytery  of  New-Brunswick. 
On  the  morning  of  the  12th  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  and  his 
two  sons  were  all  preaching  in  Princeton,  and  without  previ- 
ous concert :  the  former  at  the  Seminary  Chapel,  and  the  oth- 
ers respectively  at  the  Church  and  the  African  meeting.  Mr. 
Alexander  preached  again  at  night.  His  services  in  the  pul- 
pit were  called  into  constant  requisition.  He  was  now  every- 
where recognized  as  a  powerful  and  persuasive  minister  of  the 
Word.  Towards  the  close  of  the  month  he  went  to  New- York 
on  one  of  his  little  summer  jaunts,  returning  after  a  few  days' 
absence.  He  preached  in  the  city,  and  had  some  religious  con- 
versation with  an  aged  serving-woman  who  was  at  the  point 
of  death.  A  few  extracts  from  his  diary  during  this  month 
may  not  be  unacceptable : 

"  Tuesday,  August  21.     Dr.  Nordheimer  lectured  on  the  Hebrew 
alphabet.     Took  a  lesson  from  Bronson,  the  elocutionist.     ISTordheimer 
and  James  dined  with  i:s. 
20 


458  mSTALLATiOii.  ness.  • 

»  August  23.  Second  lesson  from  Bronson ;  lenrned  to  hold  my 
breath ;  "second  lecture  from  Kordheimer  ou  syllabication ;  finished 
my  sermon  for  the  young  men  of  Newark. 

"  Sunday,  August  26.  Preached  in  the  First  Church  at  Neuiadc  on 
Romans  x.  4,  in  the  Second  Church  on  Ephesians  v.  14.  At  five 
o'clock  heard  Dr.  Nott  preach  on  temperance.  At  night  preached  to 
the  young  men  on  Matthew  vi.  33. 

"Sunday,  Sept.  2.  Finished  the  Gospel  of  John  and  continued 
Owen  on  Indwelling  Sin.  Remember,  from  this  time  forth,  to  set  apart 
a  certain  time  in  the  morning  and  at  night  for  spiritual  exercises.  Re- 
member also,  to  be  slow  and  temperate  in  ea'ing  ;  to  join,  ex  animo,  in 
the  prayer  at  table  ;  and  to  think  at  every  meal  of  the  Giver  of  your 
mercies.  Remember  thirdly,  that  from  this  time  forth  yoin-  time  must 
be  more  conscientiously  redeemed ;  and,  O  thou  holy  and  long-sufi-er- 
ing  God !  help  me  to  keep  these  resolutions. 

"Partook  of  [my]  the  Lord's  Supper  with  some  degree  of  pleasure 
and  profit.  My  father  preached  from  the  words,  '  It  is  finished.'  Resolu- 
tions,  1st,  To  avoid  temptations,  especially  those  which  do  so  easily  be- 
set me.  2d,  To  redeem  time.  3d,  To  give  set  times  to  private  devo- 
tions 4th,  To  cultivate  an  habitual  spirit;  of  prayer,  and  for  this  pur- 
pose to  practise  ejaculatory  prayer.  5th,  To  cultivate  expansive  and 
benevolent  feelings.  6th,  To  avoid  the  extremes  of  moroseness  and 
frivolity,  sanctimony  and  worldliness.  Give  me  grace,  O  Lord !  to 
keep  these  resolutions. 

"  September  14.  Presented  Nordheimer  with  Passou's  Greek  and 
Freytag's  Arabic  Lexicon.  He  took  leave.  I  finished  my  article  on 
Hengstenberg  in  a  hurry,  with  the  printers  at  my  heels." 

He  was,  shortly  after  this,  installed  in  bis  chair  as  Profess- 
or of  Oriental  languages  and  literature  ;  as  we  learn  from 
the  following  record : 

"September  24.  Heard  Dr.  McElroy  dismiss  the  students.  At 
night  I  was  inaugurated.  After  singing,  Dr.  Green  prayed ;  I  read  and 
subscribed  the  formtda,  and  delivered  my  inaugural  discourse,  and  Dr. 

Spring  his  charge.  t,     .,     -n       i  ^ 

"  Sept.  25.  My  inaugural  address  was  requested  by  tlic  hoard  tor 
publication.     Heard  Warren  Scott's  annual  oration." 

The  inaugural  address  of  the  yoiing  professor  must  have 
been  listened  to  with  rapt  attention  and  delight ;  for  it  is  one 


^T-  29]  INAUGURAL.  459 

of  the  best  things  he  ever  uttered.     It  will  be  found  entire  in 
the  Repertory  for  April  1839,  where  it  forms  the  larger  part  of 
a  review  of  his  brother's  little  volume  entitled,  "  The^Scripture 
Guide.     A  Familiar  Introduction  to  the  Study  of  the  Bible." 
As  in  his  first  essay  before  the  Philological  Society,  be   had 
amazed  and  charmed  his  youthful  compeers  by  leaving  the 
tomes  of  antiquity  and  going  to  the  neglected  pages  of  our  own 
literature  ;  so  when  every  eye  was  turned  upon  the  travelled 
Hebraist,  and  every  mind  was  probably  in  expectation  of  a 
wide  and  accurate  display  of  Oriental  learning,  the   modest 
scholar  uses  all  his  genius  in  an  effort  to  exalt  the  English 
Bible.     The  discourse  is  marked  by  novelty  and  originality  of 
substance  ;  by  great  force  and  cogency  of  statement ;  by  those 
traces  of  erudition  which  he  was  not  able,  or  did  not  care,  to 
hide;  by  felicity  of  illustration  and  diction;  by  wit,  sarcasm, 
keen  excoriation,  playful  innuendo,  sweet  and  wholesome  hu- 
mour; by  admirable  common-sense— of  the  kind  that  was  once 
loved  in  old  England :  and  has  an  aroma  of  the  old  practical 
writers,    and  of  his  own  closest  devotions,  and  (towards  the 
close)  a   kind  of  rushing   eloquence  that   reminds   one   of  a 
stream  that  chafes  its  bed  and  threatens  to  burst  from  its  em- 
bankment.    It  is  a  comprehensive  plea  for  the  study  of  the 
English  version  ^ari^^a^s?^  with  the  original.     The  main  dis- 
cussion is  laid  off  under  seven  heads.     The  image  that  is  con- 
tained in  the  concluding  sentence  of  the  address,  was  one  of 
those  grand  and  happy  conceptions  of  which  his  mind  seemed 
to  be  full,  and  which  came  from  him  spontaneously  whenever 
his  reason  and  feeling  were  strongly  excited  by  the  proper 
stmiulus.     With   him,   to   think  at  all  was  to   express  in  his 
choicest  language.     He   seemed  to   be  as   automatic  in   this 
respect  as  Mozart  or  Coleridge. 

The  26th  was  Commencement ;  and  on  that  day  the  Hon. 
James  McDowell,  of  Virginia,  pronounced  an  address  of" 
iervid  rhetoric  and  rare  sagacity  before  the  two  literary  socie- 
ties. The  weather  was  stormy.  It  should  seem  from  the  an- 
nexed  entry  in  his  journal  that  Mr.  Alexander,  who  was  per- 
fectly acquainted  with  the  fame  of  the  orator,  had  purposed 


400  A   SERMON.  .  n83a 

to  hear  bim,   but   was   prevented  by  the  incessant  pouring 
sbowers. 

"Sept.  2G.  Confined  to  the  house  with  rain.  Missed  McDowell's 
speech."  The  traditions  of  this  speech  still  linger  among  tlie  Prince- 
ton students ;  and  I  have  heard  that  there  are  gestures  and  tui-ns  of  ex- 
pression there  now  which  are  clearly  traceable  to  its  influence. 

There  is  no  other  record  until  October  the  2d.  From  his 
diary  it  appears  that  Mr.  Alexander  now  preached  his  first 
sermon  memoriter,  and  was  not  displeased  with  the  experi- 
ment : 

"  Having  hreakf^isted  with  Mr.  Dod,  I  set  off  with  him  in  my  car- 
ringe  for  Freehold,  where  we  arrived  at  noon,  and  found  the  Kev.  L.  O. 
Brown  preaching  on  the  history  of  David  and  Nabal.  After  sermon, 
the  Presbytery  met,  Mr.  Dod  in  the  chair.  They  were  chiefly  taken  up 
in  the  examination  of  candidates.  I  preached  at  night  from  Mark  xiv. 
41.     My  first  attempt  to  preach  from  memory." 

Here  is  another  entry  touching  sermon-mating  : 

"Dec.  23.  Preached  in  College,  Matt.  vi.  33 ;  read  closely ;  disliked 
the  sermon  more  than  ever;  written  on  a  bad  p' an;  skeleton  made 
first ;  no  spontaneous  flow  of  thought.  The  best  part  was  half  a  dozen 
pages  which  I  wrote  lasf  night ;  declamation  at  the  end  very  frigid. 
Eequiescat  inpace. 

"  Sermon  at  night  by ;  genuine  Yankee  sermon  ;  meta- 
physical, not  scriptural ;  clear,  logical,  acute,  ingenious,  heartless, 
orthodox  :  moral  and  natural  inability ;  when  they  talk  of  this  I  never 
know  what  tliey  believe.  Thankful  I  do  not  'sit'— as  they  say— 
'  under  '  the  best  of  such  preaching  ;  I  should  starve." 

"Professor  Alexander's  peculiar  repugnance  to  every  thing  like 
ostentatious  parade,"  writes  one  who  heard  much  about  him  at  Ihis 
period,  "  was  evinced  in  various  ways,  after  his  entrance  upon  his 
career'as  a  preacher.  The  extraordinary  character  of  his  sermons  at 
once  arrested  public  attention,  and  drew  crowds  of  hearers;  especially 
from  among  the  most  intelligent  classes.  It  was  impossible  but  ihat 
so  acute  an  observer  of  all  that  passed  around  him,  as  was  Mr.  Alex- 
anJer,  must  ha%e  been  aware  of  his  popularity  ;  when  preaching  in  the 
same  pulpit  for  successive  weeks  and  months,  he  saw  the  pews  of  our 


^T.29.j  MANNER    OF    PREACHING.  461 

largest  churches  densely  packed,  and  the  aisles  filled  with  supplement- 
ary benches.  Yet  so  far  from  seeming  elate<l  by  these  evidences  of 
his  accei'tableness,  or  assuming  those  airs  of  consequence,  which  popu- 
lar preachers  are  apt  to  acquire ;  he  was  at  times  not  a  little  dismayed  by 
such  demonstrations.  I  have  no  doubt  that  his  feelings  were  akin  to 
those  of  Robert  Hall,  whom  in  very  many  traits  he  resembled,  who  in 
the  later  years  of  his  life  could  scarcely  be  induced  to  preach  in  Lon- 
don, because  of  the  throngs  who  pressed  to  hear  him.  Both  of  these 
great  men  felt  the  sanctity  of  their  wort,  and  the  fearful  responsibili- 
ty of  God's  ambassadors  to  perishing  men.  Both  were  aware  that  when 
men  are  drawn  to  listen  to  the  preacher  for  tlie  sake  of  his  talents  as  a 
preacher,  there  is  little  likelihood,  of  their  being  benefited  by  the 
Divine  ambassador." 

At  one  time  he  preached  in  the  afternoons  in  a  school-house 
in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  little  town  in^vbich  he  lived.  Ke- 
ferring  to  these  efforts,  one  of  his  students  says: 

"  His  sermons  at  Queenston  were  always  preached  without  notes, 
and  were  generally  plain,  instructive  discourses,  delivered  with  great 
rapidity  of  utterance,  perfect  fluency,  and  iniense  earnestness.  Though 
his  s];eech  was  so  rapid,  such  was  the  clearness  of  the  thought,  and  the 
distinctness  of  the  enunciation,  that  there  was  nothing  lost  by  the  ear 
of  the  audience." 

His  more  elaborate  sermons  were  generally  read.  Con- 
versing with  this  gentleman  one  day  on  this  subject  of  reading 
sermons,  Mr.  Alexander  expressed  the  opinion  that  every 
preacher  ought  to  try  every  method,  and  finally  settle  down 
upon  that  which  he  can  make  most  effective.  He  then  asked 
his  companion  if  he  did  not  think  that  reading  w^as  his  most 
elfecti\  e  mode  of  preaching,  intimating  that  in  his  own  opinion 
it  \vas.     His  acquaintance  very  readily  agreed  with  him. 

The  Rev.  James  W.  Alexander  once  remarked  to  me  (what 
has  J.ince  been  published  as  his  opinion)  that  he  and  his  brother 
Addison  were  differently  constituted  as  to  this  matter;  for 
that  in  his  own  case  the  imagination  was  never  more  stimu- 
lated than  in  extemporary  preaching ;  whereas  in  the  case  of 
Addison  the  reverse  Avas  true  :  the  embarrassment  of  apnear- 


462  WRITING    SERMONS.  U338. 

iiig  before  an  audience  without  notes  of  any  kind,  or  some 
other  cause,  hindered  the  movement  of  his  imagination,  though 
the  excitement  of  speakhig  greatly  encouraged  and  excited 
other  powers,  such  as  the  memory,  the  reason,  and  the  faculty 
of  rapid,  exact,  fluent,  and  felicitous  expression.^  Writing 
was,  on  the  whole,  a  greater  stimulant  than  speaking,  in  the 
case  of  the  younger  brother.  He  reasoned  out  his  propositions 
with  equal  force  and  facility  at  one  time  as  at  anothei",  and 
always  with  the  mo«t  admirable  novelty  and  cogency.  He 
expressed  himself  under  all  circumstances,  whether  pen  in 
hand  or  in  the  presence  of  an  auditory,  with  nearly  the  same 
ease  and  conciseness,  and  with  a  vigour  and  precision  that  have 
put  many  persons  in  mind  of  the  complex,  fine,  quick,  yet  in- 
variable movement  of  powerful  machinery.  But  when  he 
spoke  extemporaneously,  he  seemed  to  be  darting  to  and  fro 
very  swiftly  upon  the  surface  of  the  ground ;  whereas  Avhen 
he  wrote,  he  often  seemed  to  be  plunging  through  yawning 
chasms  into  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  or  hovering  over  the 
abyss  of  waterfalls,  or  climbing  dizzy  mountains,  or  rioting 
among  the  clouds  and  colours  of  sunset,  or  soaring  like  some 
bird  of  strong  pinion  into  depths  of  distant  azure,  as  if  he 
were  making  for  the  very  zenith. 

When  he  wrote,  he  sometimes  seemed  to  exult  in  the  op- 
ulence of  his  own  vocabulary,  and  to  experience  a  kind  of 
exuberant  joy  in  marshalling  in  skilful  order  the  images  of 
glory  that  peopled  his  brain,  and  threw  an  iridescent  splen- 
dour over  his  exciting  meditations.  Tiiis  was  seldom  the  case 
when  he  discarded  verbal  recollection,  together  with  the  assist- 
ance of  manuscript  in  the  pulpit.  He  then  commonly  stuck 
to  his  text  considered  as  a  proposition  to  be  merely  analyzed, 
expounded,  and  energetically  pressed  upon  the  conscience 
and  religious  feelings  of  his  hearers.  His  mode  of  procedure 
in  such'^cases  was  by  profound,  suggestive  remarks  upon  the 
nexus  of  particular  inspired  utterances,  or  upon  the  general 
principles  of  Scripture  exegesis ;  by  admirable  processes  of 
deductive  logic ;  interspersed  with  pithy,  homely  observations 
drawn  from  his  large  acquaintance  with  the  ordinary  character 


^T.  29.]         NOT  DEPENDENT  ON  NOTES.  463 

of  his  fellow-beings;  and  by  simple  and  direct  appeals  to  the 
heart. 

His  genius,  under  such  conditions,  seemed  to  be  some  "  crea- 
ture of  the  elements,"  rather  than  merely  the  ordinary  powers 
of  his  mind  harnessed  to  nobler  work.  It  would  be  wrong  to 
think  that  all  his  written  efforts  were  of  this  lofty  or  aerial 
description.  His  sermons  on  paper  sometimes  differed  scarce- 
ly at  all  from  the  sermons  which  in  a  manner  sprung  from  the 
occasion.  There  was  infinite  diversity,  moreover,  if  not  be- 
tween the  two  principal  classes  of  sermons,  yet  among  his  indi- 
vidual discourses.  It  is  not  rigidly  true,  either,  that  he  was 
never  imaginative  except  when  he  was  in  the  chains  of  manu- 
script. He  would  sometimes  break  away  into  splendid  im- 
agery and  vehement  appeals,  when  he  had  written  nothing. 
But  this  was  an  exceptional  experience  with  him,  and  probably 
happened  most  frequently  when  he  had  a  blank  book  before 
him,  or  one  virtually  so,  (as  he  occasionally  did)  and  could 
employ  his  eyes  and  his  fingers  in  turning  over  the  leaves. 
Whether  this  was  a  mechanical  necessity,  like  that  which  is 
observed  often  in  absent-minded  people,  or  whether  it  arose 
from  mei*e  caprice  or  whim,  or  froQi  excess  of  morbid  consci- 
ousness, it  would  be  hard  to  determine.  I  have  myself  seen 
him  turn  his  leaves  alternately  in  opposite  directions. 

It  is  certain  that  he  was  in  no  way  dependent  on  his  pa- 
per, either  for  his  thoughts  or  his  language ;  and  that  his  verbal 
memory  was  fully  equal  to  his  invention.  It  seems  most  like- 
ly, on  the  whole,  that  he  distrusted  his  powers  as  an  extem- 
poraneous orator ;  and  that  his  fancy,*  and  to  some  extent  also 
his  feelings,  did  not  often  take  fire  except  in  the  atmosphere 
of  his  study,  or  in  the  pulpit  after  he  had  written  out  evei'y 
word. 

Every  one  of  such  discourses  would  be  concatenated  link 
by  link,  and  made  as  bright  and  invulnerable  as  a  suit  of  chain 
armor.      In   his  later  years,  he  changed  his  whole  theory  of 

*  I  here  use  the  words  imagiiiatiou  and  fancy  in  their  popular  sense,  and 
not  in  the  sense  accepted  by  psychologists  aprds  Coleridge. 


4e4  SCRIPTURE    STUDY.  C1838. 

sermonizing,  and  wrote  his  discourses  almost  exclusively  in 
this  style.  His  taste  had  become  bare  and  severe  like  that 
of  the  Greeks ;  and  his  preaching,  though  comprehensible  as 
ever,  and  more  deeply  instructive  than  at  any  former  period, 
lost  in  great  measure  the  pomp,  the  magnificence,  the  martial 
tread,  the  plaintive  music,  the  terrific  power,  the  strange 
captivating  charm,  that  had  characterized  it  at  an  earlier  day. 
He  also  became  much  less  impassioned.  This  was  owing  in 
part  to  the  gradual  exhaustion  of  his  physical  energies.  As 
years  rolled  on,  he  became  much  more  calm  in  his  manner,  as 
he  was  also  much  less  hot  and  impetuous  in  his  temper. 

The  following  hint  of  Mr.  Alexander's  employments  at  this 
time  is  from  his  brother's  diary  for  the  23d  of  December : 

"We  might  accomplish  moi-G  if  we  were  not  foolishly  asking  our- 
selves so  often,  how  long  such  and  such  a  great  work  would  take  us. 
Mr.  Pvohert  B.  Patton  used  to  engage  in  most  laborious  lexicographical 
works.  When  Addison  asked  him  how  he  had  patience  to  go  on,  he 
said,  that  he  never  thought  of  asking  how  long  it  would  take  him,  but 
went  on  as  if  it  were  to  be  his  work  for  life. 

"  Addison  tells  me  he  finds  the  same  thing  good  ia  his  Commentary 
on  Isaiah.  Our  Lord's  maxim  about  taking  thought  for  the  morrow 
seems  to  have  very  wide  applications." 

I  find  this  entry  for  Dec.  9th, in  his  own  diary: 

"  Began  a  new  method  of  studying  the  Scriptures  in  course.  In 
order  to  keep  up  my  attention,  I  have  determined  to  read  Avich  a  view 
to  exposition." 

There  was  a  bright  frost  on  tlio  morning  *of  the  12th,  It  was 
Wednesday,  and  the  clerical  meeting  was  at  Dr.  Hice's.  The  topic 
was  the  abridged  creeds  and  communion  covenants  of  the  New  Eng- 
land Oongregationalists.  The  Rev.  James  W.  Alexander  made  re- 
marks in  opposition  to  the  new  modes,  and  his  htlle  speech  was 
requested  for  publication. 

The  younger  brother  records  on  Monday,  Dec.  the  1 /th: 

"I  resumed  my  labours  on  Isaiah,  beginning  with  the  tliirteenth 
chapter." 


iET.29.]  CICERO.  465 

This  work  now  went  on  pretty  steadily  for  a  while  ;  but  was 
soon  again  interrupted.  In  a  letter  to  Mr.  Hall,  wLich  he  wrote 
during  this  month,  he  makes  an  odd  reference  to  Cicero.  Here  is 
the  letter  itself: 

"Pel\ceton,  Dec.  19th,  1838. 
My  Dear  Sir  : 

After  reading  Secretary  Burrowes's  manifesto  about  sealed  returns, 

unsealed  returns,  &c.  I  came  upon  the  following  in  Oic.  Orat.  3  in  Oat.* 

"  Cum  vero  suramis  ac  clarissirais  hnjus  civitatis  viris,  qui,  audita  re, 

frequentes  ad  me,  convenerant,  literas  a  me  prius  aperiri  mane  quam  ad 

senatum  deferri,  placeret ;  ne,  si  nihil  esset  inventnm,  temere  a  me  tantus 

tumultus  injectus  civitati  videretur ;   negavi  me  esse  facturum,  ut  de 

periculo  publico  non  ad  consilium  publicum  rem  integram  deferrem." 

The  abuve  you  are  at  liberty  to  publish  (but  not  in  your  "valuable 

journal")  as  your  own  discovery,  and  this  douceur,  I  trust,  will  make 

you  lend  a  wilhng  ear  to  two  petitions  which  I  have  to  ofler.     The 

first  is,  that  you  would  have  the  goodness  to  inform  Sam  where  he 

can  procnre  some  Congress  paper,  or  quocunque  nomine.    The  other 

is  that  you  would  "  aid  and  assist  "  him  in  procuring  a  sermon-case 

(Jiorresco   re  f evens)  made  on  a  plan  of   my  own   invention— black 

morocco  covers,  but  stiff  with  pasteboard,  and  adapted  to  letter-paper 

folded  once — or  say  the  largest  pocketable  size. 

Hastily  and  truly  yours, 

Jos.  Addison  Alexander. 

The  narrative  is  now  once  more  resumed.  On  Monday, 
Apiil  the  15th,  if  w^e  could  have  had  a  peep  at  them,  we  should 
have  seen  Mr.  Alexander  reading  Croker's  Boswell  to  his 
brother  James.  How  the  talk  must  have  flowed,  with  such  a 
theme  to  tempt  to  every  species  of  discursive  remark !  Both 
the  brothers  were  hearty  friends  of  Samuel  Johnson,  and  nei- 
ther of  them  ever  tired  of  his  foolish  but  incomparable  bio- 
grapher. They  regarded  Johnson's  table-talk  as  the  strongest 
and  best  in  print.  They  both  loved  to  read  about  Dr.  Gold- 
smith and  his  peach-blossom  coat  and  his  silly  conversational 
explosions.  They  concurred  in  the  o^oinion  that  Irving  made 
a  mistake  in  not  dwelling  more  on  the  oddities  and  amusing 

*  M.  Tull  Cic.  Orat.  in  L.  Catilinam  Tertia,  iii.  10. 


466  TALK   OF    THE    BROTHERS.  n839. 

•weaknesses  of  "  Goldy."  The  elder  brother  once  said  to  me, 
that  Macaulay  had  damned  Irving  Avith  faint  praise  in  his 
celebrated  article  in  the  Encyclopaedia  Britaunica,  where  after 
speaking  highly  of  Forster's  life,  he  adds  of  the  American 
writer,  "  Mr.  Irving's  style  is  always  pleasing." 

The  talk  of  the  two  brothers  was  mnch  on  sermonizing, 
and  they  both  loved  to  quote  their  venerable  father  as  author- 
ity. One  day,  one  of  them  tells  the  other  that  he  had  heard 
his  father  say  a  man  ought  not  to  begin  with  making  a  plan. 
Neither  should  he  wait  till  he  is  in  the  vein.  "  Begin,  how- 
ever you  feel,  and  write  till  you  get  into  the  vein,  however 
long  it  be  !  'Tis  thus  men  do  in  mining.  You  may  throw 
away  all  the  beginning.  Men  who  w^rite  with  ease,  can  think 
best  pen  in  hand.  This  applies  to  sermons,  and  also  to  books." 
These  are  the  thoughts  of  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  modified 
by  the  mind  of  one  of  his  sons.  It  will  be  seen  that  he  coin- 
cides Avith  Dr.  Johnson  on  this  point.  The  prevalent  view  of 
his  eldest  son  was  difierent  from  that  of  Dr.  Alexander  as  here 
expressed,  and  the  younger  of  the  two  seminary  professors 
could  certainly  never  do  anything  unless  he  was  in  the  vein. 
The  majority  of  literary  men  have  opposed  the  dictum  of  John- 
son. Macaulay  told  Prescott  in  London  that  he  had  moods  * 
for  writing,  and  seldom  put  pen  to  paper  at  other  times. 

Tuesday,  the  23d,  w^as  a  delightful  day,  and  Mr.  Alexander 
and  his  brother  occupied  the  same  carriage  to  Lambertville,  in 
company  with  Dr.  Carnahan,  Dr.  Rice,  Dr.  Maclean,  and  a 
young  lady  by  the  name  of  Brown.  The  budding  loveliness 
of  spring  lay  all  around  them,  as  they  wended  their  w^ay  in 
full  view  of  the  Blawenburg  vale  and  the  Sourland  mountain. 
They  arrived  a  little  late  at  Lambertville,  for  ]Mi\  Yeomans 
bad  announced  his  text ;  though  he  broke  off  as  soon  as  he 
caught  a  glimpse  of  Dr.  Rice,  who  was  appointed  to  preach. 
Mr.'^Alexander  preached  at  night.  The  next  day  was  equally 
fine,  and  ,was  taken  up  with  the  Presbyterial  proceedings. 
Professor  Alexander,  of  the  College,  moved  certain  resolutions 

*  See  Life  of  Prescott,  by  Tickuor. 


iET.  29.]  HIS    ORDINATION.  467 

toucbing  the  independence  of  the  Church  on  the  State.  The 
occasion  was  a  memorable  one  for  the  subject  of  these  sketches, 
for  on  this  day  he  was  exactly  thirty  years  old,  and  on  this 
day  he  was  solemnly  ordained  as  a  minister  of  the  Gospel. 
The  moderator  of  Presbytery  was  Mr.  Perkins.  Several  young 
men  were  licensed.  The  meeting  was  harmonious  and  agree- 
able. 


CHAPTEE   XV. 

Mr,  Alexander  was  still  a  licentiate  at  tue  time  the  writer  * 
I  am  about  to  quote  entered  the  Seminary,  and  he  has  a  dis- 
tinct recollection  of  the  period  of  his  ordination  .  It  was  an 
occasion  of  much  interest  and  pleasure  to  all  the  students. 
Mr.  Alexander  was  already  somewhat  renowned  as  a  pulpit 
orator,  and  still  more  as  a  precociously-gifted  sermonizcr. 

"Though  but fi  probationer  for  the  Gospel  ministry,  lie  had,  even  at 
this  early  day,  obtained  an  enviable  popularity  as  a  preacher,  and  was 
greatly  sought  after  by  the  most  intelligent  and  fashionable  congrega- 
tions. They  were  attracted  by  the  high  fame  of  his  learning,  and 
edified  by  the  variety  and  extent  of  Gospel  truth  in  which  his  sermons 
abounded  ;  for  he  fed  the  people  with  linowledge  and  understanding." 

The  following  remarks  are  literally  exact,  as  well  as  highly 
amusing : 

"  For  the  encouragement  of  such  as  read  their  sermons  closely,  and 
pay  but  little  attention  to  tlieir  audience,  I  may  say  that  if  they  read 
more  closely  tlian  he,  it  is  a  pity !  He  took  no  pains  to  conceal  his 
notes,  nor  to  'cheat  the  eyes  of  gallery  critics'  by  any  'uudtrhand' 
measures,  such  as  shading  his  notes  from  public  view,  taking  stolen 
glances  at  them  as  it  were,  and  then  launching  out  like  an  independent 
swimmer.  He  scorned  all  concealment,  and  proclaimed  to  all  his  faith 
in  the  pen.  lie  evidently  had  a  great  contempt  of  the  opinion  that 
reading  sermons  spoiled  their  effect,  and  was  not  slow  to  express  it ;  for 
on  one  or  more  occasions  that  I  heard  him  he  took  up  his  note-book  in 
his  hand,  held  it  up  between  himself  and  the  people,  turned  page  after 

*  llev.  Mr.  Tecse,  of  White  Plains. 


^T.  30.1  PRESBYTERIAL    EXAMINATION.  469 

page,  and  read  leisurely  through  the  discourse  without  once  casting  hia 
eyes  on  the  congregation.  And  yet,  there  was  earnestness  and  enthu- 
siasm, botli  in  his  composition  and  delivery." 

It  was  natural  that  the  young  men  should  have  much  curi- 
osity as  to  the  manner  in  which  this  terrible  inquisitor  would 
himself  stand  inquisition.  The  result  was  surprising.  lie 
sometimes  confessed  ignorance  :  Dr.  Alexandernever  pretended 
to  know  what  he  did  not  know.  He  thus  often  confounded 
sciolists  who  put  questions  to  him  which  no  one  living  or  dead 
could  answer  with  certainty.  He  was  as  honest  in  this  respect 
as  Socrates  and  Dr.  Johnson.  When  the  latter  was  asked  by 
a  lady  why  he  should  have  made  such  a  mistake  in  his  Dic- 
tionary about  the  pastern  of  a  horse,  he  replied  :  "  It  was  from 
pure  ignorance,  madam,"  It  is  said  that  Mr.  Alexander  was 
once  invited  by  the  President  of  a  college  to  dine  at  his  house 
with  a  number  of  the  clergy  and  literary  people  of  the  place, 
and  that  the  host  put  the  same  question  all  round  the  table 
about  a  vexed  context  in  Isaiah,  wishing  to  draw  out  his  guest 
the  commentator.  Of  course  various  decided  opinions  were 
elicited.  When  it  came  to  the  turn  of  Mr,  Alexander,  in  reply 
to  the  question,  "  And  what  do  you  say  is  the  meaning  of  this 
passage?"  he  answered,  with  expressive  brevity:  "7 do  not 
know," 

But  to  return  to  the  nai-rative.  When  he  was  about  to  be  or- 
dained, he  must  of  course  be  examined,  according  to  the  Form 
of  Government,  in  regard  to  his  literary  and  scientific  attain- 
ments ;  and  especially  his  knowledge  of  the  Greek  and  He- 
brew languages.  Nothing  could  have  been  mors  agreeable  to 
the  young  men  of  the  Seminary,  who  exulted  in  the  prowess 
of  their  young  leader  and  wanted  to  see  him  fairly  tried ;  not 
doubting  for  a  moment  that  the  event  would  shed  eclat  on  the 
reputation  of  their  teacher,  and  in  spite  of  his  excessive  mod- 
esty and  the  sensitiveness  of  a  genius  which  "  blushed  so  to  be 
admired,"  would  make  him  as  widely  famous  they  knew  as  he 
deserved  to  be.  There  was  doubtless  mixed  with  this  feelino- 
a  half-malicious  and  half-mirthful  pleasure,  such  as  from  the 


4V0  JOSEPH    JOHN    GURNET.  DSia 

beginning  of  the  world  has  animated  the  breasts  of  students 
Tinder  similar  circumstances.  The  teacher  was  to  be  taught ! 
The  Hebraist  was  to  be  quizzed  in  Hebrew !  There  was  the 
flavour  of  a  jest  here  that  could  not  be  resisted.  The  tidings 
ran  everywhere  that  Mr.  Alexander  was  to  be  examined  at 
such  and  such  a  time  in  the  ancient  tongues. 

"  TLis  excited  great  amusement  among  the  students,  and  we  attended 
in  order  to  see  one  who  had  puzzled  so  many  of  us  by  his  own  exam- 
inations himself  questioned  and  examined,  and  made  to  suffer  some  of 
the  misery  which  he  had  so  often  occasioned  us.  "We  thougljt  of  the 
old  story  of  '  The  engineer  hoist  by  his  own  petard.'  *  However,  we  did 
not  anticipate  any  '  fizzle,'  such  as  we  liad  often  seen  in  the  class-room  ; 
on  the  contrary,  we  had  entire  faith  in  the  all-sufficiency  of  our  young 
Professor,  and  entertained  rather  a  feeling  of  wonder  at  the  presump- 
tion of  men  who  undertook  such  a  work  as  his  examination.  The 
service  indeed  was  one  of  much  difficulty  to  the  Presbytery ;  for  very 
few  of  the  members  cared  to  examine  the  candidate,  especially  on  He- 
brew, of  which  they  probably  never  knew  a  great  deal  and  had  forgot- 
ten much  of  that.  However,  the  candidate  made  no  great  ostentation 
of  his  learning,  for  his  reply  to  several  of  the  questions  was,  very  much 
to  our  surprise,  '  I  do  not  know.'  "  t 

On  the  29th,  Joseph  John  Gurney  was  in  Princeton,  and 
attracted  much  attention  bj  his  noble  presence.  He  preached 
twice  in  Quaker  meeting.  The  elder  brother  describes  him,  in 
his  journal,  as  a  large,  portly,  heavy-looking,  red  and  white 
Englishman.     He  made  the  impression  of  a  strong  intellect 

*  "  For  'tis  sport  to  have  the  engineer 
Hoist  with  his  own  petard." 
f  He  gave  the  same  answer  to  a  single  question  at  his  Hcensure,  unless  my 
informant's  memory  is  at  fault.  Dr.  A.  A.  Rice,  of  Wyoming,  Kentucky,  was 
present  when  Mr.  Alexander  was  examined  before  the  Presbytery  of  New 
Brunswick,  as  he  thinks,  for  licensure.  "I  remember,"  he  says,  "nothing 
of  his  examination  but  one  question  and  its  answer.  It  was  during  the  exam- 
ination upon  his  literary  course.  The  question  was  pufr  to  him,  '  What  is  taste  ? ' 
and  his  answer  was  very  prompt,  '  I  don't  know.'  You  may  imagine  my  as- 
tonishment at  this  an?wcr ;  for  I  thought  that  if  there  ever  was  a  man  who  kne\r 
everything,  it  was  Addison  Alexander." 


-a:T.SO.]  LITTLE    GEORGE.  4ll 

and  an  accomplished  man.  There  was  great  charm  about  his 
manner  when  he  was  a  little  excited.  His  devout  love  for  the 
Saviour  and  the  Bible  was  obvious. 

On  the  9th,  Thursday,  the  important  news  came  by  letter 
from  Philadelphia,  that  Judge  Gibson  had  declared  for  the  Old 
School  on  every  point.  "  Laus  Deo  !  "  Avrites  Professor  J.  W. 
Alexander  in  his  Every-Day  Book.  "  Judge  Gibson's  opinion 
gives  the  Old  School  everything  which  they  can  desire.  "  Laus 
Deo  per  Christum!  Sit  nobis  gratia  ut  simus  ab  omnibus  super- 
hise  malitiajque  remoti !  " 

How  faint  are  the  echoes  now  of  the  din  and  turmoil  of 
that  day  !  The  matters  which  interest  us  of  the  year  1868, 
will  presently  fade  out  of  memory  as  did  those  of  1839.  The 
waves  of  time  wash  everything  to  oblivion. 

The  house  of  the  elder  brother  was  now  again  thrown  into 
mourning,  and  this  time  the  anguish  was  for  the  first-born. 
Little  George  was  born  in  1831,  and  was  therefore  eight  years 
old  when  he  died.  He  had  met  with  an  accident  in  his  infancy, 
and  had  long  been  a  blind  and  helpless  invalid.  He  had  an 
astonishing  memory,  and  a  marvellous  genius  for  music ;  though 
his  other  faculties  were  not  equal  to  those  of  other  children  of 
the  same  age.  George  was  a  radiant  little  fellow;  always 
full  of  joy  and  sunshine.  He  was,  even  above  most  other  chil- 
dren, devoted  to  his  uncle  Addison,  and  would  scream  with 
delight  when  he  heard  his  foot  upon  the  first  step  of  the  outer 
porch.  His  uncle  was  never  happier  than  when  he  was  at  his 
side  singing  to  him  and  telling  him  stories,  "  He  was,"  says  his 
father,  "  a  very  small  and  feeble  child  at  his  birth,  but  after- 
wards improved  so  much  as  to  be  very  lovely.  But  before  he 
reached  the  age  of  two  years,  he  was  seized  with  hydrocepha- 
lus, and  his  surviving  it  seemed  all  but  miraculous.  From 
that  time,  his  head  began  to  enlarge,  and  this  disproportion 
continued  more  or  less,  as  long  as  he  lived ;  so  that  for  one  or 
two  years  he  was  always  in  a  lying  posture."  Within  the  last 
few  years,  he  had  improved  greatly  in  health,  and  with  a  slight' 
exception  was  never  better  than  the  year  before  his  death  oc- 
curred.    The  event  shed  grief  into  the  hearts  of  all  his  kins- 


472  DR.  JACOBUS.  VLWi. 

folk,  and  every  accustomed  scene  was  for  a  time  enveloped  in 
gloom.  This  affliction  was,  without  doubt,  deeply  and  tenderly 
felt  by  Mr.  Alexander ;  for  he  unfeignedly  loved-  the  little  boy. 

Mr.  Alexander  was  now  thirty  years  old,  and  his  mind  and 
character  were  by  this  time  stamped  with  the  impress  which 
they  bore  through  life.  There  are  abundant  accounts  of  the 
impression  which  he  himself  made  on  his  pupils. 

The  recollections  of  one  who  is  himself  a  professor  and  a 
commentator  will  be  read  with  pleasure.  Says  one  of  his 
favourite  and  most  admired  students: 

"  lie  was  thirty  years  of  age,  when,  after  I  had  been  his  pupil  during 
the  Seminary  covu-se  of  three  years,  I  ^vas  brought  into  a  closer  associa- 
tion with  him  as  an  asd.-tant  for  introducing  the  Junior  class  to  the 
Hebrew  language." 

The  writer  noticed  the  resemblance  to  Bonaparte.  He 
looked  and  felt  his  power,  but  was  modest,  shy,  and  affection- 
ate. 

"  With  a  Napoleonic  face  and  form,  he  bore  himself  like  a  man  con- 
scious of  power;  yet  he  was  shrinking  as  a  child  from  publicity.  He 
was  notoriously  shy  of  social  gatherings,  yet  he  loved  to  play  with 
children,  and  spent  much  time  in  ingenious  efforts  to  amuse  and  instruct 
them.  ,Tliesewere  his  favourite  recreations.  It  was  comparatively  sel- 
dom that  he  was  seen  in  the  streets  of  Princeton.  All  his  living  savoured 
of  study  ;  and  this  was  his  element,  in  which  like  a  leviathan  he  dis- 
ported." 

The  testimony  of  this  writer  to  Mr,  Alexander's  abilities  as 
a  learned  commentator  is  just  as  clear  and  emphatic.  He  was 
now  scattering  leaves  of  his  Isaiah  over  the  Repertory,  and  by 
this  and  other  means  drawing  to  him  minds  like  those  of 
Nordheimer,  the  philosophic  Hebrew  grammarian.  The  flict 
that  this  able  man  received  the  benefit  of  Mr.  Alexander's 
suggestions  v/hile  adding  finish  to  his  work  is  not  generallo 
known.     On  these  points  Dr.  Jacobus  writes  : 

"  The  "rent  attainments  which  he  was  known  to  have  made  in  Ori- 


Mt.SO.i  POWER    OVER    THE    CLASS.  473 

ental  and  European  languages  and  his  enthusiasm  in  Biblical  learning, 
g.ive  him  a  well-deserved  fame  at  home  and  abroad,  even  before  he 
had  issued  any  of  Jjis  commentaries.  He  attracted  to  himself  that  sin- 
gular scholar,  Nordheimer,  who  brought  out  his  Hebrew  Grammar  un- 
d.r  ]jis  eye,  while  lecturing  at  the  same  time  to  a  select  cLiss  o\'  students 
at  the  Seminary.  It  was  known  that  he  was  at  work  upon  his  Isaiah, 
and  from  the  morsels  of  it  dispensed  to  the  students  in  the  lecture- 
room,  as  well  as  from  the  hints  and  foretastes  of  it  given  through  the 
Princeton  Eeview,  it  was  awaited  with  high  interest.  Other  articles 
from  his  pen  evinced  his  fertility  of  mind  and  his  rare  genius  for  grasp- 
ing great  points  of  controversy  in  various  fields,  and  dealing  with^'them 
in  masterly  style." 

The  writer  adds  that 

"His  imagination  was  glowing  but  chaste,  and  his  logical  acumen 
singularly  keen  and  effective." 

He  was  also  a  good  judge  of  hviman  hearts. 

"  He  had  an  intuitive  insight  into  charactsr,  and  very  promptly 
weighed  and  measured  the  incoming  classes,  man  by  man.  Though 
habitually  reticent  in  his  intercourse  with  the  students,  and  evidently 
not  encouraging  any  familiarity,  he  was  most  genial  in  his  temper  and 
most  agreeable  as  a  guest  away  from  his  books,  or  as  a  friend  in  his  own 
study." 

Over  the  class  he  reigned  as  king. 

"His  power  with  the  students  was  that  which  belonged  to  his  lord- 
ship in  the  domain  of  truth.  His  whole  aspect  and  air  in  the  class- 
room commanded  respect.  They  showed  he  demanded  it,  and  c-uld 
enforce  it.  Often  a  few  sharp  words  would  thoroughly  dissect  the  folly 
or  stupidity  of  a  blunderer ;  or  would  lay  bare  the  shallow  imperti- 
nence of  a  questioner  ;  until  of  the  rest  no  man  durst  venture  in  that 
direction  unless  well  fortified." 

The  testimony  of  Dr.  Jacobus  as  to  his  traits  of  person 
and  character  need  not  be  continued  here,  for  it  does  not  vary 
from  the  statements  of  others  which  are  spread  before  the 
reader  in  this  volume. 


4V4  FIRST   THOUGHTS    OF   ISAIAH.  n840. 

The  following  letter  broaches  the  scheme  of  his  Isaiah  to 
one  whom  he  often  consulted  on  such  points.  Like  Sir  Walter 
Scott,  he  says,  he  needs  the  stimulus  of  a  pursuing  press : 

"Peinceton,  Jan.  8,  1839. 
"  My  Deae  Sie  : 

"  The  persuasions  of  some  friends  and  the  assent  of  others  Lave 
brought  me  to  believe  lliat  I  might  do  some  service  by  putting  forth  a 
small  work  on  Isaiah.  The  state  of  tlie  case  is  as  follovps:  I  have  a 
critical  commentary  written  out  for  the  press  on  the  first  six  chap- 
ters and  a  part  of  the  soventh.  I  have  condensed  notes  (the  fruit  of 
much  laborious  study)  on  fifty  chapters.  Tlie  latter  are  so  written  that 
they  might,  with  little  change,  be  published  as  a  popular  commentary. 
They  were,  in  fact,  prepared  with  that  intention.  If  I  conclude  to 
publish,  I  shall  begin  to  print  at  once,  for  a  double  reason  :  1st,  Because 
I  cannot  write  steadily  without  Walter  Scott's  favourite  stimulus,  a  pur- 
suing press.  2d,  Because  I  should  wish  to  announce  the  work  at  once 
as  in  tlie  press.  This  method  I  could,  of  course,  pursue  with  ease;  as 
I  should  only  have  to  abridge  and  transcribe ;  till  the  middle  of  the 
seventh  chapter.  Your  judgment  as  to  the  whole  matter  will  be  wel- 
come and  a  great  assistance." 

Here  is  another  letter  to  the  same  person,  and  on  the  same 
subject : 

"  Peixoetox,  January  8tli,  1839. 
"  Sie  : 

"You  will  consider  this  letter  as  addressed  to  you  in  your  official 
capacity,  as  Charge  d'affaires  at  Philadelphia,  and  as  such  give  an- 
swers to  the  following  queries  :  1.  Is  there  any  present  demand  for  a 
popular  boolc  on  Isaiah?  2.  Is  Barnes's  book  forthcoming?  3.  Ought 
the  text  to  accompany  the  notes  in  such  a  book  ;  and  if  so,  ought  it  to 
be  given  verse  by  verse,  or  in  slabs,  d  la  Uodge,  or  at  the  top  of  the 
page  ct  la  Barnes  and  Bush?  4.  Ought  practical  remarks  to  be  incorpo- 
rated with  the  explanations,  or  collected  at  the  end  of  chapters  d  la 
Hodge  on  Romans?  5.  Should  any  Hebrew  or  other  foreign  words  he 
introduced  into  the  text?  5,t.  Is  duodecimo  the  best  form  for  the  book 
ia  question  ?  6.  Sliould  it  be  printed  in  Philadelphia,  Princeton,  or 
Boston  ?  7.  What  publisher  would  undertake  it  on  reasonable  terms  ? 
A  speedy  cnswer  is  requested.  I  am,  sir,  with  sentiments,  &c.  &c. 
"  Your  most  humble,  &;c.  Arc. 

"  J.  A.  Alex.vnder." 


M-r-  29.]  ISAIAH.  475 

Here  is  still  another  of  these  early  disclosures  of  his  pur- 
pose : 

To  the  same. 


"Peincetox,  Jan.  14,  1839. 
"  My  Dear  Sir  : 

"  The  friendly  interest  yon  have  taken  in  my  project  induces  me  to 
lay  the  case  before  you  still  more  fully.  In  studying  Isaiah  with  a 
view  to  publication,  I  have  been  compelled  to  keep  my  eyes  on  two 
distinct  classes  of  readers— those  who  can  read  the  English  version 
only,  and  those  who  can  read  the  original  along  with  it.  In  considering 
how  I  might  most  effectually  benefit  both  classes,  I  have  entertained 
successively  a  number  of  diflerent  plans  ;  which,  however,  at  the  present 
juncture,  reduce  tliemselves  to  two  ;  the  alternative  being  this :  Shall 
I  write  a  popular  note-book  on  the  English  version,  d^a  Barnes,  and  on 
this  foundation  afterwards  construct  a  critical  commentary  for  the 
learned  reader?  Or  shall  I  write  a  critical  commentary ;  adapted  to  the 
wants  of  the  Hebrew  scholar,  but  legible  and  intelligible  to  all  educated 
persons  ;  leaving  the  expediency  of  subsequent  abridgment  for  the  use 
of  Sunday-schools  to  be  determined  by  the  current  of  events?  After 
some  vacillation  I  have  come  to  this  conclusion ;  inasmuch  as  the 
production  of  a  popular  book  would  contribute  little  to  the  making  of 
a  learned  one,  whereas  the  latter  would  afford  all  the  materials  of  the 
former ;  as  there  is  little  demand  for  anything  at  all  on  Isaiah  just  at  pres- 
ent, and  that  which  exists  is  chiefly  among  clergymen  and  biblical  stu- 
dents ;  as  the  indirect  influence  of  a  critical  work  upon  the  unlearned 
public  would  be  greater  than  that  of  a  popular  work  on  the  more  learned 
public;  as  those  who  know  me  would  expect  something  critical;  I  am 
inclined  to  think  that  a  book  which  should  be  critical,  without  being 
pedantic,  would  do  me  more  credit  and  the  world  more  good  (in  the 
end,  if  not  immediately)  than  anything  else  I  could  bring  before  it.  In 
this  conclusion,  right  or  wrong,  I  am  confirmed  by  the  deliberative 
judgment  of  my  best  advisers  ;  and  have  now  the  honour  to  announce, 
that  I  propose  to  begin  the  loading  of  my  great  gun  as  soon  as  I  can 
find  a  man  to  fire  it  olf. 

"  This  is  of  course  a  very  difi'erent  affair  from  that  which  I  first 
mentioned,  and  which  you  proposed  to  Perkins.  If  you  are  still  dis- 
posed to  help  me  through  the  agonies  of  publication,  you  are  fully  au- 
thorized to  state  the  case  to  any  publisher  you  choose.  The  maximiim 
extent  of  the  book  will  be  two  volumes,  like  Stuart  on  Romans  (say 


476  HEBREW  TEXT.  [1834 

1,200  pp.  8vo).  It  uill  have  to  be  printed  at  New  Haven  for  tlie  sake 
of  the  uuknowii  tongues,  and  very  iniicli  in  the  style  of  NorJlie'mer's 
iiebrew  Grammar,  but  on  Letter  paper. 

"In  addit  on  to  the  reasons  given  over  the  leaf,  I  am  more  and 
more  convinced  that  at  least  two  thirds  of  the  exposition  requisite  to 
make  Isaiah  intelli^^ible,  must  consist  of  an  analysis*  and  retranslutioii ; 
both  of  which  require  space,  and  the  latter  justification  too.  There  are 
numerous  passages  which  no  sagacity  or  strength  of  intellect  could 
over  understand  aright  with  an  exclusive  use  of  the  English  version." 

The  letter  which  follows,  of  the  24th,  enters  more  fully 
into  the  same  subject.  He  will  not  give  the  Hebrew  text,  ex- 
cept to  avoid  circmnlocution.  He  will  imitate  the  page  of 
Stuart's  Romans.  He  praises  the  printing  of  Nordheimer's 
books.  He  wislies  to  bring  out  his  own  work  under  the  eye  of 
Mr.  Turner,  and  compliments  his  taste  and  judgment.  He 
speaks  of  some  picture  books  and  a  volume  of  the  Princeton 
Review  which  he  desires  bound.  He  begs  for  an  American 
Latin-Gi*eek  grammar.  He  winds  up  with  a  sincere  expres- 
sion of  thanks. 

"  Pkixoeton,  January  24,  1839. 
"My  Dear  Sir: 

"I  have  no  idea  of  giving  tlie  Hebrew  text,  but  merely  intend  to 
insert  the  Hebrew  word,  which  is  the  subject  of  remark,  where  it  is 
necessary  in  order  to  avoid  awkward  circumlocution.  E.  g.  in  com- 
menting on  chapter  vii.  14,  I  should  introduce  the  word  rrth-j  instead 
of  saying  'the  word  translated  virgin."  It  is  impossible  to  say  with 
certainty  how  much  Hebrew  there  would  be;  but  I  think  half  a  dozen 
words  per  page  would  be  a  large  average.  As  to  style,  Stuart's  Ro- 
man-; might  be  taken  as  a  sampie;  es[)e(ially  tlio  e  pige-  on  wbich  lie- 
brew  occurs.  I  liave  insuperable  objections,  however,  to  its  bei,:g 
printed  there.  Besides,  Andover  is  no  longer  preeminent  in  that  way. 
Nordheimer's  books,  and  especially  his  Chrestomathy,  are  the  best  speci- 
mens of  Hebrew  printing  in  America.  As  to  Zeever's  type,  it  looks  well 
€71  masse,  but  would  not  matcli  with  Roman  type  of  the  proper  size ;  and 
his  own  book  is,  ia  some  parts  at  least,  incorrect.     What  I  should  de- 

*  This  was  a  favourite  but  singular  opinion  of  his  as  to  the  sacred  books 
in  general. 


^T.  29.]  PRINCETON.  477 

cidedly  prefer  would  be  to  print  it  in  New- York  ;  under  tlie  eje  of  Kord- 
Leiiner  and  Turner;  the  latter  of  whom  has  more  typographical  taste 
and  judgment  than  any  man  in  this  country,  out  of  Boston.  I  have 
written  to  them  to  know  whether,  in  their  opinion,  the  book  could  be 
well  executed  in  New- York.  This  will  cause  some  delny.  As  to  terms, 
I  do  not  mean  to  sell  the  copyright,  but  the  edition.  Further  than  this 
I  can  as  yet  say  nothing. 

"  The  picture-books  are  intended  for  a  parlour  table,  and  may  be 
bound  Ka\as  Kuya'^cos  at  your  discretion ;  the  '  Princeton  Eeview,*  &c. 
lialf  bound  in  calf,  with  comely  backs,  also  at  your  discretion. 

"I  sent  you  a  note  by  Mr.  Murray,  bespeaking  your  kind  offices  in 
getting  me  two  copies  of  the  same  edition  of  any  Latin-Greek  gram- 
mar ever  published  in  America.  I  have  heard  of  several,  but  no  two 
alike.  If  you  should  light  upon  such  articles,  you  will  much  oblige  me 
by  impressing  Mr.  Baird  at  the  earliest  opportunity. 
"  With  many  thanks  for  your  assistance, 

"  Yours  very  truly, 

"  Jos.  AcDisoisr  Alexandee." 

The  Rev.  Asahel  IsTettleton,  I  JSnd,  was  in  Pi  inceton  at  this 
time ;  having  previously  visited  Elizabethtown.  He  was  a 
great  friend  of  Mr.  James  Alexander,  who  was  always  power- 
fully struck  with  his  shrewd  and  solemn  genius,  his  peculiarity, 
and  his  piety.  His  criticisms  on  certain  passages  of  Scrijjture 
were  eminently  profound  and  pungent ;  and  his  grave,  col- 
loquial eloquence  was  based  on  the  most  sagacious  expe- 
rience and  common  sense.  One  evening,  he  preached  to  a 
crowded  house  upon  the  text:  "  In  that  day  I  will  pour  on  the 
house  of  David,"  &c.  It  was  a  sermon  of  rare  excellence  and 
force,  and  singularly  Scriptural.  The  clay  had  invited  to  out- 
of-door  recreation.  Grass  was  coming  up  in  tufts  along  the 
unfrequented  paths.  The  robin  and  the  blue-bird  were  hailed 
as  glad  messengers.  The  conversation  of  the  brothers  ran 
much  upon  the  use  of  the  press.  At  one  time,  "  Addison  " 
quotes  his  father,  as  strongly  and  repeatedly  giving  it  as  his 
judgment,  that  "no  one  ought  needlessly  to  write  very  much 
heloiv  his  own  abilities."  This  the  younger  brother  seems  to 
have  urged  as  an  argument  with  the  elder  why  he  should  try 
his  hand  upon  a  higher  class  of  books  than  he  had  yet  essayed. 


478  PREACHING.  [1839. 

The  view  presented  made  a  deep  impression  on  him ;  hut  ho 
never  did  himself  anything  like  full  justice  even  in  his  hest 
books.  It  required  the  revelations  of  his  posthumous  corre- 
spondence to  acquaint  the  world  with  the  fact  of  his  exten- 
sive learning  in  nearly  every  department  of  ancient  and  mod- 
ern belles  lettrcs,  and  his  affection  for  the  severer  sciences. 
Much  yet  remains  untold  ;  but  his  copious  ephemerides  and 
journals  attest  his  extraordinary  industry  and  high  attain- 
ments in  various  fields  hardly  touched  upon  in  his  familiar  let- 
ters. Above  all  they  show  with  what  fluency  and  almost 
classic  beauty  he  could  write  in  Latin,  and  how  easily  bis 
thoughts  flowed  into  voluble  French. 

Sunday  night,  Sept.  29,  the  Princeton  congregation  had 
the  satisfaction  of  listening  to  Mr.  Alexander;  a  privilege 
which  they  always  prized.  He  Avas  now  in  the  flood-tide  of 
animal  health ;  and  he  had  only  to  leave  the  chapel  and  the 
audience  of  students,  to  ensure  an  overcrowded  house.  He 
loved  a  large  promiscuous  assembly ;  where  he  had  a  wide  field 
of  human  experience  to  appeal  to,  and  where  he  met  with  the 
minimum  of  local  peculiarity  ;  but  even  in  a  village  he  exerted 
great  power  over  masses  of  men  and  women.  He  spoke  best, 
undoubtedly,  before  a  body  of  educated  hearers;  where,  how- 
ever, there  was  no  predominance  of  any  one  element,  such  as 
preachers  or  theological  classes. 

There  is  a  throng  of  testimonies  as  to  Mr.  Alexander's  ap- 
pearance and  tx'aits  of  mind  and  character  in  those  days.  I 
am  glad  to  be  able  to  present  here  the  recollections  of  the 
Rev.  T.  V.  Moore,  D.D.  of  Richmond,  Va.  his  pupil  and  friend : 

"  I  entered  Princeton  Seminary  in  the  fall  of  1839,  when  the  faculty 
consisted  of  Drs.  A.  Alexander,  Miller,  Ilodge,  and  J.  A.  Alexander. 
My  first  siglit  of  the  latter  was  in  the  oratory,  where  the  four  profes- 
sors were  seated  in  a  row  ;  and  having  never  seen  any  of  them  before, 
I  studied  their  faces  with  curious  interest.  The  head  and  fiice  of  Profes- 
sor Addison  Alexander  struck  me  as  very  much  like  Napoleon's  in  some 
respects — in  its  massive  breadth,  in  a  suggestion  of  prodigious  strength 
in  reserve,  and  a  certain  indication  of  fiery  energy  ready  to  blaze  out  at 


^T.30.1  AS    A    TEACHER.  479 

a  moment's  notice.  He  was  then  very  recluse  iu  his  habits  and  reserved 
in  his  manners ;  and  T7as  regarded  by  the  students  generally  as  a  prodigy 
of  learning,  and  possessing  a  power  of  sarcasm  that  it  was  very  dangerous 
to  provoke  :  and  hence  was  held  in  more  admiration  and  fear  than  love. 
It  was  with  these  feelings  that  I  looked  upon  his  face,  and  perhaps  they 
gave  it  that  Napoleonic  impression  which  it  had  in  my  eyes,  as  I  am 
not  aware  that  any  one  else  was  struck  v/ith  the  likeness.*  My  first 
relations  to  him  as  a  pupil,  were  in  Hebrew  ;  and  as  time  wore  on,  I  was 
brought  into  closer  personal  relations  to  him  :  and  although  I  never 
could  wholly  divest  myself  of  a  certain  fear  in  my  intercourse  with 
him,  I  found  him  much  more  accessible  and  kind  than  I  expected. 

"  As  a  teacher  ho  was  remarkable  for  his  minute  accuracy  and 
thoroughness.  He  never  was  satisfied  with  a  recitation  that  did  not 
go  to  the  bottom  of  the  matter  in  questidn ;  and  although  he  sometimes 
flashed  out  into  something  like  impatience,  yet  it  was  always  when  it 
seemed  to  him  that  the  student  was  wilfully  negligent.  He  was  often 
wonderfully  patient  with  mere  dulness,  but  Avhenever  anything  like 
laziness  was  exhibited,  and  especially  when  self-conceit  cropped  out, 
they  were  sure  to  elicit  a  flash  of  sarcasm  that  was  not  soon  forgotten. 
His  power  of  repartee  was  so  wonderful  that  every  student  stood  in 
awe  of  it,  and  many  a  good  Hebraist  owes  more  to  his  dread  of  it 
than  he  is  aware. 

"On  one  occasion,  after  a  very  lame  recitation  in  Genesis,  which 
tried  his  patience  no  little,  he  abruptly  brought  it  to  a  close,  and  an- 
nounced that  he  would  give  a  lesson  for  the  next  day  adapted  to  the 
capacities  of  the  class,  and  they  would  therefore  take  the  next  Terse! 
The  usual  lesson  being  from  twelve  to  twenty  verses,  the  rebuke  was 
keenly  felt,  and  he  had  no  more  such  recitations.  Sometimes  he  used 
his  satire  severely,  though  I  do  not  think  unjustly.  On  one  oc- 
casion a  young  gentleman  gave  a  discourse  in  the  oratory  on  the 
destruction  of  Sodom,  that  was  very  pretentious ;  and  Dr.  A.  being  in 
the  chair,  thought  it  needful  to  perforate  his  mental  ctiticle  somewhat, 
and  remarked  when  it  came  his  turn  to  criticise,  that  Mr.  D.'s  discourse 
consisted  of  two  parts;  that  which  everybody  knew,  and  that  which 
nobody  knew;  and  that  he  did  not  think  that  under  either  head  Mr. 
D.  had  added  to  the  stock  of  our  knowledge." 

The  remarks  of  so  good  a  judge,  as  to  the  effects  jDroduced 
*  The  likeness  was  remarked  by  many  others. 


480  HIS    AUDIENCE    MOVED.  a83». 

by  his  preaching  at  this  time,  will  be  accepted  as  evidence  oi 
positions  I  have  ventured  to  take  on  other  authority  : 

"His  powers  as  a  preaclier  were  tliea  in  full  dcvelopmeut,  and 
many  of  tlie  striking  sermons  published  in  the  volumes  issued  since  his 
death  were  prepared  and  preached  then,  besides  others  which  I  wish 
coukl  also  be  put  in  print.     lie  had  a  wondrous  fascination  to  me  as  a 
preacher  at  that  time,  and  liad  a  nameless  power  of  delivery  which  lie 
lost  in  later  years,  as  I  knew  from  hearing  the  same  sermon  in  my  own 
cliurch  which  I  heard  in  the  Seminary  (preached  at  my  request),  and 
yet  with  a  diminution  in  the  impressive  power  wliich  I  could  not  refer 
entirely  to  any  change  in  myself.     The  impression  one  felt  as  soon  as 
he  commenced  the  exercises  was  that  of  immense  mental  power  coupled 
with  an  intense  emotive  nature,  which  grasped  you  as  if  with  the  hand 
of  a  giant,  and  would  not  allow  you  to  escape.     He  usually  laid  the 
Bible  aside  from  the  cushion,  laid  his  manuscript  on  the  cushion,  and 
read  with  but  little  motion  of  any  kind,  or  even  raising  his  eyes  from 
the  paper.     AnJ  yet  in  spite  of  these  disadvantages  he  seemed  to  rivet 
the  attention  of  the  audience  by  a  spell  which  only  broke  when  he 
ceased  to  speak,  and  the  long  pent-up  feeling  gave  wfiy  in  the  rustling 
noise  of  a  crowd  seeking  relief  from  long  and  breathless  stillness  by 
changing  their  position.     There  was  a  strange  charm  in  his  voice  then, 
a  wild,  wailing  melody  when  he  touched  on  the  more  solemn  thoughts 
that  he  marshalled  with  such  matchless  elegance  which  had  an  Enlian 
sweetness,  and  which  I  can  feel  thrilling  in  my  memory  now  after  an 
interval  of  nearly  thirty  years.     And  there  were  times  when  he  would 
bring  out  suddenly  some  of  those  grand  or  terrible  conceptions  which  are 
scattered  through  his  sermons,  with  an  effect  on  my  mind  precisely 
like  a  flash  of  lightning.     I  felt  actually  blinded  for  an  instant  by  the 
blaze,  and  would  look  unconsciously  around  to  see  where  the  lightning 
had  struck.     I  have  never  had  any  speaker  to  produce  these  stunning, 
dizzy,  and  burning  impressions  on  me  as  did  Dr.  A.  at  that  time.      It 
always  has  seemed  to  mo  that  he  had  then  a  concentrated  energy  of 
emotive  power  which  he   gradually  lost ;  and  which  was   expended 
in  those  electric  discharges  from  the  pulpit,  such  as  I  never  felt  from 
any  other  man,  and  did  not  feel  from  him  nearer  the  close  of  his  life.   I 
know  a  part  of  this  was  owing  to  the  fresh  enthusiasm  of  my  ow  n  nature, 
but  I  also  think  that  another  and  larger  part  of  it  was  owing  to  the 
same  fact  in  his  nature.     He  was  then  in  the  pcorless  maturity  of  his 
powers  ;  with  all  the  burning  energy  of  youth,  and  all  the  ripe  develop- 
ment of  later  years." 


CHAPTER  XYI. 

A  FULL  and  steady  light  upon  the  period  on  which  we  now 
enter  is  denied  us.     Often  when  Mr.  Alexander  was  engaged 
in  writing  for  the  press,  or  absorbed  in  some  other  occupa- 
tion, and  sometimes  merely  from  a  temporary  lack  of  interest 
in  his  journal,  he  made  scarcely  an  entry  for  a  series  of  years 
that  can  shed  much  light  on  his  daily  habits.     We  have  now 
arrived  at  such  a  period  ;  the  diary  for  1841  and  1842  consist- 
ing of  little  but  rough  notes  of  sermons  and  lectures,  and  con- 
taining no  account  of  his  studies.     Fortunately  there  are  other 
quarters  to  which  we  may  look  for  information  and  not  alto- 
gether without  success.     The  great  difficulty  will  be  to  avoid 
a  certain  appearance  of  sameness  in  the  treatment  of  periods 
which  resemble  one  another  like  the  successive  ages  of  pros- 
perity.    Such  annals,  agreeably  to  the  saying  of  Montesquieu, 
are  generally  tiresome.     The  effort  in  this  case  will  be  to  inter- 
weave as  much  as   possible  of   the  personal  element    with 
these  tranquil  records,  and  to  give  as  many  glimpses  as  possi- 
ble  of  the  subject  of  these  memoirs ;  who  was  still  young, 
being  little  over  thirty,  and  in  the  ardour  of  a  disposition  that 
was  noted  for  its  masculine  energy  and  its  boyish  elasticity. 

In  January,  Mr.  James  Alexander  was  sounded,  through  a 
letter  from  Mr.  Maxwell,  about  the  vacant  chair  of  Church 
History  in  the  Union  Theological  Seminary,  Virginia.  He 
could  have  given  no  encouragement  to  this  invitation.  The 
number  of  calls  which  he  received  was  never  known  even  to 
his  own  family  during  Lis  lifetime.  His  diaries,  however, 
show  that  nearly  every  one  of  them  gave  him  much  anxiety, 
and  occasioned  many  secret  communings  with  God.  He  was 
satisfied  after  experiment,  that  the  climate  of  lower  Virg-inia 
21  ^ 


482  LINES   TO   JOHN.  ti840. 

was  not  suited  to  his  health.  There  were  other  reasons,  and 
very  obvious  ones,  why  he  should  cling  to  Princeton  with  great 
tenacity,  and  why  the  charms  of  a  great  city  often  seemed 
tame  to  him  in  the  comparison. 

The  younger  brother  still  amused  himself  Avith  his  boys. 
The  following  verses  were  written  in  honour  of  the  birthday 
of  one  of  them  : 

Ad  Joaxnkm. 

"  It  seems  but  yesterday,  my  friend. 
Since  I  a  little  sonnet  penned, 

On  being  told 
That  you,  whom  I  so  long  had  known, 
But  still  regarded  as  my  own, 

Were  twelve  years  old. 

*'But  in  the  space  of  three  short  years  ^ 
How  changed  my  little  friend  appears 

In  form  and  mien ! 
For  he,  who  then  had  only  passed 
A  dozen  birth-days,  has  at  last 
Beheld  fifteen. 

'  And  in  these  days,  go  fleet  and  few, 
IIow  many  follies  rise  to  view,  "^' 

Like  shadows  dim  : 
Sins  for  which  nothing  can  atone 
But  a  Redeemer's  blcod  alone  ; 
Oh,  trust  in  Him ! 

"  Let  the  time  past  for  sleep  suffice : 
Cease,  cease  to  dream !  awake,  arise ! 

Up,  up,  dear  John ! 
The  night  of  life  is  well  nigh  past ; 
Eternal  daylight,  sure  and  fast, 
Comes  stealing  on." 

The  following  letter  accompanied  the  lines  : 

"  August  2,  1840. 

"Mt  Deae  John: 

"I  trust  that  you  have  not  forgotten,  in  the  devotions  of  this  day, 


-^■^•Sl-l  GOOD    ADVICE. 


483 


that  it  completes  your  fifteentli  year.   I  hope  that  the  year  upon  wljich 
you  no\t  are  entering  will,  by  the  grace  of  God,  be  better  than  the  fif- 
teen wldch  have  preceded  it.     This  is  a  very  favourable  time  to  form 
good  res.dutions  and  correct  bad  habits,     Eesolve  that  in  your  sixteenth 
year  you  will  endeavor  to  obtain  a  more  complete  command  over  your 
temper  than  you  ever  had  before.     Eesolve  to  be  more  punctual  and 
diligent  in  study.    If  you  have  begun  to  be  remiss  in  your  religious  du- 
ties—I  mean  in  prayer  and  in  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures-no w 
retrace  your  steps.     If  you  have  begun,  like  many  others  of  your  age 
to  feel  ashamed  of  what  is  good,  and  to  dislike  all  thought  on  serious 
subjects,  ^o^y  is  the  time  to  crush  such  feelings  while  they  are  yet 
weak.     If  you  have  begun  to  feel  a  secret  longing  after  objects  which 
you  have  been  accustomed  heretofore  to  look  upon  as  sinful  and  un- 
worthy of  a  man,  now  is  a  good  time  to  repress  all  such  desires  and 
resolve  that  you  will  act  to  the  last  upon  the  principles  in  which'  you 
have  been  educated.     Let  your  character  be  formed  before  your  stud- 
ies are  completed;  let  it  be  formed  upon  true  Christian  principles-;  and 
then,  I  trust  in  God  that  you  will  be  able  to  vanquish  the  temptations 
of  the  world  hereafter.     If  I  may  venture  to  express  another  wish   it 
IS  that  before  your  sixteenth  year  is  completed,  you  may  be  disposed  to 
make  a  profession  of  religion  ;  which  is  nothing  more  than  agreein-  to 
act  in  accordance  to  the  truths  which  you  profess  to  believe.     If  you 
can  join  sincerely  in  the  prayers  of  the  church,  and  really  desire  what 
you  ask  for  in  those  prayers,  I  see  no  reason  why  you  should  not  openly 
avow  yourself  a  follower  of  Christ.     Is  it  because  it  would  debir  you 
from  pleasures  which  you  wish  to  enjoy  ?     You  can  do  without  them  • 
you  will  be  happier  without  them  ;  and  a  young  man  who  enters  into 
life  with  a  rehgious  character  has  this  advantage :  that  he  escapes  a 
thousand  solicitations  and  temptations,  to  which  otherwise  he  would 
be  exposed.     Besides,  he  is  always  more  respected;  let  the  irrelio-ious 
say  what  they  will.    But  I  fear  that  this  subject  may  be  disagreeable 
If  so,  you  will  excuse  my  introducing  it ;  and  believe  that  I  have  done 
so  from  a  sincere  regard  to  your  present  and  eternal  happiness      I 
heartily  congratulate  you  on  your  birthday,  and  remain,  with  the  kind- 
est wislies,  your  affectionate  friend, 

"Jos.  Addison-  Alexasdee." 

On  the  28th  of  September,  Dr.  Murray  dismissed  the  stu- 
dents with  a  very  able  address.  The  iiext  day  the  Rev. 
James  W.  Alexander  was  appointed  by  the  Ahimui  of  the 


484  INDOOR   LIFE.  tl840. 

Seminary  to  pronounce  a  discourse  on  Transcendentalism,  in 
Philadelphia,  during  the  session  of  the  next  General  Assembly. 
This  Avas  probably  the  beginning-  of  the  famous  article  m  the 
Repertory*  which  was  attacked  by  Professor C.  S. Henry  and 
defended  so  ably  by  Dr.  Hodge.     The  article  in  question  was 
the  joint  production  of  Professors  Alexander   and  Dod  ;  the 
former  contributing  the  part  about  the  German  Idealists,  and 
the  latter  the  part  about  Cousin.     The  incidents  of  the  time 
were  few.     Xow  and  then  a  lecture  could  be  heard  in  Prince- 
ton from  some  scholarlike  visitor  who  came  from  a  distance. 
The  address   before  the  literary  society   of  the  College  this 
year  was  from  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  Johns,  then  of  Baltimore, 
and  now  the  venerable  Bishop  of  Virginia.     It  was  an  ele- 
gant  and  finished  discourse  on  "The  Pleasure  of  Acquiring 
Truth  as  an  Incentive  to  the  Pursuit  of  it."     Commencement 
passed  off  very  w^ell.     One  of  Mr.  Alexander's  brothers  was  a 
graduate.     Dr.    Green  read  a  noble  historical  paper  on  Dr. 
Witherspoon's  administration  of  the  College.     It  was  received 
with  extraordinary  favour.      The  shower  in  the  evening  in  no 
wise  marred  the  delightful  quahty  of  the  atmosphere.     It  was 
the  first  Commencement  Dinner  since  the  foundation  of  the 
College  at  which  there  was  no  wine. 

The  traces  of  the  in-door  life  at  the  Breckinridge  House  are 
slight  but  not  uninteresting. 

\he  first  winter  storm  was  on  the  13th  of  November;  and 
as  dark  a  one  as  anybody  could  recollect.  The  wind  howled  ; 
and  the  ground  was  soon  covered  many  inches  deep  with 
snow.  Little  cared  the  tough  student  for  all  this.  Like  De 
Quincey,  he  could  mock  at  the  rage  of  the  elements  as  he  sat 
before  his  comfortable  faggots  and  urged  on  his  mighty  tasks. 
Yet  we  may  take  it  for  granted  that  his  large  heart  was  some- 
times  moved  as  he  thought  of  the  poor  and  houseless.f  What 
troubled  him  many  degrees  more  than  ice  or  snow  or  tempest, 
was  the  increasing  difficulty  of  modifying  the  phases  of  his 

*SeePiinceton  Rev.  1839.  Jan.  p.  87:  also  Princeton  Essays,  EJinb.  p.  498. 
t  His  diaries  of  other  dates  seem  to  justify  this  inference. 


^T.31.]  NEWS    FROM    ABROAD,  485 

study  apparatus.  Change  them  about  as  he  would,  the  tabic 
and  the  chaii'S,  though  in  bran-new  combinations,  would  be  like 
the  same  objects  under  former  arrangements.  He  was  always 
pursuing  yet  never  overtaking  the  phantom  of  a  per- 
fectly satisfactory  adjustment  of  his  furniture.  This  Avas  a 
lo7iwn  not  to  be  attained  in  a  state  of  so  much  infelicity  and  dis- 
appointment as  the  present ;  and  he  felt  it  keenly.  At  a  cler- 
ical meeting  held  this  month  at  Dr.  Maclean's,  Dr.  Miller,  Dr. 
Carnahan,  and  Professor  James  Alexander  chatted  about  the 
times  and  opinions  of  Jefferson,  and  kindred  topics. 

The  year  1841  opened  with  stirring  news  from  the  East. 
Beirat,  Tyre,  Sidon,  and  Acre  taken  by  the  Allies;  the  isle  and 
city  of  Chusan  by  the  English  ;  Napoleon's  body  brought  back 
to  Fi-ance ;  the  abdication  of  several  sovereigns  in  Europe. 
No  one  had  a  more  open  ear  for  such  intelligence  than  Mr. 
Alexander.  He  was  also  a  most  careful  reader  of  missionary 
intelligence.  One  of  his  books  is  largely  filled  with  a  digest 
of  the  missionary  journals,  illustrated  by  his  own  neat  maps 
and  diagrams.  He  was  very  critical  in  his  tastes  in  this  re- 
spect. 

On  the  10th  of  January,  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  preached 
at  night  to  the  young  men,  and  with  power :  "  My  son,  if  sin- 
ners entice  thee,  consent  thou  not."  It  was  one  of  his  happiest 
eflbrts,  simple  and  affecting.  He  scourged  the  prevailing 
vices  of  the  place  with  a  whip  of  scorpions.  On  the  12th, 
Dr.  Parker,  formerly  of  China,  was  in  Princeton,  and  addressed 
tlie  Seminary  students.  He  was  accompanied  by  a  Chinese 
scholar.  It  is  not  improbable  that  Mr.  Alexander  availed  him- 
self of  this  opportunity  to  air  his  Chinese  vocabulary,  which 
was  not  yet  large. 

From  the  diary  of  the  elder  brother,  I  copy  the  following 
record : 

•'  February  14.  Addison  preached  a  very  impressive  discourse  in 
the  evening  in  the  church,  from  '  This  is  a  faithful  sajing.'  " 

I  make  still  another  for  Feb.  18  : 


486  MODERN    ORATORY.  [1831. 

"Tlinrsdny.  Thawing.  This  day  I  bad  the  unspeakable  satisfac- 
tion of  having  at  dinner  in  my  liouse  my  dear  honoured  parents  and 
all  their  children;  all,  througli  Divine  mercy,  in  the  enjoyment  of 
health.  Blessed  be  God  who  hath  preserved  us !  and  may  the  bles>ing 
of  our  fathers'  God  rest  in  saving  influences  on  the  beloved  heads  of  all 
concerned,  and  on  all  who  have  descended  or  shall  yet  descend  froni 
them!" 

During  the  month,  Professor  James  Alexander  was  unani- 
mously chosen  President  of  Lafayette  College,  but  declined 
the  honour.  He  was  afterwards  approached  by  the  Kev.  Shep- 
herd Kollock  with  solicitations  from  Norfolk,  which  were 
met  in  the  same  way.  His  diaries  are  still  full  of  beautiful 
Latin  prayers,  conceived  much  in  the  manner  of  Augustin's  in 
the  early  chapters  of  his  Confessions.  One  day  this  month, 
Mr.  Addison  Alexander  preached  at  night  on  the  text  "  Behold 
the  Lamb  of  God  !  "  one  of  his  best  sermons  ;  though  much  de- 
pended on  the  delivery.  His  picturesque  and  imaginative 
eftbrts  were  always  more  or  less  warm  and  impressive.  He 
could  not  help  thus  blending  fancy  and  feehng.  It  was  impos- 
sible for  him  to  commit  the  fault  so  severely  censured  by  his 
brother,  of  mistaking  the  language  of  imagination  for  that  of 

passion. 

His  own  theoretical  views  on  this  subject  are  probably  in- 
dicated by  the  marks  which  he  scribbled  in  the  first  volume  of 
Dr.  Stevens's  book*  on  the  great  mistake  of  the  Methodists,  a 
short  time  before  his  own  death.     He  double-scores  this: 

"  It  is  the  great  mistake  of  modern  oratory,  especially  in  the  pul- 
pit, that  it  confounds  oratory  with  poetry ;  but  it  was  never  the  mistake 
of  this  greatest  of  preachers." 

Nor  was  it  the  mistake  of  Mr.  Alexander.  He  albo  marks 
this: 

"  It  is  donbtfal  whether  he  ever  made  a  congregation  laugh." 

*  The  History  of  the  Religious  Movement  of  the  eighteenth  century,  called 
Methodism,  &c.,  by  Abel  Stevens,  LL.  D.,  New  York,  1859. 


^T.31.]  IMPASSIONED   APPEAL,  48*? 

It  is  certain  Mr.  Alexander  never  did.  With  all  his  bril- 
liancy  of  wit  and  fancy,  he  never  carried  this  strange  fire  into 
the  sanctuary.  He  looked  to  heaven  for  the  divine  flame,  and 
his  lips  were  in  a  manner  touched  Avith  a  coal  from  off  God's 
altar.  He,  as  well  as  Whitefield,  whom  he  so  little  resembled 
in  most  other  things,  was  full  of  reverence  while  in  the  temple 
of  Jehovah,  and,  as  in  the  case  of  the  English  preacher,  the 
people  often  saw  the  light  upon  his  broAV  like  that  irradiating 
the  face  of  Moses,  though  "  he  wist  not  that  his  face  shone." 
"  They  felt,  nevertheless,"  as  Dr.  Stevens  says  in  a  passage 
which  Mr.  Alexander  has  marked  with  his  approval,  and  which 
may  stand  as  his  own  description,  "  that  though  he  had  come 
down  to  them  from  the  mount  of  transfiguration,  and  was 
shining  with  its  glory,  yet  he  had  gone  up  to  it  from  among 
themselves." 

The  sermon  of  all  otliers  which  most  palpitated  Avith  plain- 
tive and  contrite  emotion  was  the  one  on  the  broken  heart.  A 
gentleman  of  New  York  Avho  heard  it  in  Duane  street,  once 
said  to  me  that  he  considered  it  the  greatest  sermon  he  ever 
heard ;  and  that  the  preacher  seemed  carried  up  on  the  occa- 
sion in  question  to  heights  of  impassioned  appeal  he  had  never 
known  him  to  reach  before. 

One  of  his  latest  pupils,  a  descendaiit  of  President  Davies, 
declares  : 

"I  have  heard  many  orators,  sacred  and  profane.  For  me  Dr.  Ad- 
dison Alexander  was  prince  of  them  all." 

* 

To  the  vehemence  of  Luther  without  his  violence,  he  loves 
to  remember  that  he  added  some  of  the  touching  tenderness  ol 
Melanchthon  ;  to  the  solemnity  of  Jonathan  Edwards  without 
his  terrors,  tlje  simplicity  and  directness  of  Samuel  Davies. 
With  the  dialectics  of  an  uninspired  Paul,  this  pupil  thought 
that  he  mingled  much  of  the  reverent  love  of  John  the  Di- 
vine. 

"  And  over  all  lie  threw  the  radiance  of  his  own  peculiar  genius." 
"Concerning  many,"  he  continues,  "of  his  discourses  I  could  literallj 


488  BRILLIANT    rREACIIING.  [1841. 

adopt  the  ]angunge  of  Peter  Bayne :  '  For  our  part  we  confers  that  our 
admiration  is  intense.  They  appear  to  us  to  have  the  true  poetic 
glow;  that  fusing,  uniting  fire  burns  over  them,  whose  gleam  compels 
you  to  drop  your  measuring  lino  or  gaugiug  apparatus  and  utter  the 
word  genius.  To  accompany  the  preaclier  in  his  high  flight,  seems  to 
us  like  sailing  with  that  archangel  whom  Eichter  in  his  dreams  saw 
bearing  the  immortal  through  tlie  endless  choirs  and  galaxies  of 
immensity ;  only  that  here  we  do  not  tremble  and  cry  out  at  the  over- 
powering spectacle  of  God's  infinitude,  for  the  softening  light  of  tho 
cross  ftills  continually  around  us.' 

"  But  sometimes  that  wonderful  intellect  would  gather  up  and  dis- 
close the  awful.  In  such  moods  he  seemed  to  realize  Andrew  Marvel's 
appalling  thought : 

"  '  But  at  my  back  I  always  hear 

Time's  winged  chariots  hurrying  near ; 
And  yonder  all  before  me  lie 
Desei-ts  of  vast  eternity  ! ' 

"  He  seemed  to  see  the  people  before  him,  as  the  dramatic  historian 
of  the  French  Kevolution  saw  its  actors  when  he  cried  out :  '  Light 
mortals,  how  yet  walk  your  light  life-minuet  over  the  bottomless  abysses, 
divided  from  you  by  a  film?'  At  such  times,  it  was  agony  to  hear 
him  ;  tlie  agony  of  intense,  awful  interest  in  human  life  and  eternal  des- 
tiny. He  seemed  impassioned ;  transfigured.  A  new  baptism  fell  upon 
him  ;  a  rapture  of  burning  eloquence  poured  from  him.  His  uttenince 
became  swift,  almost  or  quite  beyond  example  :  his  voice,  tremulous 
with  strong  emotion,  deepened  into  sonorous  rotundity.  The  whole 
mjn  was  aff"ected,  swayed  by  the  mighty  impulse.  Then,  as  his  glance, 
usually  veiled  by  the  drooping  hd,  blazed  out, 

'  Swift  as  the  liglitning  in  the  collied  night. 
That  in  a  gleam  unfolds  both  earth  and  heaven,' 
one  almost  shrank  from  the  intense  white  light  gleaming  from  that 
oi'dinarily  calm  blue  eye." 

But  the  gleam,  he  says,  was  not  always  that  of  the  light- 
ning. Not  unfrequently  woitIcI  be  seen  and  felt  the  soft  glow 
of  a  more  tender  emotion,  the 

"  Light  intellectual  and  full  of  love." 


^T.31.]  AKCHIBALD    ALEXANDER.  489 

The  writer  of  this  sketch  then  proceeds  as  follows  about 
the  sermon  on  the  sacrifices  of  God : 

"Never,  to  my  latest  momeut,  shall  I  forget  one  rendering  of  his 
sermon  on  '  The  Broken  Heart '  (Ps.  li. :  17).  The  germs  of  it  are  in 
the  published  form,  but  only  the  germs.  Having  wrought  up  the  audi- 
ence to  a  state  of  quickened  sensibility  and  vivid  sympathy',  he  described 
tlie  altar  with  the  mysterious  veil  behind  it;  the  approaching  penitent, 
bearing,  visible,  a  bleeding  heart,  thrilling  and  throbbing  with  its  own 
divine  sorrow  ;  and  as  it  is  laid  on  the  smoking  altar,  a  hand  from  within 
the  veil  receives  the  bleeding  oblation,  while  a  joy,  calm  but  deep  as  in- 
finity, fills  the  penitent's  soul ;  and  the  preacher  cries  out  in  an  ecstasy  of 
emotion,  '  The  sacrifices  of  God  are  a  broken  spirit ;  a  broken  and  con- 
trite heart,  O  God,  thou  wait  not  despise ! '  Then  the  silence,  painful  in 
its  intensity,  yields  to  a  long-drawn,  tremulous  sigh  from  the  entire 
congregation.  The  rapt  preacher  stands  with  eyes  swimming  in  soft- 
ened light,  and  brow  bathed  with  splendours  not  of  earth.  That  is  the 
scene  I  love  to  recall — that  the  posture  in  which  to  remember  the  re- 
served and  misjudged  scholar  of  Princeton."  '•'  With  eye  upturned  and 
suftlised,  but  beaming  miid  radiance,  as  from  starry  depths,  and  a  light 
like  that  which  painters  throw  around  the  cross  which  he  preached  so 
exclusively,  I  bear  him  evermore  proclaiming  those  precious,  comfort- 
ing words,  '  The  sacrifices  of  God  are  a  broken  spirit ;  a  broken  and  a 
contrite  heart,  0  God,  thou  wilt  not  despise.'  " 

The  17th  of  April  was  the  69tb  birthday  of  Dr.  Archibald 
Alexander ;  in  reference  to  which  event  his  oldest  son  records  : 
"  Blessed  be  God  for  continuing  to  us  his  valuable  life  so  lono- ! " 
Although  Dr.  Alexander  was  now  on  the  borders  of  seventy, 
he  was  in  pretty  vigorous  health,  with  an  increasing  tendency 
to  flesh.  Mrs.  Lundy  Duncan  has  given  a  true  as  well  as  lively 
and  affectionate  picture  of  him,  in  a  foot-note  to  one  of  the 
pages  in  an  intelligent  volume  suggested  by  her  visit  to  the 
United  States.  She  says  he  bore  a  wonderful  resemblance  in 
his  looks  and  ways  to  Wiiberforce,  as  well  as  in  his  character. 
He  took  no  exercise  ;  and  spent  hours  every  day  in  solitary 
meditation  on  the  truths  and  problems  of  philosophy  and 
revealed  religion.  The  portrait  of  him  by  his  gifted  son  can- 
not  be  retouched  with  advantage ;  but  there  are  little  facts 
2r^ 


400  TEACHING   CHILDEEN.  [1841. 

about  Mm  with  which  many  wouhl  like  to  be  acquainted.  This 
is  not  the  proper  place  for  most  of  them. 

A  survivor  of  this  period  cannot  refrain,  however,  from  say- 
ing here  that  his  recollection  is  most  vivid  and  pleasing  of  the 
da^ys  when  he  used  to  sit  in  the  old  man's  lap  and  recite  to 
him  long  strings  of  Latin  words,  or  hear  from  him^  by  the 
light  of  his  study  lamp  the  beautiful  and  melting  Bible  sto- 
ries   which  he   was  so  fond  of   telling  chihlren.     He   dwelt 
most  on  the  accounts   which  are  furnished  in  the  first  and 
second  books  of  Samuel     This  circumstance  has  almost  caused 
the  writer  in  later  years  to  prefer  the  accounts  of  little  Samuel 
and  the  boy  David  even  to  the  inimitable  pathos  of  the  Book 
of  Genesis  and  that  (with  the  single  exception  of  the  life  of 
Christ)  most  sweet  and  heart-stirring  of  all  human  narratives, 
the  story  of  Joseph.     Of  the  incidents  belonging  to  the  Jew- 
ish monarchy  in  the  days  of  the  Prophets  and  the  Kings,  he 
derived  his  deepest  and  most  awakening  impressions  from  this 
source.     He  wovild  here  record  also  his  sense  of  the  inestima- 
ble value  of  other  instructions  which  it  was  his  privilege  to 
receive  from  his  venerable  teacher  at  a  somewhat  later  day;  as 
for  example,  in   Latin  grammar,   arithmetic,  geometry,   and 
physics  ;  and  his  pleasure  when  the  sash-door  of  the  study  com- 
municating with  the  gate  to  the  Seminary  would  open,  and 
the  venerable  man  would  return  to  hear  his  lesson.     Before 
proceeding  to  the  task,  his  gray-haired  preceptor  would  com- 
monly address  to  him  some  kind  word  or  other  in  a  cheery 
tone  of  voice ;  he  would  sometimes  also  pare  an  apple  and 
scrape  it  with  an  ivory  paper-fokler,  aud  in  all  such  cases  would 
insist  upon  his  little  pupil's  taking  the  lion's  share  of  the  spoil. 
It  is  true,  there  were  moments  when  that  speaking  countenance 
inspired  awe  and  even  dread  ;  sometimes,  but  very  rarely,  his 
reproofs  were  severe  and  painful  to  the  feelings  of  the  listener ; 
but  the  obedient  child  had  nothing  to  fear,  but,  on  the  contra- 
ry, everything  to  look  forward  to  ;  and  the  teacher's  leaning 
was  ever  to  th'e  side  of  leniency,  rather  than  of  harshness  or  rig- 
our.    Indeed,  his  gentleness,  patience,  tact,  happy  wisdom,  and 
loving-kindness,  knew  no  ordinary  bounds. 


^T.31.]  THE    ELDER   BROTHER.  491 

The  same  disposition,  as  we  have  seen,  appeared  in  all  his 
intercourse  with  grown  men.  His  reproofs  were  commonly- 
conveyed  in  silent  glances  of  the  eye ;  when  he  uttered  them, 
however,  in  words,  they  were  at  times  scathing.  I  have  heard 
it  said  that  a  lanatical  religionist  of  the  type  formerly,  and 
perhaps  still,  prevailing  in  some  parts  of  the  country,  once 
called  upon  him  and  interrogated  him  as  to  his  evidences  of 
personal  piety.  Provoked  at  his  significant  silence,  the  man 
is  said  to  have  exclaimed,  "  Have  you  no  religion,  Dr.  Alexan- 
der ?  "     "  None  to  speak  of,"  was  the  quiet  reply. 

I  resume  the  thread  of  narrative,  if  it  may  be  called  such. 
On  the  3d  of  May,  and  in  spite  of  his  earnest  and  recorded 
protestations,  Dr.  James  Alexander,  then  holding  the  Latin 
and  Rhetoric  chair  in  the  College,  was  unanimously  invited  to 
return  to  his  former  charge  in  Trenton  ;  but  without  the  result 
desired.  Mr.  Alexander  was  informed  of  these  negotiations 
in  a  letter  from  his  brother,  who  was  at  the  time  in  Trenton. 
The  natural  scenery  of  the  month  of  May  was  wonderfully 
enchanting;  and  the  lively  breath  of  this  bright  charming 
spring  must  have  exhilarated  Mr.  Alexander  to  the  utmost. 
His  elder  brother,  writing  under  the  same  roof,  says  : 

"  I  have  found  no  temple  so  insi^iring  as  the  open  vault  of  heaven 
and  the  green  earth.  Everything  around  me  breathes  of  Divine  benig- 
nity. The  sparruw  has  laid  her  young  in  a  rose-tree  just  beside  my 
door-sill ;  another  has  built  in  the  vine  by  the  wood-house.  The  blue- 
birds seem  to  be  tenanting  the  house  I  prepared  for  them  over  the 
arbour,  and  I  am  looking  for  the  return  of  the  wrens  to  the  lodge  above 
the  swing.  The  indigo-bird  and  some  unknown  pied  bird  appear  among 
my  young  elms.  The  cat-bird  sings  almost  all  day  in  the  large  cherry- 
tree  by  our  ice-house  and  in  the  orchard  just  beyond.  Bob-o'Lincoln 
indulges  in  his  capricios  morning,  noon,  and  niglit.  But  no  song  so 
aflects  me  as  the  plaintive  note  of  the  robin,  heard  at  a  distance  in  the 
evening.  It  tells  of  solitude  and  care.  It  is  such  a  strain  as,  were  I  a 
bird,  I  could  not  choose  but  sing  myself." 

Flowers  and  blossoms  were  out  in  profusion.  The  common 
air  was  an  elixir  vita3.    The  29th  was  hot,  and  portended  sum- 


492  HIS    METHOD    OF    STORY    TELLING.  [1841 

nier.  Late  in  the  month,  Mr.  Addison  Alexander  went  to  AL 
bany ;  retnrning  June  Yth,  having  passed  through  New- York, 
Philadelphia,  and  Washington.  The  journals  and  letters  em- 
bodying the  results  of  these  trips  are  seldom  more  than  barren 
statements  of  his  entering  and  leaving  such  and  such  place,'?, 
and  doing  such  and  such  every-day  things. 

The  two  scholars  had  both  a  rare  knack  with  the  pen.  One 
nio-ht  in  June,  the  elder  brother  wrote  two  Sunday-school  stories 
at'.er  tea.  It  is  hard  to  say  which  was  the  fastest  reader  and 
writer,  or  which  could  tell  the  most  interesting  stories,  and 
write  the  best  children's  books.  Their  modes  of  entertaining 
were  widely  unlike,  and  were  altogether  unique. 

With  the  younger  brother's  methods  the  reader  has  by  this 
time  become  tolerably  acquainted.  The  older  brother's  plan 
was  to  take  a  boy  into  his  lap  or  on  his  knee,  and  tell  him  the 
story  of  Troy,  or  of  Romulus,  or  of  Avandering  Ulysses  ;  and 
he  agreed  with  "  Addison  "  in  believing  that  bright  children 
no  less  than  men  felt  the  power  and  charm  of  the  stories  of 
the  few  mighty  poets.  He  knew  well  how  to  beguile  an 
evening  in  this  way  with  outline  views — oral  or  pictorial,  as 
the  case  might  be— of  Laocoon,  the  Trojan  horse,  Achilles 
drao-ging  Hector,  the  brothers  Sleep  and  Death,  the  web  of 
Penelope,  the  Hall  of  the  Suitors,  and  the  like.  Or  if  some- 
thing of  a  lighter  kind  was  desired,  he  would  change  the 
muscles  of  his  face,  sing  (in  his  round  sonorous  voice),  whistle, 
imitate  different  kinds  of  birds,  and  engage  in  sportive  dia- 
logues with  lantastlcal  personages  who  were  the  creatures  of 
his  fancy  and  of  tbe  moment,  sometimes  throwing  in  something 
pleasant  from  Mother  Goose  or  the  tables  of  yEsop  and  La  Fon- 
taine. 

I  find  that  Dr.  James  Alexander  lectured  in  Trenton  before 
the  Mechanics'  Listitute  on  the  29th  of  June.  His  efforts  to 
please  and  edify  the  working  classes,  under  the  style  of 
"  Charles  Quill,"  were  not  unrewarded,  and  he  was  prouder 
of  their  good  opinion  than  of  the  compliments  received  irom 
the  fastidious  and  learned.     He  was  once  presented  by  a  Me- 


-St.  32.]  OLD    BIBLES.  493 

chanics'  Association  with  a  handsome  gold-headed  cane,  as  a 
token  of  their  good  opinion. 

On  the  9th  of  August,  the  subject  of  this  narrative  returned 
from  New-York;  having  received  the  hospitality  of  Nether- 
wood,  the  beautiful  residence  of  James  Lenox,  Esq.  It  were 
impossible  for  a  man  of  Mr.  Alexander's  tastes  not  to  be  par- 
ticularly interested  in  Mr.  Lenox's  noble  collection  of  English 
Bibles.  He  sought  every  chance,  whether  in  Europe  or  the 
United  States,  of  increasing  his  knowledge  of  the  editions, 
versions,  and  manuscripts  of  the  inspired  volume.  He  re- 
garded Coverdale  as  he  would  have  done  one  of  the  great  dia- 
monds. The  old  renderings  of  Wickliffe  and  Tyndale  had  for 
him  an  unfading  interest;  and  he  stops  many  a  time  in  his 
exposition  of  a  passage  to  laugh  inwardly  at  the  queer  and 
almost  comic  turn  they  so  often  give  to  a  familiar  sentence. 

Mr.  Lenox  writes  that  his  impressions  of  him  socially,  be- 
yond the  short  and  hurried  intercourse  of  business  meetings 
at  Princeton,  were  confined  to  Mr.  Alexander's  visits  at  his 
house  many  years  ago  when  he  resided  in  the  country.  Of 
these  he  can  say  that  they  afforded  him 

"An  apprehension  of  liis  character  differing?  from  that  usually 
entertained  by  those  who  saw  him  under  other  circumstances;  vivacity 
and  humour  were  a  sourca  of  constant  enjoyment." 

This  is  the  unanimous  testimony  of  those  who  knew  him 
well. 

The  following  penetrating  and  suggestive  view  of  his  char- 
acter is  from  the  pen  of  Henry  James,  Esq.  of  Cambridge, 
Mass.,  formerly  of  Princeton,  and  could  have  been  written  only 
by  one  who,  like  Mr.  James,  was  on  social  and  personal  grounds 
an  intimate  acquaintance  and  favourite  companion  of  "  the  soli- 
tary:" 

"  I  was  familiar,  of  course,"  says  Mr.  James,  "  with  the  prestige  of 
his  immense  erudition,  his  brilliant  wit,  his  incisive  judgment;  but  I 
confess  my  imagination  was  always  far  more  acutely  piqued  by  the 


494  HENRY   JAMES.  0841. 

mystery  of  his  inner  life.  Tie  habitually  lived  in  the  ntmost  personal 
remoteness  from  the  world;  and  yet  Lis  sympathy  with  all  mundane 
interests,  and  Iiis  judgment  of  all  mundane  problems,  were  as  keen  and 
sagacious  and  enlightened  as  if  he  dwelt  in  tiie  very  centre  of  the  popu- 
lar life  and  movement.  He  had  by  nature,  or  temperament,  all  that  the 
ascetic  vainly  strives  to  acquire  by  culture  ;  so  that  a  certain  childlike 
charm  of  innocence  was  seen  to  underlie  his  mature  intellectual  activ 
ity,  and  soften,  to  the  eyes  of  those  who  knew  him,  his  otherwise  com- 
manding lineaments.  I  never  knevv  any  one  in  Avhose  native  honesty  I 
so  confided  as  I  did  in  his.  I  have  known  many  persons,  of  course,  in 
whose  cultivated  integrity  I  should  feel  a  perfect  faith  ;  but  he  seemed 
to  me  to  have  been  born  honest,  and  to  be  incapable,  not  only  of  ac- 
tively telling,  but  even  of  passively  acting,  a  lie.  It  was  a  constant 
problem  to  me,  therefore,  how  this  man,  so  unlike  the  mass  even  of 
cultivated  men,  so  singularly  gifted  by  nature  as  he  was,  so  free  from 
all  personal  frailties,  so  independent  of  all  personal  ties,  contrived  to 
live  in  the  chaste  sanctuary  of  his  own  thought,  and  what  was  the 
habitual  tenour  of  his  bosom  experience  toward  God  and  man.  It 
was  delightful  to  see  him  with  children.  He  revelled  in  their  society, 
as  if  lie  had  here  found  at  last  the  dimensions  of  true  manhood,  and 
they  rejoiced  in  his  ;  for  while  he  gave  them  a  heart  as  young  and  un- 
perverted  as  their  own,  he  lifted  them  by  the  most  playful  and  engag- 
ing wiles  of  wisdom  to  a  level,  for  the  moment,  with  his  own  ripe 
nnderstanding. 

"  This,  in  fact,  was  the  ground  of  my  lively  interest  in  Mr.  Alexan- 
der, and  the  ever-growing  argument  of  my  admiration,  how  he  man- 
aged to  combine,  as  he  did,  in  his  personal  character  so  much  innocence 
with  so  much  knowledge,  so  much  modesty  with  so  much  culture,  so 
unfeigned  a  personal  humility  wuth  so  indisputable  a  conventional  emi- 
nence over  other  men." 

The  writings  of  Mr.  James  himself  have  long  been  before 
the  public,  and  have  attracted  no  little  attention  from  scholars 
and  theologians  ;  and  therefore  in  praising  the  talents  and  dis- 
position of  his  old  friend,  he  will  not  be  suspected  of  any  bias 
toward  a  narrow  and  sectarian  "orthodoxy."  It  is  one 
instance  out  of  many  of  the  admiration  and  love  felt  for  the 
Princeton  Professor  by  those  whose  opinions  on  a  number  of 
important  subjects  differed  toto  ccelo  from  his  own.  There  was 
in  him  a  centre  of  attraction,  as  well  as  of  repulsion,  alto- 


2ET.32.]  KNOWLEDGE    OF    PASSING    EVENTS.  495 

getter  aside  from  any  mere  power  of  intellect  or  agreement  in 
doctrine  or  sentiment. 

A  return  to  tlie  chain  of  incidents  will  now  bring  us  once 
more  into  the  atmosphere  of  the  schools  of  learning.  The  ac- 
counts from  abroad  were  disastrous.  Princeton  was  startled 
on  the  12th  of  August  by  the  afflicting  tidings  of  the  death  of 
the  Rev.  John  Breckinridge.  "  This,"  writes  Professor  James 
Alexander,  "  is  solemn  news  to  me."  They  had  been  warm 
friends,  and  occupants  of  the  same  dwelling.  The  Avhole  town 
mourned  for  him,  and  the  College  Professor  never  ceased  to 
speak  of  him  with  a  kind  of  tender  and  melancholy  aifection. 
His  picture  Avas  soon  hanging  by  the  side  of  Dr.  Miller's,  over 
the  Professor's  mantelpiece.  Dr.  Breckini'idge  was  a  man  of 
great  sweetness  and  strength  of  character.  His  administra- 
tive talents  were  of  a  high  order,  and  his  moral  courage, 
which  never  shrank  from  religious  conversation  in  any  com- 
pany, awakened  much  admiration  in  his  friend.  His  memory 
is  precious. 

The  college  was  in  a  somewhat  disorderly  state.  The 
President's  veto  of  the  Bank  Bill  came  just  upon  the  back  of 
excitements  produced  by  the  final  award  of  college  houours, 
and  "was  followed  by  disturbances  among  certain  of  the  stu- 
dents. These  events  perhaps  had  little  effect  on  the  solitary 
life  of  Mr.  Alexander,  but  they  Avere  all  pondered  by  him,  and 
must  have  entered  to  some  degree  into  the  tissue  of  his  think- 
ing. He  was  not  a  mere  student.  His  library  was  but  the 
innermost  of  concentric  cii'cles.  Who  was  there  better 
informed  than  he  of  the  bustling  scenes  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
College  ?  Who  more  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  contents 
of  the  current  reviews  and  newspapers  ?  Yet  he  was  in  no  sense 
either  a  busybody  or  a  politician.  His  thoughts  radiated  from 
his  comfortable  chamber  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  His  sym- 
pathies embraced  the  continental  world  of  letters  and  the 
lands  of  the  heathen. 

Perhaps  the  best  idea  of  the  quiet  Oriental  professor,  as  he 
appeared  when  he  laid  aside  his  mask  and  his  armour,  is  to 
be  had  from  pictures  drawn  by  his  intimates.     The  Rev.  John 


496  MANNER   WITH    STRANGERS.  [1841. 

Hall,  D.D.,  of  Trenton,  a  friend  who  was  afterward  and  al- 
ways much  cherished  by  Mr.  Alexander,  writes  that  he  has  no 
special  recollections  of  him  previous  to  his  own  removal  from 
Pliiladelphia  to  Trenton,  which  occurred  in  1841.  He  had 
met,  him  before  on  his  own  occasional  visits  to  Princeton,  when 
he  always  staid  at  Dr.  Alexander's. 

"Like  other  persons,"  he  says,  "  who  fell  in  with  liim  under  such 
circumstances,  I  never  found  him  tlie  distant,  unapproachable  character, 
such  a<he  was  imagined  by  strangers  who  judged  of  him  by  his  repu- 
tation as  one  absorbed  in  study,  and  as  having  almost  a  misanthropical 
aversion  to  '  society.'  My  impressions  of  him,  as  in  those  days,  are  of 
a  genial,  aflFectionate,  talkative,  humorous  companion ;  one  whose  tastes 
and  habits  confined  him  very  much  to  books,  but  whose  manner,  counte- 
nance, and  talk  showed  him  to  be  alive  to  (and  wonderfully  acquainted 
witio'the  world  and  everything  going  on  in  it,  even  to  trifling  matters, 
which  most  persons  supposed  never  came  to  his  notice,  or  would  be 
disdained  if  they  had.  It  has  often  caused  expressions  of  astonishment 
how  he  could  know  so  much  of  a  world  in  which  he  mingled  so  little, 
of  subjects  which  lay  so  far  out  of  his  track,  of  people  of  all  sorts  of 
whom  it  was  supposed  he  knew  and  cared  nothing." 

The  recollections  of  tliis  gentleman  of  his  friend's  manners 
when  miexpectedly  confronted  with  strange  but  congenial 
"  company  "  will  strike  some  readers  with  surprise ;  but  they 
agree  with  what  is  said  by  another  of  his  most  valued  and 
intimate  associates,  as  well  as  by  one  of  his  most  esteemed 
pupils.  It  was  not  always  the  case,  indeed,  that  Mr.  Alexan- 
der felt  sufficiently  at  his  ease  to  throw  off  all  appearance  of 
constraint  in  this  happy  way.  Ofteu  when  strangers  were 
introduced  into  the  circle  of  which  before  their  entrance 
he  1  ad  been  the  lively  centre,  he  became  bashfully  silent,  or 
from  some  cause  or  other  failed  to  mingle  freely  or  joyously 
in  the  social  intercourse.  But  if  at  the  moment  of  embar- 
rassment he  was  not  singled  out  as  an  object  of  prominent 
notice,  he  was  apt  to  be  contented,  and  to'make  the  best  of 
the  situation.  There  can  be  no  doubt  whatever  that  even 
when  he  was  absolutely  speechless  on  such  occasions,  his  eyes 
and  ears  and  mind  drank  in  everything  that  was  going  on, 


^T.32.J  POWERS    OF    ENTERTAINMENT.  497 

and  often  (as  his  diaries  attest)  with  unalloyed,  and  sometimes 
very  keen,  enjoyment. 

The  same  writer  proceeds  to  say  : 

"He  sometimes  staid  witli  me  in  Pliiladelpliia  when  he  went  to 
preach  tliere,  and  was  always,  not  only  a  most  welcome,  but  most 
agreeable  guest.  If  there  was  other  company,  he  was  as  imemb:irrassed 
and  pleasant  as  any ;  never  showing  a  disposition  to  shrink  from  the 
circle,  and  uniformly  taking  his  part  as  if  he  enjoyed  it.  There,  as 
well  as  afterwards  in  Trenton,  he  would  sit  with  me  after  the  family 
had  retired  ;  and  liis  chat  was  so  lively  and  inexhaustible  that  I  had 
usually  to  tell  him  of  the  lateness  of  the  hour  to  get  him  to  his  room." 

The  same  kind  friend  hears  witness  to  his  almost  uiiequalled 
powers  of  entertainment,  and  the  varied  and  never-failing  re- 
sources of  his  conversation.  This  was  v/hat  struck  everybody 
who  knew  him  A^ery  well.  He  was  never  at  a  loss  for  a  subject 
or  an  exciting  opportunity.  He  seemed  to  have  whole  libra- 
ries and  encyclopoBdias,  not  to  mention  histories,  grammars, 
dictionaries,  poems,  works  of  travel,  works  of  biography, 
works  of  romance,  quarterly  magazines,  reviews,  newspapers, 
religious  journals,  religious  and  literary  diaries;  in  short  a 
vast  amount  of  what  was  in  books,  what  Avas  in  paper  covers, 
what  was  in  print,  what  was  in  manuscript,  at  his  fin- 
gers' ends.  He  was  acquainted,  too,  with  what  one  most 
wishes  to  know  about  men,  Avhether  of  the  past  or  of  the 
present;  their  characters,  their  acts,  their  probable  motives, 
their  personal  traits  and  appearance,  the  causes  of  their 
success  or  failure,  and  a  thousand  additional  particulars, 
many  of  which  no  one  else  Avould  think  of  No  one  was 
better  informed  about  political  or  ecclesiastical  measures. 
He  knew  much  of  the  unwritten  history  of  the  church.  The 
geography  and  scenery  of  the  Avorld  were  as  familiar  to 
him,  apparently,  as  those  of  New  Jersey.  His  summer  jaunts 
in  America,  his  journeyings  in  Europe,  the  details  of  what 
had  happened  or  Avas  happening,  in  Princeton,  Philadelphia, 
New  York,  and  the  domestic  incidents  in  his  father's  and 
brother's  families,  were  themes  on  Avhich  be  loved  to  descant 


498  CONCEALING    HIS    FEELINGS.  [1841. 

when  lie  was  exactly  in  the  mood  for  it.  In  very  truth,  he 
seemed  to  know  ahnost  everything,  and  to  excel  other  people 
in  talking  about  what  they  knew  as  well  as  he  did.  Yet  he 
never  overburdened  his  discourse,  either  with  egotism  or  ped- 
antiy.  He  never  harangued  or  soliloquized.  His  fireside  inter- 
course was  governed  throughout  by  good  sense,  unafiected 
courtesy,  genuine  kindliness  and  a  rare  absence  of  self-obtru- 
sion. His  knowledge  v/as  implied  rather  than  asserted. 
Says  Dr.  Hall : 

"Like Ills  father,  he  knew  everybody— all  our  ministers,  the  Prince- 
ton men  of  College  and  Seminary,  and  from  his  acquaintance  with  what 
they  were  doing  (and  the  same  may  be  said  of  a  much  larger  extent  of 
individuals  in  all  churches  and  in  literary  and  common  life),  one  would 
have  supposed  he  had  a  large  intercourse  with  society.  Anecdotes, 
traits  of  character,  observation  of  minuticE,  knowledge  of  all  kinds  of 
books,  familiarity  with  current  literature,  observation  of  human  nature, 
discernment  of  foibles  and  virtues,  contempt  of  pretenders,  appreciation 
of  the  humblest  goodness  or  modest  ability,  come  to  my  mind  as  char- 
acterizing his  talk." 

He  did  not  like  to  make  an  exhibition  of  his  feelings,  and 
never  did  so,  except  when  really  constrained  by  some  ungov- 
ernable impulse.  There  was  a  fount  of  tenderness  in  him 
which  sometimes  broke  out  in  the  pulpit  in  a  gush  of  impetuous 
emotion.  More  commonly  it  disclosed  its  existence  only  in  his 
acts,  and  the  occasional  tones  of  his  voice.  He  did  things,  little 
things  often,  which  no  one  unless  an  arrant  hypocrite,  would 
ever  have  dreamed  of  doing  but  from  the  suggestion  of  a  gentle 
and  loving  heart.  His  honesty  was  beyond  the  breath  of  sus- 
picion. It  was  his  honesty,  united  to  his  stern  sense  of  what 
was  right  and  what  was  seemly,  and  the  electric  suddenness 
and  brightness  of  his  rare  sarcasm,  that  made  him  feared  by 
those  who  had  been  once  blinded  bj  it,  as  weU  as  those  who 
heard  the  report  of  it,  and  were  not  aware  of  his  more  attrac- 
tive and  genial  qualities. 

His  wit  and  humour  were  brought  out  constantly  at  the 
bouse  of  this  friend.     There  was  never  lack  of  provocation  or 


^T.32.]  AS    A   TALKER.  499 

rejoinder.  An  evening  spent  with  Mr.  Alexander  at  Mr. 
Hall's  ^vould  have  been  in  this  respect  like  an  evening  spent 
"with  Lamb  or  Jerrold.  But  the  announcement  of  a  visitor 
too  often  broke  the  charm.  If  his  brother  James  chanced  to 
be  present,  Mr.  Alexander's  spirits  knew  no  bounds.  The 
walls  would  sometimes  ring  with  the  laughter  of  the  children, 
as  well  as  with  the  uncontrollable  merriment  of  those  who 
were  older  and  wiser.  Thomas  Hood  or  Sheridan  could  hai'dly 
have  been  more  extravagantly  facetious  than  he  was  some- 
times. But  even  then  he  kept  his  own  countenance,  and  never 
in  the  slightest  degree  transgressed  the  limits  of  decorum. 
His  boisterous  mirth  was  all  for  the  little  ones.  In  his  en- 
counters with  grown-up  men  and  women,  his  talk  was  always 
full  of  good  nature,  sparkle,  dry  retort,  whimsical  fun,  but  was 
never  undignified,  and  seldom  unmixed  with  grave  discourse 
or  dialogue  on  serious  subjects.  He  had  a  way  of  passing  ab- 
ruptly from  one  extreme  and  one  topic  to  another,  in  a  man- 
ner almost  peculiar  to  himself.  He  allowed  himself  to  drift 
enjoyably  on  the  current.  There  was  always  a  tie  of  connec- 
tion in  his  own  mind  between  his  thoughts,  but  he  did  not 
stop  to  tell  others  what  it  was.  He  let  himself  alone,  and 
thus  made  himself  one  of  the  most  charming  of  companions. 
He  talked  most  about  little  things  and  every-day  matters  ;  but 
he  never  v/ent  far  without  throwing  out  some  lively  hint  or 
broad  generalization  about  books  or  men,  or  some  shrewd 
poignant  comment  upon  life  or  manners ;  almost  invariably, 
too,  there  were  graphic  touches  of  description,  and  now  and 
then  finished  pictures ;  and  then  there  were  withal  those  innu- 
merable flashes  of  fine  intellectual  mirthfulness  and  friendly 
feeling.  He  bore  no  close  resemblance  to  any  of  the  celebrated 
literary  talkers.  His  conversation  was  more  unexaggerated 
and  (if  I  may  say  so)  more  xmconscious  of  itself.  He  never 
seemed  to  be  thinking  of  himself  except  when  he  fancied  that 
he  was  an  object  of  curiosity  to  others,  and  then  the  thought 
chilled  his  faculties  of  speech  and  his  sense  of  genial  comfort. 
When  he  was  "  makmg  himself  entertaining,"  he  was  interested 


500  AFRAID    OF    MANNERISM.  0841. 

in  Lis  subject,  or  his  hearer,  or  his  sui-rounclings,  and  lost  to 
eA'crything  else. 

To  his  fascination  in  private,  his  friend  bears  cheerful  testi- 
mony.     His  exact  v/ords  on  this  point  need  not  be  withheld  : 

"You  know  liow  much  liilarity  there  was  in  liis  private  hours, 
when  ill  good  spirits  ;  liow  jocosely  he  saw  and  spoke  without  undigni- 
fying  himself,  as  so  many  men  of  wit  do.  Of  his  seasons  of  depres- 
sion I  know  nothing,  though  I  have  heard  liis  brother  James  speak  of 
such.  He  could  use  satire,  and  be  severe,  but  he  was  conscientiously 
just  and  considerate.  He  had  a  great  indifference  to  '  showing  off.' 
Was  it  pride  or  modesty?  How  ridiculous  everything  like  forward- 
ness seemed  to  him !  He  could  not  tolerate  affectation,  vanity,  assump- 
tion. Even  the  commonplace  ways  of  doing  one's  best  to  be  seen,  he 
perhaps  too  much  disdained." 

This  almost  morbid  aversion  from  everything  that  looked 
like  display  of  self,  had  its  effect  upon  his  manner  of  ])reach- 
ing.  Yet  his  feelings  would  often  get  the  better  of  him,  and 
make  him  eloquent  in  spite  of  every  half-voluntary  effort  on 
his  part  to  be  calm  and  unimpressive.  Sometimes  his  soul 
seemed  on  fire,  and  he  then  set  everything  before  him  in  a 
blaze.  His  hearers  Avould  observe  a  deathly  stillness  ;  would 
weep, shudder,  tremble;  would  almost  shout  aloud.  This  was 
not  often  but  sometimes  the  case,  when  Mr.  Alexander  was 
yet  in  the  flush  of  his  po^vers,  and  in  the  prime  of  his  florid 
health  and  exuberant  animal  spirits. 

"It  was  a  fault  of  his  doings  in  the  pn'pit  that  he  seemrd  to  be 
afraid  of  the  least  approacli  to  mannerism.  There  was  a  sort  of  care- 
lessness in  his  reading  and  preaching  which  sometimes  gave  the  appear- 
ance of  hurry  or  negligence.  He  would  not  try  to  give  effect  to  a 
hymn  or  chapter  by  his  mode  of  reading,  and  usually  tumbled  into 
his  sermon  as  if  it  was  to  be  despatched  as  soon  as  possible.  But  he 
soon  showed  that  he  felt  his  subject,  and  though  he  got  no  nearer  to 
artificial  cratnry  or  elocution,  there  came  nn  earnestness  and  often  an 
awful  solemnity  in  his  tones  which  literally  thriUed  h's  au'iei:ce. 
His  voice  was  delightful,  and  to  me  more  melting  in  pathetic 
parts  than  any  I  ever  heard,  excepting  perhaps  Jennv  Lind's.     Some 


-Et.  32.]  EXTEMPORARY    EFFORTS.  501 

of  his  long  sentences,  rolling  on  to  a  grand  climax,  occur  to  me, 
which  have  made  me  put  my  handkerchief  to  ray  mouth  lest  I  should 
scream.  It  of  course  happens  with  his  printed  sermons,  as  with  all  oth- 
ers tliat  were  delivered  with  feeling  and  melody,  that  their  effect  can 
be  realized  only  by  those  who  are  so  familinr  with  his  manner  of  deliv- 
ery that  they  can  hear  him  while  they  read." 

Dr.  Hall  thinks  that  his  performances  without  the  book 
were  nearly  or  quite  equal  to  his  more  laboured  efforts,  when 
he  spoke  with  every  assistance  from  the  manuscript. 

"  I  can  imagine  him  untrammelled  by  manuscript,  and  left  to  the 
working  of  his  feelings,  before  a  sympathetic  audience,  where  he  should 
lose  all  diffidence,  transcending  in  power  what  lie  would  write.  He 
had  such  a  control  of  language,  such  an  unhesitating  command  of  the 
very  words,  such  capacity  to  make  plain,  that  had  he  been  a  pastor,  I 
think  his  great  strength  and  ns?fulness  would  have  been  in  off-hand 
preacdiing.  lie  had  no  excuse  for  making  a  sermcn  from  study,  as  his 
mind  was  already  so  furnished  with  the  materials." 

This  is  no  vain  sjieculation.  No  one  Avho  knew  Mr.  Alex- 
ander in  private  as  Dr.  Hall  did,  could  doubt  that  his  genius 
Avould  be  excited  by  contact  with  some  great  occasion, 
and  that  he  might  under  such  circumstances  surpass  all 
his  previous  exhibitions  of  power  and  eloquence.  But  in  the 
opinion  expressed  above,  he  differs  from  many,  and  I  think 
from  Mr.  Alexander  himself.  The  judgment  of  a  public 
speaker  is  not  pei'haps  to  be  trusted  in  a  question  toucliing  the 
excellence  of  his  own  oratory,  or  touching  even  the  compara- 
tive proficiency  he  may  have  attained  in  a  particular  mode  of 
address.  There  are  other  valuable  judgments  on  this  point 
which  go  to  corroborate  that  of  Dr.  Hall.  It  may  be  that  any 
defects  in  brilliancy  of  imagination,  copiousness  of  fancy,  or 
vehemence  of  passion,  which  some  think  they  have  noticed  in 
Mr.  Alexander's  extemporary  efforts  as  compared  with  those 
in  which  he  used  the  manuscript,  may  be  owing  purely  to  his 
constitutional  reluctance  to  display  himself,  his  feelings,  and 
liis  fancies  before  the  world.     In  the  study  he  could  overcome 


•502  EXTEMPORE    EFFORT.  [1841. 

fhe  repugnance.     In  the  pulpit,  possibly,  he  found  it  move  dif 
ficult  to  do  so. 

On  the  other  hand,  his  memory  was  so  surprising  that  he 
retained  a  sermon  in  his  head  after  reading  it  over  once ;  this 
he  admitted  to  his  brother  James ;  and  it  is  not  improbable 
that  he  sometimes  preached  memoriter  Avhen  it  was  supposed 
that  he  was  ci'eating  his  disconrse  de  novo. 

I  happen  to  recollect  an  instance  of  this  kind.  One  Sun 
day  night,  the  preacher,  who  had  been  expected  to  officiate  in 
the  First  Church  in  Princeton,  was  absent,  or  for  some  reason 
unable  to  speak,  and  Mr.  (then  Dr.)  Addison  Alexander  was 
applied  to  to  take  his  place.  Seeing  at  once  how  the  matter 
stood,  he  swiftly  ascended  the  steps  of  the  pulpit,  and  after 
the  preliminary  services,  in  which  he  seemed  to  be  altogether 
at  his  ease,  poured  out  one  of  the  most  enrapturing  and  over- 
whelming discourses  to  Avhich  I  ever  had  the  jn-ivilege  of  list- 
ening. It  was  spoken  of  by  some  as  an  extempore  effort,  but 
was  the  famous  sermon  on  the  "  City  with  Foundations,"  which 
is  printed  in  his  Avorks.  He  fairly  ravished  me  with  his 
enchanting  imaginative  pictures,  and  his  wild  bursts  of  music 
and  pathos.  He  went  through  it  as  a  summer  wind  goes 
through  the  trees  before  the  outbreak  of  a  thunderstorm.  His 
voice  was  plaintive,  but  too  low  for  the  greatest  popular  im- 
pression. His  tones,  however,  were  diversified,  and  to  him  per- 
fectly natural;  though  his  intonation  was  singularly  peculiar, 
and  by  the  rules  of  rhetorical  elocution,  faulty.  But  it  was 
the  best  manner  for  him,  and  with  its  wailing  cadence  and  ris- 
ino-  inflection  was  extensively  copied  by  his  students,  much  to 
their  own  detriment  and  somewhat  to  the  astonishment  and 
amusement  of  their  audiences.  But  there  was  no  time  to  see 
or  think  of  faults.  The  speaker  was  in  breathless  haste,  and 
was  going  at '  railroad  speed.'  Sometimes  he  would  glide  in 
nobly  and  gracefully  to  the  end  of  a  paragraph  or  period,  very 
much  as  a  locomotive  glides  in  through  a  ihii-  prospect  to  the 
swinging  bell  which  indicates  the  next  stop.  Now  and  then 
he  would  suddenly  lift  his  right  hand  with  a  sort  of  upward 
wave,  and  then  drop  it  again.     This  was  almost  his  only  ges- 


^T.32.]  THE    CITY   WITH    FOUNDATIONS.  503 

tare.  To  cliange  the  figure  used  just  now,  the  sermon  was  a 
widening  and  foaming  torrent,  and  closed  in  a  perfect  catai'act 
of  glorious  imagery  and  high  religious  feeling. 

Of  all  Mr.  Alexander's  sermons  this  one  is  the  most  imag- 
inative, in  the  popular  sense  of  that  terra,  that  is,  the  most 
ornate  and  highly  wrought,  the  most  full  of  rare  and  cap- 
tivating fancy.  It  is  also,  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the 
term,  a  noble  work  of  imagination.  It  is,  from  beginning 
to  end,  a  mass  of  gorgeous  imagery,  describing  the  kin- 
dred yet  opposite  illusions  of  the  saint  and  the  worldling. 
The  peroration  is  descriptive  of  the  rupture  (fearful  in  the  one 
case,  and  transcendent  in  the  other)  of  these  life-long  decep- 
tions. The  Christian  who  had  sought  the  glimmering  city  in 
the  sky,  with  faint  heart  but  steadfast  purpose,  finds  that  all 
beneath  that  city  is  shadow,  and  that  this  alone  is  substance. 
He  awakes  from  his  dream  to  pass  an  eternity  in  transport. 
The  wicked  man  awakes  from  his  dream  also  ;  he  had  thought 
the  world  was  every  thing,  and  had  made  light  of  the  celestial 
vision  as  a  puerile  vanity.  He  av/akes  to  shame  and  everlasting 
contempt. 

It  is  as  sustained  a  description  as  any  thing  in  Bunyan  ;  but 
is  not  at  all  quaint,  not  primitive,  not  antique,  homely  or 
crude.  It  is  perfectly  modern ;  and  very  rich  in  its  elaborate 
colouring,  as  Avell  as  superb  in  its  minute  finish.  The 
difference  between  the  two  in  these  respects  is  analogous  to 
the  difference  between  Perugino  and  Paul  de  la  Roche.  It 
was  one  of  the  eaiiier  and  more  florid  efforts  for  which,  in  after 
life,  he  had  a  supreme  contempt.  Macaulay  thus  despised  the 
essay  on  Milton,  and  pronounced  its  noble  ornaments  gaudy. 

Mr.  Alexander's  vocabulary  was  not  more  immense  than 
his  selections  from  it  were  eminently  choice.  The  writer, 
upon  the  store  of  whose  recollections  I  have  just  been  draw 
in<r,  after  speaking  of  the  fluency  and  charm  of  his  speech 
whether  in  the  private  circle  or  in  the  pulpit,  is  naturally  led 
to  speak  of  his  written  style  : 

"His  command  of  language  must  strike  every  reader  of  his  com- 


604  HIS    DAY    BOOKS.  [1841. 

mentaries,  &c.  So  simple,  too  ;  so  familiar,  easy,  colloquial  often.  It 
reads/asi,  as  it  was  written.  Ilis  English  is  more  Saxon  than  his  broth- 
er's and  its  clearness  and  immediate  iutelligibleuess  suit  better  those 
who  do  not,  or  cannot,  study  as  they  read." 

The  same  gentleman  was  struck,  like  all  others,  with  his 
friend's  "diversity  of  knowledge,  reading,  tastes,  &c."  He 
thinks  he  was  told  by  one  of  Mr.  Alexander's  brothers  that 
he  had  read  all  Coke  on  Littleton.     In  literature 

"  He  knew  no  limits.  Did  he  not  begin  a  sort  of  Biographia  Liter- 
aria  of  himself?  It  seems  to  me  either  he  told  me  so,  or  that  I  heard 
something  of  the  kind  was  found  among  his  papurs." 

His  impression  is  that  Mr.  Alexander  once  told  him  he  kept 
a  record  of  all  the  books  he  read. 

Dr.  Hall  is  substantially  right  here.  Mr.  Alexander  once 
said  he  meant  to  write  a  literary  autobiography,  but  he  never 
carried  it  out.  He,  however,  kept  a  sort  of  biographicoliter- 
ary  diary ;  which  is  for  the  most  part  a  mere  record  of  his 
daily  employments,  and  innumerable  projects  and  schemes  of 
study.  In  this  journal  he  commonly  put  down  the  names  and 
description  of  the  books  he  read,  and  sometimes  entered  in  it 
also  his  judgment  upon  their  contents.  Sometimes,  though  very 
rarely,  he  makes  his  entry  in  the  form  of  a  critical  notice  or  frag- 
ment of  a  review-article.  His  favourite  way  of  indicating  when 
he  began  and  when  he  finished  a  volume,  was  by  marking  the 
dates  in  the  book  itself  The  presence  of  a  date  on  any  page 
showed  that  he  had  read  up  to  that  point.  His  day-books 
abound  in  frequent  traces  of  his  exegetical  labours,  and  are  sprin- 
kled over  with  Hebrew,  Arabic,  and  Syriac  characters.  They 
are  also  enriched  with  quotations  and  original  fragments  in 
various  of  the  modern  languages.  Sometimes  he  fills  a  page 
with  minute  accounts  of  what  is  doing  in  Princeton  or  else- 
where. Occasionally  he  indulges  in  a  delineation  of  charac- 
ter. When  he  travelled,  his  best  journals  commonly  took  the 
form  of  letters  to  his  friends  at  home.  These  foreign  letters 
are  minute  and  exact  enough  on  all  points  to  satisfy  the  most 


'Ex.  32.]  NO   DISPLAY   OP   LEARNING.  505 

rigorous  demands  of  his  correspondents.  They  would  some- 
times be  tedious  were  they  not  so  full  of  change,  so  gracefully 
voluble,  so  witty,  learned,  sensible,  and  graphic,  so  affectionate, 
so  characteristically  expressive  of  the  writer's  shifting  moods 
and^  whims,  so  charged  Avith  laughing  abandon  ancf  animal 
spirits,  so  free  from  the  usual  contagion  of  the  guide-books,  so 
artfully  simple  and  natural  in  style,  and  so  smoothly  and  legi- 
bly written  with  the  pen,  in  his  round,  fair  manner. 

His  freedom  from  all  pedantic  effort  to  show  his  Icarninfr 
has  been  noticed  by  every  body  who  ever  knew  him.  With  all 
liijS  information,  he  kept  it  as  much  as  possible  in  the  back- 
ground, though  using  it  freely  when  occasion  really  called  for 
it.  Whether  at  home  or  abroad,  whether  in  his  letters  or  his 
conversation,  he  showed  himself  the  gentleman  and  scholar 
as  distinguished  from  the  vain  and  noisy  pretenders  to  these 
titles. 

On  this  point,  Dr.  Hall  says  : 

"I  need  not  add  how  fir  lie  was  from  disphxyiug  or  talking  about 
his  knowledge,  his  reading,  &c.;  how  well  he  escaped  the  airs  of  a 
learned  man  ;  how  young  and  fresh  he  was  to  the  last." 

With  all  his  lively  traits,  too,  his  profound  respect  for  all 
the  decencies  and  proprieties  of  religion  was  known  and  read 
of  all  men. 

"  Those  who  best  knew  his  cheerful  moods  know  also  how  serious 
and  reverent  he  was  in  every  thing  sacred.  ¥o  associations  seemed  to 
tempt  him  to  transgress  the  '  that  is  required  '  and  '  that  is  forbidden' 
in  the  Third  Commandment.  Yet  who  was  further  from  sanctimoni- 
ousness, or  cared  less  for  mere  forms  and  appearances?  " 

Dr.  Charles  Hodge  has  done  justice  to  the  scope  and  bril- 
liancy of  his  colleague's  intellect,  and  with  his  own  foreign 
training  and  his  life-long  companionship  with  men  of  mark 
and  learning.  Dr.  Hodge  will  not  be  accused  of  forming  his 
opinion  of  Mr.  Alexander  rashly,  or  upon  insufficient  data. 
He  might,  indeed,  be  suspected  of  some  partiality  toward  one 
whom  he  had  admired  from  a  child;  but  the  rsader  must  be 


506  IN    ARGUMENT.  [18*^ 

Struck  with  his  evident  fairness  of  statement,  and  the  tone  of 
deliberate  moderation  which  distinguishes  the  paragraphs  in 
which  he  refers  to  Mr.  Alexander's  inteUectual  ascendancy 
over  his  fellows : 

"  This  ascendancy  was  due  partly  to  his  extraordinary  talents.  He 
seemed  to  have  the  power  to  acquire  and  to  do,  in  the  best  manner  and 
with  the  greatest  ease,  whatever  he  chose  to  attempt.  He  was  a  great 
linguist.  He  learned  Arabic  and  Hebrew  when  yet  a  boy,  without 
any  insti-uctor.  He  became  familiar  with  almost  all  the  modern  lan- 
guages of  Europe,  apparently  without  effort.  But  this  in  him  was  not 
a  peculiar  and  solitary  gift.  He  acquired  all  things  apparently  with  tbe 
same  ease.  In  most  cases  it  was  not  the  language  itself,  so  much  as  its 
literature,  which  occupied  and  interested  him.  And  yet  the  science  of 
language 'and  comparative  philology  were  with  him  favoiu-ite  subjects  of 

"  His  mind  was  analytical  and  comprehensive.  He  could  unravel 
the  most  complicated  mass  of  details  and  discover  the  principle  by 
which  they  were  reduced  to  order.  This  power  he  displayed  to  great 
advantage  in  the  treatment  of  the  Old  Testament  History,  which  he  so 
taught  a°s  to  make  that  economy  appear  as  an  organic  whole,  each  part 
assuming  its  proper  relation  to  every  other  part,  and  all  culminating  m 
the  fuller  revelation  of  the  now  economy. 

"  Few  men  had  the  ability  to  argue  with  greater  clearness  and  force, 
as  is  evinced  in  the  introductions  to  several  of  his  commentaries  and 
in  his  Biblical  essays. 

"  His  style  was  distinguished  not  only  for  perspicuity,  but  for  sm- 
gular  felicity  and  propriety  of  language.  It  was  a  great  pleasure  to 
listen  to  him,  with  the  attention  directed  to  that  particular  point.  Iso 
man  could  fay  more  in  few  words.  His  memory  was  not  only  encyclo- 
pajdic  1  ut,  remarkably  tenacious.  Some  of  his  feats  of  re  :oUection 
are  well  knxjwn  to  his  friends,  which  seem  almost  incredible.  More  than 
once  he  has  come  into  my  study,  and  taken  a  sheet  of  pnper  and  written 
down  in  alphabetical  order  the  first,  middle-names,  and  the  surnames  of 
thirty  or  forty  students,  after  having  heard  them  called  over  the  day 
before  promiscuously  in  the  process  of  matriculation.  The  fertility  of 
his  imagination  was  strikingly  exhibited  in  many  of  his  sermons,  and  in 
the  poetic  effusions  in  whicli  he  sometimes  inclnlired.  Taidng  liim  nl] 
in  all,  he  was  certainly  the  most  gifted  man  with  whom  I  have  ever 
been  personally  acquainted." 


-^■f-  83.]  A    LETTER.  ,  507 

Dr.  Hodge  sjDeaks  of  his  "  Introrluctions  "  as  showing  in  a 
high  degree  the  power  of  argument.  Some  of  his  expositions 
and  critical  articles  are  equally  remarkable  in  this  respect. 
His  novel  presentation  of  the  argument  for  the  canon  of  Scrip, 
ture,  in  his  work  on  Now  Testament  Literature,  will  here  occur 
to  the  reader.  His  reJ'utation  of  the  papal  claim  from  the  Sa- 
viour's words  to  St.  Peter;  his  progressive  proof  of  the  sacred 
writer's  purpose  in  the  first  Gospel,  and  in  the  second,  and  in 
the  Acts ;  his  discussion  of  the  point  whether  the  brothers  of 
our  Lord  were  the  sons  of  Mary ;  his  repeated  discomfiture  of 
German  grammarians  and  lexicographers  on  their  own  ground, 
in  the  Isaiah;  and  his  proof  of  the  strictly  paradoxical  char- 
acter of  many  of  our  Lord's  sayings,  are  other  instances  that 
occur  to  me.  The  most  sustained  and  lengthened  of  his  argu- 
ments pure  and  simple,  however,  is  his  work  on  the  Primitive 
Offices ;  which  is  in  form  as  logical  and  polemical  as  Chilling- 
worth's. 

In  the  following  letter,  he  chides  his  correspondent  humor- 
ously for  multiplying  his  labours  vv^ith  a  view  to  ensnare  his 
Princeton  friend  into  compliance : 

"Pei^cetox,  March  29,  1842. 
"  Mr  Dear  Sir  : 

'•The  Sunday  work  I  could  do  fa-  you  without  inconvenience  ;  but 
I  do  not  choose  t;)  come  down  and  return  en  that  day,  and  I  have 
an  engagement  on  Monday  morning,  besides  writing  enougli  to  keep  me 
busy  until  late  at  night  on  Saturday.  I  know  your  sympathy  with  my 
official  burden  is  extremely  weak,  and  it  may  ha  for  that  reason  that 
my  own  with  yours  is  not  the  strongest  possible,  especially  in  reference 
to  1  hose  embarrassments  whicli  spring  from  an  extraordinary  multipli- 
ca'inn  of  public  duties.  I  take  for  granted  that  the  services  of  which 
you  speak  on  Monday  and  Friday  are  voluntary  appointments  of  your 
own  (providential  emergencies  being,  of  course,  subject  to  no  rule),  and 
venture  to  suggest  that  if  you  are  not  able  to  fulfil  them,  they  ought  not 
to  have  been  mnde.  All  this,  in  sul  stance,  I  remember  to  have  heard 
from  yon  on  s-i  iiihu-  nccnslons,  and  have  me-  el y  given  it  a  new  directiim. 
Eut  seriously,  I  do  believe  that  by  [ireaching  at  my  u?unl  place  in  this 
vicinity,  on  Sunday  afternoon,  and  attending  to  my  duties  on  Saturday 
and  Monday,  I  am  likely  to  do  more  good  than  by  leaving  all  these  in 


508 


TOURS  ABOUT  HOME.  [18«- 


order  to  do  what  I  can  do  just  as  well  in  the  vacation  of  three  months 
and  more,  during  which  it  is  impossible  to  suppose  that  you  will  net 
need  help  as  much  as  you  do  now.  Mr.  Yeomans  was  here  yesterday, 
hut  only  on  his  way  to  New  York.  Very  sincerely  yours, 

"  J.  A.  Alexander." 

The  astonishment  with  which  the  fact  is  accepted  that  Mr. 
Alexander  knew  much  of  the  world,  and  had  the  rare  g.lt 
of  readino-  the  human  heart,  notwithstanding  his  recluse  hab- 
its would  be  greatly  lessened  were  it  generally  known  how 
much  he  travelled,  and  what  a  keen  observer  be  was  ot  all  he 
saw  on  these  journeys.     He  delighted  to  leave  home  some- 
what mysteriously,  and  to  return  without  previous  announce- 
ment     He  loved  to  go  off  without  a  plan  either  for  place  or 
time  to  remain  incognito,  and  to  be  absent  as  long  as  the  trip 
continued  to  be  pleasant.     Now  and  then  he  had  a  compainon 
in  these  tours,  but  commonly  preferred  to  be  alone.     Even 
durino-  the  sessions  of  the  Seminary,  he  was  sure  to  seize  every 
occasi'on  of  prer^hing  in  Trenton,  or  Philadelphia,  or  New- 
York    or  elsewhere,  and  would,  under  these  circumstances, 
spend  the  whole  of  Saturday  in  roaming  about  the  town  or  city 
he  visited,  or  in  speculating  upon  the  probable  characters  of 
the  people  he  saw  passing  to  and  fro  on  the  streets  and  at  the 
hotels.     He  had  a  strange  passion  for  riding  in  public  vehicles 
attending  large  public  gatherings,  seeing  startling  s.ghts  and 
shifting  crowds  of  people;  but  he  especially  liked  the  bust  e 
nnd  perpetual  variety  of  the  large  city  hotels.     He  seemed  to 
feel  perfectly   comfortable,  when  he  could  thus  survey  the 
world  in  miniature  and  at  the  same  time  be  pretty  confident 
that  nobody  recognized  him,  or,  if  any  one  did,  that  no  one 
would   venture    to    disturb   him.     But   he   took   the  highest 
satisfaction  in  those  little  jaunts  which  were  almost  unpre- 
meditated, and  which  were  not  complicated  with  any  min- 
isterial  "appointments."     He  loved  to  take  his   passage  on 
the  Camden  and  Amboy  steamboats,  and   to  snuff  the   salt 
freeze  from  the  sea.  He  has  given  in  the  Princet  on  Magazine  au 
amusing  account  of  one  of  these  trips  to  Camdcu,  m  which  he 
exhibits  a  perfect  acquaintance  with  the  route,  and  with  the 


^T.33.]  NO    PREVIOUS    PLAN.  509 

minutise  of  what  is  done  on  these  boats  and  on  the  connecting 
railway.     He  was  just  as  familiar  with  the  Bay  of  New-York, 
and  the  nohle  spectacle  of  shipping  at  the  wharves  and  in  the 
roadstead,  and  with  the  noise,  confusion,  rush,  and  daily  inci- 
dents of  the  Hoboken  and  Jersey  City  ferries.     Sometimes  he 
"  enlarged  his  brief,"  and  struck  out  for  new  regions.      He 
would  get  upon  a  train  of  cars  and  dash  into  the  interior  of 
New-York,  or  Pennsylvania ;  or  he  would  visit  the  lakes,  or  the 
mountains,  or  the  great  rivers.     He  once  took  it  into  his  head 
that  he  would  visit  all  the  notable  cities  of  the  United  States 
and  Canada,  and  did  visit  nearly  all  of  them  during  successive 
summers.   The  general  scheme  of  travel,  embracing  many  sep- 
arate and  independent  journeys,  v/as  often  arranged  beforehand, 
with   lucid   comprehension   and    refined   accuracy ;    but   the 
method  of  travel  on  each  particular  journey  was  left  to  be 
decided  by  the  current  of  events.     It  was  most  usual  with 
him  to  have  no  chart  or  programme.     Nothing  could  exceed  the 
utterly   planless  character   of    some   of  his    excursions.      It 
diverted  bis  mind  to  be  passive  and  let  chance  determine  the 
question  whither  he  should  go,  Avhere  he  should  lodge,  and 
what  he  should  have  for  his  breakfast,  his  dinner,  or  his  sup- 
per.    He   often   let   the  waiters    choose   for   him.     He   often 
started  to  go  to  one  point,  and  afterwards  changed  his  mind 
and  went  to  another  and  perhaps  the  very  opposite.    This  was 
not    from  any  want  of  voluntary  firmness.     It  was  done  de- 
liberately, and  was  the  way  in  which  he  saw  fit  to  recreate  his 
jaded  feelings  and  faculties  of  mind,  whish,  however  capable 
of   severe  tension  and  long  endurance,  of  course  sometimes 
needed  unbending,  and  now  and  then  craved  absolute  repose. 
It  was  the  expression,  too,  of  a  fresh  and  original  mind  which 
sought  out  new  or  adventurous  paths.     It  was  his  own  way  of 
enjoying  himself  to  his  heart's  content  in  the  intervals  of 
labour.  Once,  when  he  was  in  Europe,  and  in  quest  of  a  certain 
town  towards  which  he  had  been  making  all  speed,  he  was 
apprized  of  the  fact  that  he  had  reached  it ;  and  on  the  instant, 
and  for  no  reason  in  the  world  but  pure  caprice,  determined  to 
go  somewhere  else,  and  refused  to  stop  at  the  place  indicated. 


510  HIS    TASTES   IN    TRAVEL.  [184a 

When  he  visited  New-York,  lie  commonly  staid  at  a  public 
house.     This  was  more  convenient,  and  enabled  him  the  better 
to  fulfil  the  ends  for  which  he  had  left  home.     He  went  from 
one  hotel  to  another,  until  he  had  seen  them  all     He  would 
take  one  meal  at  one  cafe  or  taUe  dlwte  and  another  at  another. 
He  had  the  greatest  talent  for  enjoying  himself  in   strange 
places,  and  in  looking  eagerly  at  little  but  unnoticed  things. 
His  European  journals  show  how  much   of  his   enjoyment 
abroad  was   derived  from  other  scenes  besides  those  which 
travellers  usually  make  most  of;  scenes  on  shipboard,  on  the 
highway,  in  the  intercourse  of  foreign  society,  and  especially 
scenes  presenting  anything  that  was  droll  or  characteristic. 
He  went  to  parts  of  old  towns  which  are  not  approached  by 
voyao-ers.     He  read  all  the  old  signs,  and  especially  those  in 
strange  characters.     Foreign  signs  and  street-cries  Avere  among 
his  hobbies.     He  loved  anything  that  was  racy  and  of  the  soil. 
He  at  first  preferred  Amsterdam  to  Paris.     He  never  tired  of 
comparing  what  he  saw  abroad  with  what  he  had  seen  which 
was  most  like  it  at  home ;  and   of  noticing  resemblances   be- 
tween certain  persons  in  England  or  Scotland  or  on  the  conti- 
nent and  certain  persons  in  the  United  States ;  and  between  the 
incidents  of  his  earlier  and  of  his  later  European  journeys, 
which  were  divided  by  an  interval  of  exactly  twenty  years.    His 
memory  for  these  incidents,  and  for  the  names,  faces,  dates  and 
circumstances   to  which   they    were   related,  was   admirable 
almost  to  the  point  of  perfection.     Large  portions  of  bis  for- 
eign diary  are  taken  up  with   descriptions  of  the  children  he 
saw  in  the  streets.     Some  of  these  excited  more  admiration  in 
his  mind  than  Notre  Dame.     He  had  a  comical  way  of  calling 
all  children  "  babes,"  and  all  young  men  "  youths."     He  had 
a  classic  taste  in  music,  and  an  untutored  but  sound  Gothic 
taste  in  architecture ;  but  he  was  a  modern  in  his  taste  for 
painting,  and  confesses,  with  a  sort  of  whimsical  compunction, 
that  he^prefers  Delaroche  to  Raphael.     What  struck  him  most 
at  the  Louvre,  was  that  the  great  room  was  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
long.     He  liked  the  Dutch  painters  as  a  class  better  than  the 
Italian  or  even  the  French.     The  homeliness  and  visible  truth 


^T.33.]  PAINTINGS.  511 

of  the  pictures  which  crowd  the  walls  of  Amsterdam,  Leyden, 
and  Antwerp,  took  hold  of  him  with  power.  He  had  no  scru- 
ples about  disclosing  what  were  the  emphatic  judgments  of  his 
mind  on  all  such  points.  It  is  very  characteristic  of  him  that 
the  paintings  which  he  most  fancied  in  Paris  and  in  Holland, 
as  well  as  in  Great  Britain,  were  portraits  of  children,  the 
children  of  celebrated  kings.  At  the  Trippenlmis  in  Amsterdam, 
which  could  boast  many  of  the  choicest  pieces  of  Rubens, 
Rembrandt,  Teniers,  Gerard  Dow,  Vandyck  and  others,  and 
which  contained  the  famous  Boar  Hunt  of  Paul  Potter,  the 
thing  that  riveted  and  fascinated  him  was  the  full-length 
portrait  by  Vandyck  of  the  two  children  of  Charles  the  First. 
•He  did  not  aiFect  an  emotion  which  he  did  not  feel,  when  con- 
fronted with  the  old  masters.  The  repetition  of  sacred  sub- 
jects soon  became  tedious  to  him,  and  the  idolatrous  worship 
of  "  Saints "  and  "  Holy  Families  "  was  something  that  he 
could  not  understand  or  imitate.  He  said  he  would  not  give 
the  pictures  of  the  children  of  Charles  the  First  by  Vandyck, 
and  of  Edward  the  Fourth,  by  Paul  Delaroche,  for  all  the  Ma- 
donnas and  Holy  Families  of  the  greatest  masters. 

He  loved  to  seize  upon  the  salient  traits  of  a  new  people  or 
spoken  language,  at  a  glance  of  his  eye  or  ear.  If  he  discov- 
ered that  he  had  made  mistakes,  he  was  careful  to  take  them 
back.  His  journal  of  one  day  is  in  little  things  sometimes  in 
flat  contradiction  of  the  journal  of  the  preceding.  The  com- 
plexion, size,  features,  manners,  accent,  habits,  of  a  popula- 
tion aflbrded  him  endless  sources  of  amusement.  Types  and 
sub-types  of  national  and  individual  character  were  always  ob- 
served and  discriminated  by  him.  He  had  constructed  an 
unwritten  science  on  this  whole  subject. 

But  it  is  of  his  more  ordinary  jaunts  and  journeys,  hia 
remarkable  "  travels  about  home,"  that  I  had  proposed  speak- 
ing. He  sometimes  travelled  in  company  with  one  or  more  of 
his  young  scholars.  It  was  a  rare  thing  for  him  not  to  have  s 
boy  under  the  ferule.  One  of  these  went  with  him  on  his 
second  voyage  to  Europe,  but  this  was  after  the  relation  be- 
tween them  of  preceptor  and  pupil  had  long  since  ceased.     I 


512  TRIP   TO   TICONDEROGA.  [1842 

remember  a  visit  with  him  to  Fairmount  Water- works  at  Phila- 
delphia, and  his"  taking  an  ice  cream  "  there.  Afterwards  we 
walked  along  the  "verdurous  wall"  of  the  Schuylkill  till  we 
came  to  the  massive  portals  of  Laurel  Hill  cemetery.  The 
o-rassy  margin  of  the  river,  shining  in  the  sun,  and  the  pictur- 
esque acclivity  and  profuse  shade  of  the  heights  capped  with 
obelisks  were  greatly  admired  by  him.  An  accident  prevented 
our  admittance.  Ou  the  way,  he  talked  in  his  most  sportive  and 
fascinating  manner.  The  day  was  enchanting,  and  his  keen 
pleasure  in  everything  he  saw,  unbounded.  The  length  of  a 
coal-train  on  the  Reading  Railway,  as  it  crossed  the  long 
bridge  near  Fairmount,  aroused  his  wonder. 

When  in  Pliiladelphia,  and  merely  on  the  wing,  he  com- 
monly put  up  at  Jones's,  then  the  priucipal  hotel  in  the  city, 
and  one  of  I^Ir.  Alexander's  favourite  stopping  places.  Very 
often,  notwithstanding  all  efforts  to  the  contrary,  his  friends 
would  find  him  out  and  invite  him  to  their  Jiouses,  or  urge  him 
to  occupy  their  pulpits.  All  this  he  would  take  very  good- 
naturedly,  but  would  complain  a  little  bitterly  to  his  travel- 
ling companion  of  the  "  breach  of  his  incognito." 

"  For  months  beforehand,"  writes  one  of  his  nephews,  "  my  kind 
instructor  had  been  talking  of  a  trip  with  me  to  Ticouderoga  ;  which 
place  he  had  previously  visited  alone  Idraself.  A  trip  was  accordingly 
taken,  not  to  Ticonderoga,  bnt  to  Washington.  This  trip  to  Ticon- 
deroga  became  a  proverb  in  our  subsequent  intercourse,  and  was  used 
to  denote  any  journey  in  which  we  jointly  participated.  He  always 
spoke  of  such  a  journey,  as  '  our  projected  trip  to  Ticonderoga.'  " 

That  journey  to  Washington  is  one  of  the  most  memorable 
events  of  the  writer's  life.  It  was  during  the  palmy  days  of 
the  American  Senate,  when  Winthrop  was  speaker  of  the 
House,  and  Webster,  Calhoun,  Preston,  Benton,  McDowell, 
and  others  equally  or  scarcely  less  famous,  were  tlic  lions  of 
the  legislative  chambers.  The  whole  tour  was  marvellous  and 
exciting  to  a  raw  lad  without  any  knowledge  whatever  of  the 
great  world  ;  but  the  scenes  and  occurrences  at  the  capital 
blotted  out  the  vivid  memory  of  any  thing  else.     As  the  two 


^T.83.]  AT   WASHINGTON.  613 

rode  by  the  various  jmblic  building?,  lie  pointed  them  out  and 
explained  their  uses,  and  described  what  was  done,  or  what  w\as 
to  be  seen  within  their  walls.     As  they  passed  the  Patent 
Office,  his  manner,  wdiich  had  been  very  gracious,  suddenly 
changed.     Without  the  least  warning,  he  seized  his  fellow- 
traveller  (who  was  alone  with  him  in  the  hack),  and  forcibly 
directed  his  face  towards  the  new  object  of  interest,  telling  him 
as  he  did  so,  in  quick,  sharp,  peremptory  tones,  to  look  out  of 
the  window  and  see  what  was  to  be  seen  ;  and  that  it  was  not 
worth  while  to  leave  one's  home  unless  one  was  disposed  to 
look  about  one  and  use  one's  eyes.     There  was  all  the  menace 
and  fire  of  legitimate  authority  in  his  tone,  as  he  said  this,  but 
he  did  not  seem  to  be  angry.     It  has  sometimes  struck  me  as 
possible,  that  he  wished  to  lodge  a  favourite  lesson  in  the  mind 
of  his  pupil,  and  could  think  of  no  w^ay  of  doing  it  at  once 
so   easy  and  effectual  as  this  summary  process.     The  ebulli- 
tion was  as  transient  as  it  was  extraordinary.     He  was  pres- 
ently in  a  high  glow,  and  played  the  part  of  a  Mentor  with  as 
much  kindliness  as  knowledge  and  discretion.     Mr.  Alexander 
held  in  contempt  every  thing  like  laziness,  revery,  stupidity, 
and  idiotic   listlessness.      All   approaches   to   these   baneful- 
states  he  cordially  reprobated.     The  travellers  repaired  every 
morning  to  the  Capitol,  and  he  took  great   pains  in  showino- 
his    young   elhe   the    many   attractions   of    the   edifice   and 
the  grounds.     He  was  perfectly  content  to  stay  there  all  day, 
strolling  under  the  green  trees,  watching  the  movements  of 
the  children,  examining  the  pictures   and  statuary,  surveyino- 
the  fine  prospect  of  the  Potomac  and  the  verdant  fields  adja- 
cent which  is  commanded  by  the  higher  parts  of  the  buildino-, 
and  above  all  attending  the  debates  of  Congress.     When  gen- 
tly reminded,  about  two  o'clock,  of  the  importance  of  sustain- 
ing nature  with  food,  he  would  say,  "  I  can  do  without  my 
dinner,"  but   would   pleasantly   yield   to  the  urgency   of  an 
appeal  which  if  suggested  by  the  cravings  of  appetite,  was  cer- 
tainly fortified  by  considerations  of  reason.     He  listened  to  the 
interesting  speeches.     Colonel  Benton  one  day  spoke  for  hours 

while  they  w^ere  there.      But  what  interested  him  most  wa<» 
22* 


514  VISITS    CONGRESS.  [1842. 

scrutinizing  the  personal  features  and  bearing  of  members,  gaz- 
ing upon  the  animating  tout  ensemble,  studying  the  manners  of 
men  and  the  varieties  of  human  character,  witnessing  the  call- 
ing of  the  roll,  and  of  the  yeas  and  nays,  and  wliat  he  has 
styled  "  the  pretty  play  of  passing  between  tellers,"  watching 
the   easy   grace    and   adroitness  of  the   pages,    and  the  free 
employment   by   members    of  newspapers    and    government 
"  stationery,"  and  familiarizing  himself  (if  such  a  term  applies 
to  who   needed   little   further   instruction)   to   the  rules  and 
usages  of  parliamentary  decorum,  the  order  and  ibrm  of  the 
varFous  motions,  and  the  operation  of  such  devices  as  the  pre- 
vious question,  the  motion  to  adjourn,  and  the  series  of  other 
dilatory  feints.    His  eyes  wandered  from  a  wearisome  declaimer 
to  the  prominent  members  who  retained  their  seats,  to  the 
gadabouts  and  whisperers,  to  the  sycophants,  to  the  vain  or 
handsome  men,  to  those  who  noiselessly  glided  to  and  i'ro  in 
the  passages,  or  moved  or  stood  in  groups  in  the  open  spaces, 
at  the  door,  and  in  the  lobby.     He  appeared  to  see  through  it 
all,  and  could  and  did  unravel  the  mesh  from  beginning  to  end. 
Pie  invited  the  attention  of  his  young  charge  to  the  fact  that 
the  really  great  men  did  not  put  themselves  in  the  foreground, 
never  vociferated  or  bawled,  were  not  always  on  the  floor,  and 
seldom  uttered  a  word  except  on  important  questions.     One 
day,  in  the  left  hand  gallery,  the  strangers  looked  down  upon 
the  tall,  o-aunt  figure  of  John  C.  Calhoun,  of  South  Carolma, 
who  was  silently  pacing  the  area  near  the  reporters'  desks,  with 
his  head  bowed  forward,  and  his  iron-gray  hair  brushed  high 
over  his  forehead  and  falling  in  long,  straggling  locks  about  his 
ears.     He  did  not  open  his  mouth  to  speak  during  the  whole 
time  they  were  there.     Mr.  Alexander  also  directed  the  notice 
of  his  pupil  to  the  vacant  seat  of  the  Senator  from  Massachu- 
setts, and  told  him  to  pay  attention  to  the  man  who  should  sit 
in  it.'    Soon  after  a  dark-browed  man,  of  a  swarthy  complex- 
ion, with  deep  sunken  eyes  and  a  certain  look  of  hidden  power, 
entered  the  door  and  occupied  this  very  seat.   He  was  dressed 
in  a  blue  coat  with  brass  buttons,  and  was  the  impersonation 
of  Senatorial  gravity.     Mr.  Webster  spoke  three  Avords  while 


^-"-.ss.]  HAM    AND   EGGS.  515 

the  Princeton  visitors  were  in  the  chamber,  and  these  were 
from  his  seat.     They  were  the  words,  "  Let  it  pass." 

Another  point  of  great  attraction  at  Washington  was  the 
huge  arm-chair  of  Dixon  II.  Lewis,  which  was  at  least  twice  as 
large  as  any  other.  While  the  tourists  were  looking  at  it,  the 
unwieldy  member  took  his'seat  and  filled  it  amply.  Mr.  Alex- 
ander seemed  a  little  annoyed,  but  not  at  all  provoked,  that 
his  own  ability  to  occupy  one  of  the  ordinary  arm-chairs 
should  excite  the  surprise  and  comment  of  his  fellow-traveller. 

Some  of  Mr.  Alexander's  impressions  of  what  he  saw  at 
different  times  a,t  Washington,  may  be  gathered  from  the 
Princeton  Magazine,  in  which  he  has  embodied  them  in  articles 
of  a  serious  nature,  as  well  as  in  several  truly  laughable  sqidhs 
or  jeux  (V esprit.  One  of  these  articles  is  signed  "  Nos,"  and 
intituled,  "  Ham  and  Eggs.  A  Plea  for  Silent  Legislation." 
The  effort  of  the  satirist  is  to  show,  that  the  union  of  speakino- 
with  law-making  is  as  purely  conventional  as  that  of  ham  and 
eggs  ;  of  which  a  friend  once  remarked,  "  Why  should  those 
two  things  always  go  together?  The  only  effect  is  to  spoil 
them  both."  The  writer  refuses  to  endorse  that  opinion  in  its 
literal  application,  but  adopts  it  as  a  general  principle  of  broad 
range  and  with  a  striking  bearing  on  the  method  of  Congres- 
sional debates.  It  will  be  seen  that  he  has  anticipated  Carlyle 
in  his  clever  mot  about  "  wind  and  tongue."  After  a  pao-e  of 
strenuous  reasoning  and  telling  sarcasm,  he  thus  concludes  the 
paper : 

"  The  practice  of  oral  discnssioa  had  its  origin  when  books  were 
rare,  and  the  accomplishment  of  reading  saved  a  felon  from  the  gal- 
lows. "Why  should  it  still  be  kept  up,  as  a  part  of  legislation,  or  an 
indispensable  preliminary  to  it,  in  a  day  when  hackney-coachmen  read 
upon  their  boxes,  and  a  beggar  will  not  beg  till  he  has  seen  the  morn- 
ing paper  ?  We  might;  as  well  have  link-boys  with  our  gas-light,  or  hot 
bricks  with  our  furnaces.  Does  a  man  take  his  night-cap  and  dressino-- 
gown  ;ilong  with  him,  when  he  goes  by  railroad  from  New- York  to  Phil- 
adelphia f  >r  an  hour's  business,  as  he  did  when  he  went  by  the  old  lino 
of  stages,  and  spent  a  night  or  two  at  way-side  taverns?  It  is  shameful 
that    ....     our  legislation  should  be  just  where  it  was  in  the  days 


516  AVOIDS   PUBLICITY.  [1842. 

of  Wittenagemote,  when  the  Saxon  nohles  franked  public  documents 
with  the  sign  of  the  cross,  and  scored  appropriation  bills  upon  the 
walls  with  chalk  or  charcoal.  Let  us  have  no  more  of  this  exploded 
and  explosive  nonsense.  Let  the  Constitution  be  amended  so  as  to  for- 
bid all  talkin.',  except  so  far  as  may  be  absolutely  necessary,  for  the 
purpose  of  pas.-ing  bills  and  resolutions,  and  making  formal  motions 
for  the  conduct  of  tlie  public  business.  To  suppress  all  clamour  about 
voting  blindly,  in  the  dark,  and  whatnot,  let  no  legislative  act  be  passed 
until  ten  days  after  it  is  introduced,  and  in  the  meantime  let  the  press 
groan  with  arguments,  appeals,  and  explanations  upon  both  sides- 
More  will  read  them  than  wUl  now  listen  to  the  endless  twaddle  of  our 
conscript  fathers  and  brethren.  No  man  will  then  be  at  the  mercy  of 
reporters,  but  will  speak  for  himself  to  all  who  read  him.  And  many 
a  man  who  cannot  speak,  at  least  in  the  Temple  of  the  "Winds,  can 
write  intelligibly  on  an  interesting  subject.  Such  is  our  device  for  the 
cure  of  this  inveterate  disease  of  the  tongue,  or  rather  of  the  lungs ; 
for  Avo  believe,  after  all,  the  chief  ingredient  of  our  legislative  elo- 
quence is  wind. 

"  To  avert  the  criticisms  of  physicians,  druggists,  and  apothecaries, 
we  make  haste  to  add,  that  this  form  of  phthisis  is  entirely  sui generis, 
arising  from  excessive  strength  of  lungs,  and  ending  in  consumption  of 
the  public  money,  time  and  patience." 

To  appreciate  all  this  as  it  deserves,  the  reader  ought  to 
have  takeu  a  trip  with  this  honest  critic  to  the  legislative 
chambers,  and  to  have  before  him,  as  he  peruses  these  trench- 
ant paragraphs,  the  look  of  mischievous  fun  that  often  played 
over  the  writer's  face  when,  in  his  soft  voice  and  unhesitating 
rapid  tones,  he  uttered  such  "  ower  true  "  pleasantries  as  this 
is,  vivdvoce. 

Mr.  Alexander  abhorred  notoriety.  This  led  him,  as  some 
thought,  to  hide  his  light  too  much  under  a  bushel.  On  this 
head,  one  of  his  best  and  most  discerning  friends  writes : 

"  He  avoided  publicity  in  forms  where  he  would  have  appeared  to 
the  greatest  advantage."  * 

The  same  friend  thinks  he  must  have  refused  a  large  number 
*  Thcllev.  J.  Hall,  D.D.,  in  a  letter  to  the  biographer. 


^T.S2.]  ECCLESIASTICAL    COUETS.  517 

of  invitations  to  give  literary  lectures,  orations,  sermons  on 
prominent  occasions.  I  have  evidence  that  he  refused  a  pressing 
invitation  from  Prof.  Henry  to  lecture  before  the  Smithsonian 
Institution.  He  would  never  consent  to  a  nomination  for  the 
General  Assembly,  or  to  be  moderator  of  Synod  or  Presby- 
tery. He  was  fond  of  attending  the  debates  of  the  ecclesi- 
astical courts,  but  seldom  spoke,  and  then  in  few  words.  Now 
and  then  he  would  seem  to  forget  himself,  and  enter  pretty 
fully  into  the  merits  of  a  question.  His  speeches,  however, 
were  invariably  short  and  conversational,  and  commonly  made 
to  facilitate  the  progress  of  business. 

Dr.  Hall  is  satisfied  that  the  chief  reason  for  his  customary 
silence  was  the  consciousness  that  whatever  he  should  say 
would  be  sure  to  draw  unusual  attention  to  the  speaker.  An- 
other reason  unquestionably  was  a  contempt  for  the  American 
habit  of  mere  declamation.  It  is  certain  that  he  took  a  more 
active  part  in  the  debates  of  the  church  judicatories  which 
were  held  in  Princeton,  than  in  any  others ;  and  probably  not 
only  because  they  were  more  convenient  to  his  study,  and 
because  he  wished  to  set  a  right  example  before  the  young 
men,  but  also  because  iu  Princeton  he  was  better  known  to  the 
people  at  large  than  elsewhere,  and  his  movements  on  such 
occasions  would  therefore  not  be  likely  to  attract  so  much 
curious  notice  as  in  a  strange  town  or  villao-e. 

"  But  you  know  how  accurately  and  fully  he  could  rej^ort  a  debate 
when  it  was  over,  and  reproduce  the  peculiarities  of  the  speakers." 

Nothing  about  him  was  more  wonderful  than  his  astonish- 
ing acquaintance  with  the  forms  of  parliamentary  procedure. 
It  was  not  merely  great,  it  was  well-nigh  perfect.  It  was  that 
of  the  most  accomplished  expert ;  and  I  am  persuaded  that  no 
speaker  or  clerk  of  the  House  of  Representatives  ;  no  hanger- 
on  of  years'  standing  at  Washington  or  Westminster  could 
rattle  off  the  exact  expressions,  in  the  right  place,  and  in 
the  proper  order,  with  more  rapid  nonchalance  than  he  could. 
His  children's  books  are  filled  with  real  or  imaginary  diaries 


518  SOME  PEOPLE.  [1839. 

of  pnch  proceedings,  and  nothing  he  ever  wrote  is  more  amus- 
ing  than  some  of  the  burlesque  debates  he  has  recorded  in 
Wistar's  Magazine.  The  satire  in  these  inimitable  perform- 
ances is  sometimes  so  broad  that  any  child  can  see  it ;  but 
sometimes,  again,  it  is  terse  and  delicate,  like  that  which  has 
embalmed  the  pithy  sayings  of  La  Rochefoucauld. 

In  this  connection  I  am  reminded  to  say  that  perhaps  the 
most  vehement  sarcasm  Mr.  Alexander  ever  wrote,  is  contained 
in  a  contribution  of  two  pages  to  the  same  magazine,  which 
is  entitled  "  Some  People."  *  It  is  at  times  as  "  tart  as  the 
Quarterly"  under  Gilford.  Occasionally  it  seems  to  have 
almost  the  savagery  of  John  Lockhart,  in  his  roughest  style  ; 
but  a  benign  purpose  shines  through  every  one  of  its  caustic 
sentences. 

The  reader  will  not  find  his  attention  flag  in  the  attempt  to 
read  the  short  extracts  which  follow : 

"  Some  People  imagine  tliat  the  only  way  in  wLich  they  can  be 
disagreeable  is  by  ill  nature  or  severity.  They  never  dream  that  they 
may  be  too  gracious,  or  that  most  men  can  bear  any  thing  in  manner 
with  more  patience  than  that  bland  assumption  of  superiority,  which 
shows  itself  in  patronizing  condescension." 

"  Some  People  cherish  the  delusion,  that  in  order  to  enjoy  the 
pleasures  of  taste,  they  must  be  inventors,  or  at  least  performers.  They 
forget  that  the  great  majority  must  always  be  the  passive  recipients  of 
such  impressions.  Under  this  delusion  many  waste  their  lives  in  mak- 
ing themselves  mediocre  draughtsmen  or  musicians,  and  still  more 
deny  themselves  such  pastimes  altogether,  when  both  classes  might 
derive  untold  pleasure  from  thankfully  enjoying  what  is  done  by  oth- 
ers, without  ambitiously  attempting  it  themselves.  If  the  same  mis- 
take, which  thus  exists  about  the  fine  arts,  were  equally  operative  in 
literature,  what  would  the  result  be  ?  If  no  m;in  dared  to  read  a  poem 
without  writing  one,  the  world  would  either  have  too  many  writers  to 
be  read,  or  too  few  readers  to  let  writers  live. 

"  Some  People  think  it  is  a  conclusive  argument  against  a  given 
course  of  conduct,  that  if  all  men  followed  it,  society  could  not  exist. 
In  the  shallow  ethics  of  the  world,  no  formula  is  more  approved  than 

*Princeton  Magazine,  p.  280. 


^T.Sl]  IK   HIS   STUDY.  619 

'  What  if  eveiy  body  did  so  ? '  The  same  logic  would  demonstrate  that, 
because  if  all  were  doctors  there  would  be  uo  patients,  men  mu-t  all  be 
patients  and  noijie  doctors ;  or  because  if  all  preached  there  would  be 
no  hearers,  therefore  none  must  preach  and  all  must  hear  without  a 
preacher.  The  most  valuable  functions  are  precisely  those  which  would 
be  worthless  if  they  could  be  uuiversal." 

The  rhythm  of  the  last  trenchant  saying  was  no  doubt  un- 
conscious, but  is  very  characteristic  of  the  writer. 

"  Some  People,  if  they  condescend  to  read  these  paragraphs,  may 
feel  disposed  to  poach  upon  my  manor  and  write  others,  whether  in 
mere  continuation,  or  by  way  of  parody  or  refutation.  All  such  are  here- 
by notified  that  they  may  spare  themselves  the  labour  and  exposure 
which  they  meditate,  as  the  feelings  which  prompt  to  such  a  course  had 
better  be  kept  secret  than  exposed  to  public  view  ;  and  as  to  the  con- 
tinuation of  these  thoughts,  it  is  commonly  conceded  that  the  person 
who  begins  to  say  any  thing  is  for  the  most  part  the  best  qualified  to 
finish  it." 

The  fiercest  part  is  omitted  in  these  selections,  though  it  is 
all  a  masterpiece  of  cutting  sense  and  brevity.  It  is  true  Juve- 
nalian  satire ;  a  lashing  of  the  follies  of  the  age,  or  rather  of 
the  race,  and  from  a  wholesome  motive. 

Among  the  testimonials  of  this  period  is  that  of  Dr.  Rice 
of  Mobile,  Avho  was  then  a  student  of  the  Theological  Semin- 
ary, and  who  soon  began  to  frequent  his  study  again,  after 
long  years  during  which  they  had  seldom  met.  The  Professor 
was  engaged  at  this  time  upon  his  great  work  on  Isaiah, 
which,  in  addition  to  his  labours  in  the  Seminary,  left  him  very 
little  liberty  for  chat  with  his  friends.  He  recollects  that  he 
said  to  him  on  one  occasion,  that  his  study  was  always  open  to 
him.  If  he  should  come  in  and  find  him  busy,  he  would  take 
no  notice  of  him,  unless  he  had  some  special  matter  of  inquiry  ; 
but  it  would  not  interrupt  or  disturb  him  for  him  to  stay  there 
and  read  or  examine  books.  If  he  was  at  leisure  for  a  "  crack," 
he  would  sit  down  and  talk  to  his  pupil  as  he  believes  no  other 
man  ever  could  talk.  He  was  certainly  the  most  agreeable 
companion,  he  says,  that  he  has  ever  known. 


$20  A    EELIGIOUS    INSTRUCTOR.  (1842. 

"  Ilis  apprehensions  were  so  quick;  his  knowledge  was  so  exten- 
sive and  accurate;  liis  learning  so  varied  and  profound  ;  his  imagina- 
tion was  so  high  ;  his  fancy  so  hright,  lively,  playful  (albeit  it  was 
occ:isionally  a  little  grotesque,  though  it  was  always  refined) ;  his  wit 
so  sparkling,  thougli  it  was  sometimes  terrible  as  the  forked  lightning  ; 
his  humor  so  large,  sweet,  racy  and  genial,  that  his  society  at  this 
time  afforded  a  strange  pleasure  not  unmiugled  Avith  awe," 

The  evidence  as  to  his  social  capacities  and  sympathies 
when  engaged  in  talk  with  people  he  knew  well,  is  clear  and 
striking : 

"  In  intercourse  with  his  friends  and  intimate?,  he  was  unpretend- 
ing, modest,  and  Avitliout  affectation.  He  never  seemed  cunscioiis  of 
any  superiority.     lie  certainly  never  manifested  such  a  state  of  mind." 

In  reference  to  Mr.  Alexander's  religious  state  at  this  time, 
Dr.  Rice  says  that  when  he  entered  the  Seminary  and  became 
acquainted  Avith  him  again,  he  found  that  he  was  a  rapidly 
advancing  Christian.  He  does  not  think  he  has  ever  met  with 
one  who  grew  in  grace  more  consistently  and  constantly.  So 
transparent  a  character  could  not  fail  to  reveal  himself  to  those 
with  whom  he  was  associated  as  intimately  as  this  Professor 
was  with  his  pupils.  Every  teacher  is  known  by  his  class  ;  by 
some  of  them;  by  those  who  from  more  favourable  opportuni- 
ties of  seeing  him  than  others,  or  from  superior  natural  quali- 
fications, are  most  competent  to  judge.  A  public  instructor, 
especially  a  religious  instructor,  is  like  "  a  city  set  on  a  hill, 
Avhich  cannot  be  hid."  The  testimony  on  this  point,  as 
regards  Mr.  Alexander,  if  respect  be  had  to  the  sterling  credit 
and  high  competency  of  the  witnesses  of  his  course  at  this 
period,  is  exceedingly  important  and  gratifying. 

Alluding  to  the  extraordinary  clearness,  distinctness, 
straightforwardness,  and  compactness  of  his  instructions  in 
the  class-room,  the  same  pupil  testifies  as  follows  : 

"These  instructions  were  characterized  by  great  directness;  he 
went  straight  to  the  point  by  the  best  and  shortest  way  ;  by  intensity 
or  force;  and  by  extraordinary  elegance  and  felicity  of  diction. 


^T.  S3.]  AMUSING-   LETTEE.  621 

"Add  to  this  Ills  vast,  brilliant,  powerful  imagination,  and  you  have 
the  characteristics  of  his  preaching." 

When  listening  to  him  in  the  pulpit,  he  was  always  think- 
ing of  some  :nighty  cataract : 

"He  always  brought  Niagara  Falls  to  my  mind.  I  had  the  same 
sense  of  power,  and  sublime,  magnificent  beauty.  In  the  lectui-e-roora 
he  was  like  a  powerful  locomotive  in  motion  upon  a  straight  and  level 
railroad  track." 

The  following  letter  to  an  old  correspondent  which  begins 
as  an  effusion  of  one  of  the  transcendentalists,*  who  were  then 
much  in  vogue  in  Princeton,  and  afterwards  falls  into  the 
quaint,  old  Covenanter  manner,  and  winds  up  in  the  style  of 
the  Ritualists. 

"  Deo.  23,  1842. 
"MtDearSie: 

"  Since  I  last  wrote  I  have  become  a  transcendentalist,  and  look 
with  loathing  on  the  vulgar,  sensuous,  one-sided  pragmatism  of  your 
phraseology.  The  doings  of  which  you  speak  are  natural  develop- 
ments of  that  unworthy  realism,  in  which  your  stand-point,  I  lament 
to  fee,  remains  unmoved  by  all  the  strenuous  attacks  of  O.  A.  B.,  0. 
S.  H.,  and  other  faithful  followers  of  Cant  and  Cozen.  If  I  can  leave 
the  regions  of  pure  reason  long  enough  to  speak  of  such  material  con- 
cerns, I  will  do  you  to  wit:  that  on  Sabbath  first  (whilk  is  Yule),  I 
was  to  liave  given  a  screed  of  doctrine  against  all  such  superstitious 
rags  of  Popery  in  onr  chapel ;  but  a  letter  from  that  painful  minister, 
Mr.  W.  moving  me  to  give  liim  my  countenance  at  his  visitation  on 
that  day,  hath  led  me  to  transfer  my  witness-bearing  from  Yule  itself 
to  the  first  day  of  the  incoming  year,  the  individual  day  whilk  you 
have  named  in  your  epistle  ;  so  that  I  may  not  homologate  or  conde- 
scend to  your  gracious  invite  without  resiling  from  this  new  and  special 
ordering  of  tlie  affair,  which  would  be  both  indecorous  and  kittlesome 
to  them  concerned;  for  which  cause  I  make  bold  to  crave  the  liberty 
of  naming  [U^^J  the  first  Sunday  after  Epiphany,  profonely  called  the 
eighth  of  January,  when  it  will  give  me  pleasure  to  unite  with  you  in 

*  I  use  this  term  as  he  did,  not  technically  or  of  the  followers  specifically  of 
Aristotle  or  of  Kant,  in  Europe,  but  of  the  upstarts  and  tyros  in  the  United 
States  who  were  going  crazy  over  the  Germans. 


522  SHAEP  HIT.  [1842. 

the  inimitable  services  of  our  excellent  Liturgy,  aided  by  the  swelling 
tones  of  the  organ,  and  the  affecting  sight  of  a  reading-desk  arranged 
on  the  Apostolic  model.  N.  B.  Please  to  allow  your  verger  or  sa- 
cristan to  adjust  the  fuld-stool  (reverently)  to  my  inferior  altitude, 
or  my  introit  will  be  less  impressive  than  I  could  desire.  If  this  day 
does  not  suit  you,  name  any  later  one ;  or  if  you  insist  upon  it  as 
'  vital,'  I  can  make  a  new  arrangement  here,  and  preach  for  you  on  the 
Feast  of  Circumcision,  as  you  request.  Please  to  preserve  this  letter, 
as  it  may  be  necessary  to  publish  the  correspondence.  At  any  rate,  it 
must  appear  sooner  or  later,  as  I  write  always  in  the  manner  of  Wal- 
pole,  with  a  view  to  posthumous  celebrity." 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

The  Biblical  Kepertory  and  Princeton  Review  was  now  in 
the  full  tide  of  prosperity.  From  the  moment  that  Mr.  Alex- 
ander put  his  broad  shoulder  to  the  wheel,  and  gave  his  whole 
strength  to  the  work,  the  Review  had  received  an  impetus  that 
gi-eatly  raised  it  in  the  public  estimation,  and  carried  it  forward 
to  a  point  of  eminence  in  the  regards  of  wits  and  scholars  that  it 
had  never  before  attained,  and  had  not  at  first  aimed  to  reach 
This  was  several  years  before  he  became  the  nominal  editor 
Some  of  his  OAvn  articles,  in  particular  raised  a  stir  among  the 
quid-nuncs  like  that  produced  by  a  squall  upon  a  smooth  sea. 
Hitherto  he  might  sometimes  be  mistaken  for  his  brotlier  Ja- 
cob ;  but  now  his  speech  and  his  manner  alike  bewrayed  him  : 
the  hands  were  incontestably  the  hands  of  Esau.  On  this  point, 
Professor  Hart  says  : 

"  I  knew  nothing  further  of  Addison  until  after  liis  return  from 
Europe,  when  he  signalized  himself  by  a  series  of  brilliant  articles  in 
the  Princeton  Review,  which  attracted  very  general  attention.  The 
first  two  or  three  especially,  in  which  he  gave  free  rein  to  his  power 
of  sarcastn,  were  much  read  and  quoted  in  College.  The  articles 
which  I  remember  most  distinctly  as  having  created  a  sensation  at  the 
time  of  their  appearance,  were  the  following :  a  Eeview  of  the  Rev. 
Calvin  Colton's  Reasons  for  Leaving  the  Presbyterian  and  Entering  the 
Episcopal  Church  ;  a  Eeview  of  the  Discussion  between  Dr.  Board- 
man  and  Bishop  Doane.  in  regard  to  the  Apostolical  Succession ;  *  a 
Review  of  Bishop  Onderdonk's Pamphlet,  'Episcopacy  Tested  by  Scrip- 
ture.'" 

This  last  named  article  is  not  upon  Dr.  Addison  Alexander's 
list  of  his  own  pieces,  or  upon  other  lists  of  them  within  my 
reach ;  nor  is  it  in  his  style.  The  manner  is  grave,  sedate,  and 
courtly,  and  well  becoming  that  high-toned  polemic,  Dr.  Miller. 


S24  PKELATISTS.  n842. 

But  another  article  in  reply  to  the  Bishop's  rejoinder,  in  the  Oc- 
tober number  of  the  same  year,  is  by  a  very  different  pen,  and  in 
a  very  different  style.  It  was  in  a  style  calculated  to  excite  the 
fear,  that  the  Assyrian  had  suddenly  found  his  way  to  the  very 
centre  of  the  camps  of  the  extreme  High  Churchmen  ;  or  (to  bor- 
row another  figure  from  the  enemies  of  Israel),  in  a  style  suited 
to  provoke  the  exclamation,  "  The  Pliilistines  are  upon  thee, 
Samson."  It  is  entitled  "  New  Theory  of  Episcopacy,"  and 
opens  in  these  dulcet  but  ringing  tones  : 

"  It  is  no  safe  tiling  to  meddle  with  our  ancient  friends,  the  Prelat- 
ists,  since  their  last  discovery.  As  might  have  been  expected  from  its 
magnitude  and  value,  they  have  grown  exceedingly  tetchy  with  respect 
to  the  treatment  of  their  great  arcanum  by  the  uninitiated.  They 
seem  to  imagine,  like  the  alchemists  of  old,  that  the  whole  world  is 
waiting  in  suspense  for  the  results  of  their  experiments;  holding  ita 
breath  till  the  universal  menstruum  or  elixir  is  discovered.  No  one  is 
allowed  either  to  feel  or  feign  indifference.  And  even  when  the  mys- 
tery is  divulged,  what  can  we  do  ?  If  we  let  it  alone,  we  are  enrolled 
as  converts ;  if  we  handle  it  at  all,  it  is  always  too  roughly.  High  church 
episcopacy  is  indeed,  botanically  speaking,  a  most  tender  herb,  liable 
not  only  to  be  crushed  by  the  broad  foot  of  vulgar  non-conformity,  but 
also  to  be  blasted  by  the  merest  breath  of  argument.  It  cannot  bear 
the  east  wind  of  discussion,  but  must  have  an  atmosphere  created  for 
it,  like  a  rare  plant  in  a  hot-house,  to  be  looked  at  but  not  touched. 
To  this  discreet  arrangement  we  have  no  objection,  but  are  heartily 
content  to  stand  at  any  distance  not  entirely  out  of  t-ight,  craving  no 
other  privilege  than  that  of  furnishing  a  brief  description,  now  and 
then,  for  the  gratification  of  '  the  iminformed.'  " 

This  menace  was  terribly  fulfilled  in  the  course  of  this  arti- 
cle, and  a  series  of  later  articles  on  the  same  general  subjects, 
by  this  new  Democritus,  or  Lucian,  whose  repartees  were  eu- 
thymemes,  and  whose  scathing  refutations  were  in  the  form  of 
jests.     In  exi)lanation  of  his  last  phrase,  he  goes  on  to  say  : 

"  "We  are  ashamed  to  acknowledge  our  belief  that  some  even  of  thoso 

*  Dr.  Hart  adds,  that  great  mirth  was  provoked  by  an  article  of  Mr.  Alex- 
ander on  his  old  friend  Dr.  Cox's  book  ou  Regeneration.  But  with  this  Mr. 
Alexander  had  nothing  to  do.     The  article  was  by  another  hand. 


.Et.33.]  GOOD-JSTATUEED    criticism.  525 

who  read  the  Repertory,  far  from  knowing  all  about  The  Tract,  be- 
fore we  introduced  it  to  tlieir  notice,  had  never  yet  discovered  its  exist- 
ence. 'Not  to  know  me  argues  thyself  unknown,'  would  be  a  keen 
retort-,  and  we  are  far  from  justifying  our  poor  friends  from  the  charge 
of  guilty  ignorance,  the  rather  as  it  has  not  been  for  the  want  of  zeal- 
ous efforts  on  the  part  of  zealous  '  churclimen  '  to  apprize  the  world 
that  they  and  their  superiors  are  i?i  esse.  But  as  the  Eastern  proverb 
says,  '  The  hen  may  lay  a  thousand  eggs  and  the  owl  never  know  it, 
however  loud  the  hen  may  cackle.'  " 

He  then  proceeds  to  show,  as  essential  to  a  just  apprecia- 
tion of  the  subject,  that  this  particular  theory  of  high  Prelacy 
IS  a  new  one,  and  that  this  new  theory  is  put  forward  as  a 
binding  doctrine  of  the  word  of  God,  which  no  man  can  deny 
and  be  guiltless. 

No  one  in  reading  these  strictures  can  fail  to  see  that  his 
aim  in  these  witty  and  exasperating  articles  was  not  to  wound 
the  feelings  of  individuals,  but  to  pierce  with  ridicule  a  system 
which  he  believed  to  be  absurd  and  pernicious,  and  yet  so  en- 
cased in  self-esteem  as  to  be  in  one  sense  invulnerable  to  the 
shafts  of  mere  dialectics.  Not  that  he  undervalued  the  wea- 
pons of  a  strictly  argumentative  warfare,  even  in  this  contro. 
versy.  In  his  later  essays  on  Church-order,  which  were  finally 
gathered  into  the  volume  entitled,  "  New  Testament  Offices," 
he  has  fully  vindicated  the  claims  of  syllogistic  reasoning,  and 
has  demonstrated,  in  the  most  rigorous  method,  that  the  high- 
church  system  is  a  system  that,  logically  considered,  is  "  twice 
dead,  plucked  up  by  the  roots." 

It  is  evident  from  the  whole  drift,  as  well  as  particular 
statements  of  this  article,  that  its  author  was  not  fighting 
against  the  ecclesiastical  polity  advocated  by  Hooker,  but 
against  the  American  caricature  of  the  system  invented  at  Ox- 
ford. He  speaks  in  one  place  of  "  The  fathers  of  the  English 
Church,  (those  noble  souls  whom  we  as  well  as  prelatists 
delight  to  honour),"  and  plainly  intimates  that  they  were  of 
another  mind  upon  these  subjects.  He  holds  that  the  adhe- 
rents of  the  "Tract  "  party  ought  to  blush  that  they  are  sue- 


626  SHARP   EEVrEWS.  n84i 

cessors  of  Thomas  Cranmer  and  John  Jewell.  Of  the  "  Dis- 
course" of  Bishop  Griswokl  himself,  "the  parent  of  the  doc- 
trine," which  is  attacked  in  the  Repertory,  the  reviewer  writes : 

"  There  is  notlnng  in  it  to  irnpnir  the  feelings  of  personal  respect  for 
his  character  wLicli  we  btlieve  to  be  generally  entertained.  Our  opin- 
ion of  his  argument  is  known  alrealy ;  but  we  feel  ourselves  bound,  as 
well  in  justice  ;is  in  Christian  charity,  to  say  that,  in  maintaining  bis 
opinion,  he  is  simple,  modest,  earnest,  and  we  doubt  not,  most  sincere." 

And  Bishop  Onderdonk  himself  is  dealt  within  a  spirit  of 
sarcastic  irony,  but  not  of  deliberate  malice. 
Of  him  the  reviewer  says  : 

*  *  *  u  '£]^Q  operation  which  it  was  our  duty  to  perform  upon 
this  precious  oifspring  of  bis  intellect  and  fancy,  was  indeed  a  painful 
one,  and  we  were  not  at  all  displeased  to  see  the  tender  fatber  much 
di-tiessed,  and  even  angry.  Tbe  first  gush  of  feeling,  about  sis  months 
aw,  while  it  indicated  sensitivene?s  <if  tlie  bigbest  order,  no  doubt  jrave 
relief  by  giving  vent  to  deep  emotions.  Hinc  illcB  lacrymas, !  Tbe  wound 
inflicted  on  the  Tract  was  not  yet  healed;  but  we  are  now  rejoiced  to 
learn  that  it  is  convalescent." 

The  article  reviewing  the  reply  of  Bisliop  Onderdonk,  was 
followed  in  1836  by  the  exquisite  showing  up  of  Calvin  Col- 
ton,  and  in  1841  by  the  annihilating  review  of  Bishop  Doane. 
The  former  is  perhaps  the  best  known  of  the  series.  Both 
articles  will  be  found  in  the  published  volumes  of  the  Reper- 
tory. The  article  on  Bishop  Doane's  Rejoinder  to  Dr.  Board- 
man  was  in  part  the  work  of  other  pens ;  though  its  raciest 
paragraphs  were,  with  a  single  remarkable  exception,  undoubt. 
edly  the  work  of  Professor  Addison  Alexander.  The  article 
in  which  he  brought  out  into  such  conspicuous  notice  the  name 
and  features  of  Mr.  Calvin  Colton,  is  wholly  his  own,  and  his 
portrait  of  the  amiable  "  American  in  England,"  is  informed 
by  a  humour  as  fine  and  as  enjoyable  as  any  thing  in  the  Me- 
moirs of  Beaumarchais.  It  would  have  been  relished,  as  those 
were,  by  Voltaire,  by  Marie  Antoinette,  and  by  'old  Goethe;' 
if  only  these  lovers  of  wit  had  lived  in  our  days,  and  been 
acquainted  with  the  men  and  manners  of  the  two  countries. 


^T.33.]  OXFOKD   TEACTS.  521 

and  with  tlie  shallow  pretensions  of  certain  transatlantic  au- 
thors to  shine  as  great  lights  in  the  ecclesiastical  firmament. 
But  the  article,  though  containing  personal  attacks,  breathes  no 
spirit  of  personal  malice.  It  is  a  frank  and  cutting,  but  parlia- 
mentary and  just,  and  even  kind,  exposure  of  the  most  arro- 
gant and  foolish  claims.* 

He  gives  his  readers  the  benefit  of  one  of  Mr.  Colton's 
pleasant  anecdotes,  prefacing  it  with  the  remark: 

"  Those  who  are  familiar  with  his  writings,  are  aware  that,  except- 
ing wit,  he  has  all  the  gifts  of  an  accomplished  jester." 

He  then  adds : 

"  We  like  this  tale,  and  wish  to  make  a  'practicalimprovement' 
of  it.  Mr.  Oolton  considers  it  a  capital  joke  that  a  cobbler  should  pre- 
sume to  'stir  a  parson  up.'  And  so  it  is;  but  is  it  not  a  better  joke 
that  Mr.  Calvin  Oolton,  of  all  men  in  the  world,  should  undertake  to 
settle,  in  half  a  dozen  flimsy  chapters,  what  never  cnuld  be  settled 
to  mutual  satisfaction  by  a  Cartwright  or  a  Hooker,  an  Usher  or  a  Bax- 
ter?" 

The  only  extract  I  shall  take  from  the  article  on  the  Oxford 
Tracts  and  their  fond  admirer  in  New  Jersey,  is  an  encomium 
of  the  style  of  the  English  writers,  especially  John  Henry 
Newman: 

"If  there  is  one  improvement  more  conspicuous  than  anv  other,  in 
the  taste  and  practice  of  contemporary  writers,  especially  in  E  glan  1,  it 
is  the  exchange  of  pompous  rhythm  and  pedantic  phriseologf  fi>r 
homely  plainness  and  pure  native  idiom.  That  this  exchange  is  per- 
fectly compatible  with  beauty  of  the  highest  kind,  has  been  proved  by 
the  example  of  some  noted  English  writers,  and  by  none  more  clearly 

*  Dr.  Beach  Jones  writes  that  he  knows  of  nothing  in  our  language  which 
for  sharp  and  delicate  raillery,  sustained  irony,  and  sportive  wit  an  1  In  mour, 
equals  this  article,  and  that  he  has  found  others,  much  better  versed  in  litera- 
ture than  himself,  whose  opinions  coincide  wif.h  liis  own.  Dr.  Moore,  Dr.  Cuyler, 
Dr.  Halsey,  and  many  others  have  expressed  themselves  in  much  the  same 
way. 


528  EITUALISTS   AND    THE    CHESTESE.  [1832. 

than  by  several  of  tlie  Oxford  theologians.  To  our  taste,  ISTe-wraan,  as 
a  writer,  stands  preeminent;  as  being  more  musical  and  elegant  tlian 
Piisey,  and  at  the  same  time  less  mawkish  and  more  masculine  than 
Keble.  But  in  all  three,  and  especially  in  Xewman,  what  attracts  us 
is  the  restoration  of  the  old  English  freedom  as  to  the  lengtli  of  sen- 
tences and  variety  of  structure,  but  without  tliose  harsh  inversions,  and 
sesquipedalian  vocables  by  which  many  of  the  best  early  writers  are 
disfigured.  In  a  word,  the  grand  improvement  is  the  happy  combina- 
tion of  a  free  and  flowing  with  a  chaste  and  simple  style  ;  whereas  of 
old,  tlie  flowing  writer  was  almost  in  every  case  an  incorrect  one,  and 
the  simple  writer  was  an  awkward  and  a  constrained  one." 

The  style  of  the  ambitious  American  prelate  is  then  con- 
trasted unfavourably  with  that  of  the  Oxonian.  The  article  is 
mainly  argumentative,  but  dreadfully  biting. 

The  last  of  this  series  of  slashing  essays  in  the  Princeton 
Repertory  is  the  one  in  the  volume  for  the  next  year  (1842), 
on  "High  Church  Episcopalianism,"  In  it  occurs  the  follow- 
ing ludicrous  parasllel  between  the  Ritualist  party  in  the 
church  and  the  Cliinese  nation. 

"  "\Ye  have  heard  the  question  asked,  how  such  pretensions  should 
be  treated;  and  we  answer,  just  as  the  Europeans  and  Americans  treat 
the  claims  of  the  Chinese  to  be  regarded  as  the  only  civilized  nation 
upon  earth.  High-churchmen  are  in  this  respect  the  Chinese  of  Christ- 
endom. The  points  of  resemblance  are  too  glaring  to  be  missed  :  the 
same  awful  reverence  for  trifles  ;  the  same  enlightened  scorn  of  weight- 
ier matters ;  the  same  self-worship  ;  the  same  polite,  compassionate 
contempt  of  others ;  the  same  serene  determination  to  sweep  every 
thing  before  them ;  and  the  same  success  in  doing  it.  High-church  and 
the  Celestial  Empire  fill  corresponding  blanks  in  civil  and  church  his- 
tory. Both  are  highly  respectable  and  highly  useful.  "We  have  no  more 
doubt  that  one  exists  for  some  important  end  than  that  the  otlier  does. 
But  what  the  final  cause,  in  either  case,  may  be,  we  should  not  like  to 
determine.  "We  are  very  unwilling  to  believe  that  a  whole  people  ex- 
ists ordy  to  be  laughed  at.  And  yet  how  is  it  that  the  greatest  nation 
upon  earth,  in  point  of  numbers,  is  the  only  one  which  history  exhibits 
in  an  aspect  purely  ridiculous?  Other  people  have  their  oddities,  but 
these  have  nothing  else.  It  is  not  merely  their  costume  and  physiog- 
nomy.    Their  most  solemn  acts  of  government,  of  legislation,  of  nego- 


^T  S3.]  A   CONTEAST.  529 

tiation,  and  of  war,  are  comic,  and  in  many  cases  farcical.   It  is  impos- 
sible to  read  of  thera  without  a  smile.     There  is  something  so  intrin- 
sically droll  about  them  that  the  gravest  writers  are  compelled  to  be 
amusing.     The  characteristic  feature  of  the  Chinese  manners  is  a  sort 
of  grave  buffoonery,  the  more  diverting,  as  the  Chinaman  is  always 
solemnly  unconscious  of  his  own  absurdity.     In  every  national  and  in- 
dividual act,  they  seem  to  say,  We  are  the  people,  and  wisdom  shall  die 
with  us.     It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  such  a  nation  should  include 
a  Board  of  Ceremonies  in  its  constitution.     To  them  life  itself  is  but  a 
series  of  ceremonies.     Every  thing  is  ceremony.     Man  is  a  ceremoni.il 
puppet,  made   to  go  through  certain  evolutions  and   mano3uvres,  to 
assume  certain  postures,  and  to  utter  certain  words  at  the  bidding  of 
the  Hang  Quo,  or  master  of  ceremonies,  or  under  the  bamboo  of  a  red- 
button  Mandarin.     It  is  just  the  same  with  Sinicism  in  religious  mat- 
ters.    If  you  wish  to  place  religionists  of  any  sect  beyond  the  reach  of 
ridicule  or  reason,  you  must  begin  by  making  them  as  unreasonable 
and  ridiculous  as  possible ;  aud  then  they  are  forever  proof  against  both 
wit  and  wisdom.     As  soon  as  any  one  has  learned  to  look  upon  the 
paring  of  his  nails  and  the  adjustment  of  his  eyebrows  as  a  vital  mat- 
ter, he  is  perfectly  impregnable.     You  cannot  reach  him.     Eeasoning, 
of  course,  is  thrown  away  upon  him.     llidicule  he  looks  upon  as  sin- 
ful, because  nothing  is  too  small  for  hiai  to  reverence.     And  after  this 
perversion  of  the  intellect  has  gone  to  certain  lengths,  the  smaller  a 
thing  is  the  greater  it  becomes  in  his  esteem.   Matters  of  life  and  death 
are   little   in  comparison  with  matters  of  arrangement  and  grimace. 
Tell  him  that  what  he  eats  is  wholesome  or  unwholesome,  and  he  hears 
you  not.     But  tell  him  which  way  he  must  look,  and  in  Avhat  posture 
he  must  eat,  aud  he  is  all  attention.     Tell  him  that  what  he  is  about  to 
drink  is  poison,  and  his  only  answer  is  a  vacant  stare.     But  tell  him 
tliat  the  cup  is  in  the  wrong  hand,  or  the  wrong  edge  nest  his  mouth, 
and  he  is  thankful.     When  a  man  has  reached  this  point,  he  might  as 
well  shave  his  head,  and  thenceforth  be  inaccessible  to  all  approaches 
except  such  as  may  be  made  through  the  Ho  Ping,  or  ceremonial  code, 
and  the  decrees  of  the  Lee  Poo,  or  ceremonial  council.     One  effect  of 
such  a  system  is  to  make  those  who  live  under  it  supremely  self-com- 
placent.    What  do   the  Chinese  care  for  foreign  trade  ?     They  have 
every  thing  they  want  at  home.     What  is  geography  to  them  ?     They 
are  content  to  know  that  China  is  the  centre  of  the  universe.     They 
allow  the  savage  English  and  Americans  to  leave  the  howling  wilder- 
ness and  clamour  at  Canton  for  tea ;  but  when  the  English  become 
smugglers  they  determine  to  destroy  thera.     This  contempt  of  other 
23 


530  NEWMANIA.  [1842. 

nations  seems  unconqncrablc,  even  by  hard  blows  and  bloodshed. 
Through  the  sinukc  of  battle  ihey  are  still  seen  as  grotesque  and  self- 
important  as  before.  Every  junk  that  puts  out  from  the  coast  is  to  de- 
stroy the  British  fleet ;  and  when  it  fails  they  are  as  confident  as  ever 
that  the  next  will  be  successful.  And  when  all  has  failed,  they  pur- 
chase their  own  safety  with  some  millions  of  bad  dollars,  and  then  pub- 
lish in  the  Government  Gazette  that,  'though  the  English  demons 
made  a  bold  attack,  the  imperial  commander,  with  his  rumbling  thunder, 
considerably  damped  the  ardour  of  the  fierce  barbarians.'  AVe  think  we 
have  seen  battles  gained  at  home  in  the  same  manner;  and  we  fear 
that  even  bishops  might  be  found  who,  as  to  both  these  articles  of 
spurious  silver  and  rumbling  thunder,  might  successfully  compete  with 
all  the  Mandarins  of  the  Celestial  Empire.  "We  commend  tliis  illustra- 
tion to  our  friends  who  are  annoyed  by  the  absurd  pretensions  of  their 
High-church  neighbours.  "When  we  hear  the  latter  prate  of  an  'unau- 
thorized ministry,'  '  uucovenanted  mercy,'  and  the  '  danger  of  dis- 
sent,' let  imagination  conjure  up  before  the  hearers  some  familiar  form 
from  the  Chinese  Museum,  and  we  venture  to  assure  them  they  will 
find  it  much  more  difficult  to  keep  their  countenances  than  to  keep 
their  temper." 

The  great  severity  and  keenness  of  these  telling  articles 
against  the  then  inconsiderable  party  of  the  Ritualists  (or 
Puseyites,  as  they  were  called  in  that  day)  excited  the  sur- 
prise of  some  who  knew  the  reviewer's  intrinsic  gentleness  of 
heart,  and  the  laeaming  delight  he  took  in  children.  These 
perhaps  too  much  disregarded  the  other  and  sterner  side  of  his 
character.  For  the  rest,  it  must  be  admitted  that  his  attack 
upon  the  victims  of  Ncwmania^  as  he  facetiously  termed  it,  was, 
after  all,  a  counter  attack,  and  an  attack  that  was  not  made 
without  great  provocation.  It  was  made,  furthermore,  with  a 
wholesome  design,  and  from  an  outraged  sense  of  Catholic 
tolerance. 

"It  was  this  essential  charity  of  his  nature,"  writes  one*  who 
knew  him  intimately,  and  differed  from  him  widely,  "this  almost  fem- 
inine repugnance  to  ostentation  in  religious  things,  that  explained 
what  I  have  heard  attributed  to  him  as  a  blemish,  namely  his  saurn- 

*  Henry  James,  Esq.,  of  eanibiidgc. 


-Et-33.]  POWEE   of   SAECASM.  531 

ful  and  sarcastic  treatment  of  the  nigh-church  pretension.  The  prin- 
ciple of  an  authority  over  the  conscience  of  men  had  grown  so  obso- 
lete in  our  religious  practice,  tiiatit  might  by  this  time  have  been  pro- 
nounced fairly  dead  and  buried,  were  it  not  that  certain  minisiers  of 
the  Episcopal  Churcli,  in  seeking  how  to  distirignish  themselves  from 
the  ordiniry  gospel  ministiy,  had  wit  enough  to  maixe  a  gain  (..uc  of  the 
fact  by  daintily  manipulatiug  the  small  ecclesiasiical  or  reactionary 
temper  which  yet  survives  in  many  a  belated  bosom  amongst  us,  and 
converting  the  church  for  their  sake  into  a  peaceful  sunny  aqvarium,  as 
it  were,  which  shall  have  no  link  of  connection  with  the  great  outlying 
sea  of  human  interests,  and  where  every  fossil  fish  of  pure  ecclesi;isti° 
cal  lineage  may  undergo  a  cheap  coxcombical  rehabilitation,  and  frolic 
and  flounder  and  spout  water,  as  if  it  were  still  vitalized  by  the  living 
springs  of  God's  providence,  and  not  by  the  factitious  fountains  of 
men's  sectarian  impudence  and  cupidity.  Dr.  Addis(in  Alexander's  hu- 
mane and  righteous  instincts  were  outraged,  not  beyond  measure  by 
this  insincere  and  faithless  behaviour  on  the  part  of  high-church  epis- 
copacy, and  he  accordingly  did  ample  justice  to  its  pret'ensions,  when- 
ever he  was  called  upon  to  speak  of  it." 

This  is  the  way  the  thing  strikes  a  man  who,  protesting  as 
he  does  against  the  ordinary  ecclesiastical  distinctions,  may 
be  regarded  as  an  outsider  and  an  unprejudiced  witness. 

The  subject  is  thus  handled  by  Professor  John  S.  Hart,  in  a 
letter  to  the  editor  of  this  volume  : 

"  Addison's  power  of  sarcasm  was  unequalled;  and  when  he  began 
writing  fur  the  Princeton  Review,*  beseems  to  have  thought  tlfere 
were  certain  ecclesiastical  and  theological  assumptions  which  needed  to 
be  met  wi.h  wit  rather  than  argument,  and  whose  authors  deserved 
punishment  rather  than  refutation.  He  castigated  them  accordingly 
with  merciless  severity." 

*  Dr.  Hart  writes  :  "Perhaps  I  ought  to  add  in  this  connection  that  the 
change  of  the  name  of  the  Review  from  the  'Repertory'  to  tiie  'Princeton 
Review,'  was  made  by  Addison's  suggestion,  at  the  time  that  he  began  his 
connection  with  the  editorship.  So  at  least  I  understood  from  himseff.  He 
had  a  great  flincy  for  local  names;  quoting  the  Edinburgh  Review  as  an  in- 
stance ;  and  hi?  ambition  at  that  time  seemed  to  be  to  make  the  Princeton  Re- 
view equally  world  rono^vned;  and  hi.  first  articles,  named  above,  had  many 
of  the  charaeteri:stic3  which  marked  the  '  swashing  blows '  administered  by 
Jeffrey  and  Sydney  Smith,  in  the  earlier  volumes  of  the  Edinburgh.'" 


532  MANY   AETICLES.  [1S42. 

It  was  to  be  obscrvecl,  however,  that  after  a  few  years 
from  the  date  of  Mr.  Alexander's  lirst  appearance  as  editor  of 
the  Review,  he  rarely  indulged  in  this  vein. 

"If  the  fact  of  bis  abstaining  was  due,"  as  Dr.  Hart  already  sup- 
posed it  to  be,  "  to  a  growing  conviction  that  a  difterent  line  of  contro- 
versy was  better  suited  to  the  proprieties  of  theological  discussion,  the 
fact  does  great  credit  to  his  conscientiousness.  There  are  few  tempta 
tions  harder  to  resist  than  the  temptation  to  use  sarcasm  and  ridicule, 
when  one  has  manifestly  been  gifted  with  these  powerful  weapons."* 

The  subsequent  efforts  of  the  witty  iconoclast  in  this  new 
ima'<-e-coutroversy,  were  made  up  almost  entirely  of  pure  dis- 
putation ;  and  were  as  grave  and  courteous  in  manner  as  they 
were  ruthless  in  logic  and  polite  in  diction.  In  the  reply  to 
Bishop  Southgate,  in  1844,  he  again  goes  out  of  his  way  to 
eulogize  such  men  as  "Bishop  Meade,  of  Virginia,"  and  the 
fathers  of  the  English  church.  The  criterion  by  which  he  dis- 
criminated, was  the  acknowledgment  of  the  other  as  "  sister 

churches." 

But  these  essays  in  the  Episcopal  controversy  were  but  a 
part  of  what  he  was  printing  in  the  Biblical  Repertory. 
Every  number  teemed  with  the  fruits  of  his  studies,  and  cogita- 
tions, and  variable  feelings.  Most  of  these  articles  were  writ- 
ten without  a  thought  beyond  the  passing  moment ;  much  that 
-is  in  them  is,  of  course,  ephemeral ;  but  some  portions  of  each 
are  Avorth  preservation,  either  for  their  learning,  their  intellec- 
tual brilliancy,  their  wit,  their  humour,  their  kindliness,  their 
logic,  their  eloquence,  or  their  style.  All  of  them  are  remark- 
abk  for  their  abundant,  even  overflowing  knowledge,  and  their 
plain,  intrepid,  scholarlike,  and  harmonious  English.     The  dic- 

*"The  shafts  which  Addison  hurled  were  not  only  keenly  pointed,  but 
hurled  with  a  force  which  it  was  next  to  impossible  to  resist.  Few  opponent, 
in  or  out  of  the  church,  could  have  stood  up  against  the  terrible  weapon  which 
seemed  ever  lying  within  reach  of  his  fingers  and  yet  which,  during  the  last 
twenty  years  of  his  life,  he  forbore  entirely  to  employ."— J.  S.  II.  So  that  he 
did  not,'  as  Dr.  Johnson  said  of  Junius,  mistake  the  venom  of  the  dart  for  the 
Tif^our  of  the  bow. 


^T.83.]  LIST   OF   ARTICLES.  533 

tion  might  not  always  suit  a  purist  or  ^  petit  mattre^  but  even  in 
tlie  most  eager  and  discursive  passages  ic  has  a  fine  idiomatic 
•flavour  about  it,  and  the  "  noble  negligence"  so  much  com- 
mended, and  so  happily  illustrated,  by  Dryden.  By  the  end 
of  1842  he  had  written  fii'ty  articles  for  the  Review;*  some 
long,  some  short ;  some  elaborate,  and  some  very  cursory  ;  pro- 
found and  superficial ;  grave  and  gay ;  critical,  exegetical,  con- 
versational, historical,  philological,  biographical,  oratorial.  To 
describe  them  by  exhaustive  epithets  would  be  impossible.  Sev- 
eral of  them  will  be  referred  to  in  other  connections.  I  shall 
now  merely  give  from  the  author's  private  list  the  titles  of  the 
pieces  from  1833  to  1843 — the  catalogue  for  ten  years.  He 
continued  to  write  for  the  Review  as  long  as  he  lived  : 

*  Strong  traces  of  his  fondness  for  the  remains  of  classic  literature,  for  old 
and  colloquial  forms  of  English,  and  for  familiar  as  well  as  recondite  but 
happy  parallels  to  something  in  the  text,  are  to  be  found  even  in  his  Isaiah  : 
nude  and  slavishly  critical  as  his  discussion  has  been  regarded  by  many.  Take 
for  instance,  the  following  passages  in  his  first  volume  :  What  be  says  about  the 
Stabat  Mater  and  Cowper's  Ode  to  Friendship,  p.  109.  The  mechanical  inter- 
pretation of  a  "thousand  splendid  passages  of  classical  and  modern  poetry," 
p.  273.  Homer's  description  of  Thebes,  526.  Horace's  of  Troy,  p.  573.  A 
quotation  from  Claudian.  Cicero's  "Evasit,"  &c.,  p.  627.  Cicero  and  Cajsar. 
Ch/pea,  p.  390.  A  Quotation  (by  Lowth)  from  Lucretius,  p.  496.  A  Latin 
verse  from  Sedulins,  p.  65.  Ovid,  p.  336.  Lucan.  Horace,  p.  558.  Vir"-il, 
p.  562.  Demosthenes,  and  J3schylus's  Prometheus,  p.  95.  Chittim,  Cyprus 
Josephus,  Cilium,  Cicero,  p.  406.  Macpherson's  Ossian,  p.  435.  Burns  (so 
Barnes)  weeping  over  Isaiah,  xxv:  8,  p.  435.  The  descriptions  in  the  Knran 
and  in  Quintus  Curtius,  of  the  Mirage,  p .  582.  Various  allusions  of  Hero- 
dotus, Strabo,  Diodorus,  &c.  passim.  Poetry  and  Botany,  p.  576.  Mixed  meta- 
phors in  Oriental  style,  pp.  453  and  485.  A  beautiful  extract  (by  Barnes) 
from  Mungo  Park's  journal,  p.  496.  Hamlet  against  Gesenius,  on  ghosts,  pp. 
571-572.  Milton's  Flood,  p.  265.  The  Compression  and  breviloquence  of  Isaiah 
xxii:  13,  p.  394.  Eephaira :  "Gigantic  Shades,"  p.  276.  Image  of  Downfall 
of  British  Empire.  Accessory  Ideas  that  would  be  Natural,  p.  347.  Ditto  of 
Desolation  of  Mississippi  Valley,  p.  350.  Illustration  by  the  Duke  of  Wellino-- 
ton,  p.  369.  The  Mediaeval  maires  du  palais,  p.  395.  The  "Lamia"  of  the  An- 
cients and  the  Vulgate,  p.  569.  Boswell's  "  Curds,"  p.  132.  "Fillino-  Anoth- 
er's Shoes."  "  Colloquial  English,"  p.  399.  "  Just  as  We  Might  Say,"  &c.,  p. 
387.     "  What  of  the  Night  ?  "  "  What  o'clock  ?  "  p.  382. 


534 


LIST    OF   AETICLES. 


[1842. 


PAGE. 

Murdodi's  Moslieim 1833  47 

Lifeof^arel .         .          "  H5 

Theories  of  Education     ...                                   .      "  165 

Bush  on  the  Millennium      ....                  .          "  204 

OjrilLucaris "  213 

German  New  Light.         .          ...          .         .         1834  3GG 

Eowland  Hill         ...*...."  372 

Guericke's  Clinrcli  History "  407 

Enger  Williams "  449 

Art  of  Writing "  491 

Bush  on  the  Psalms     ..'....       1835  73 

Stewart's  Sketches "  134 

Barnes  on  the  Gospels "  149 

Stuart's  Greek  Grammar "  233 

Presbyterian  Pol; cy "  272 

Bush's  Hebrew  Grammar "  341 

Civilization  of  India "  401 

New  Theory  of  Episcopacy "  573 

Eosenmuller 183G  1 

Hengstenberg,  Ewald,  Freytag,  &c "  58 

Calvin  Colton    ........."  390 

Eobinson's  Gesenius 1837  88 

Gleanings  from  German  Periodicals         .         .         .        .      "  198 

Isaiah  vii :  8 "  .  558 

E:irly  letters  of  Melanchthon 1838  1 

Part  of  Article  on  Henry's  Christian  Antiquities      .         .    "  153 

Nordheimer,  Vol.  I •         .        "  196 

Hengstenberg  on  the  Pentateuch "  542 

Inaugural  Address  (Scripture  Guide)  ....      1839  201 

Part  of  article  on  Bush  on  Genesis "  271 

Kenrick's  Theology 1840  283 

Plea  for  Bishops 1841  1 

New  "Works  on  Isaiah.           ......"  159 

Nordheimer,  Vol.  II "  250 

Part  of  Article  on  Bishop  Doane           .         .        .         .        "  450 

Eobinsoii's  Palestine "  583 

Higli-Churchism 1842  129 

"Works  on  Genesis "  199 

Whately's  Kingdom  of  Christ "  584 


-<Et.33.]  reveal   TPIE    man.  585 

The  articles  here  named,  and  those  that  followed  them 
from  the  pen  of  Dr.  Addison  Alexander,  not  only  reveal  the 
scliolar  and  the  gilled  writer,  but  show  us  the  man  in  his  per- 
sonal characteristics,  tastes,  prejudices,  and  partialities.  They 
were  written  with  as  much  freedom,  and  disregard  of  prece- 
dents and  critics,  as  if  they  had  been  dashed  off  for  the  news- 
papers. I  venture,  just  here,  to  take  an  extract  from  a  notice 
of  his  death  in  the  Sunday-school  Times  for  Feb.  4,  1860 : 

"Dr.  Alexander's  essays  and  reviews  in  the  'Biblical  Repertory,' 
the  theological  quarterly  published  at  Princeton,  have  been  numerous, 
and  have  been  marked  with  profound  ability.  They  have  by  no  means 
been  luuited  to  philological  or  exegetical  subjects,  but  have  embraced 
almost  every  variety  of  topics  suited  to  such  a  magazine.  Some  of  his 
earlier  reviews  were  characterized  by  a  keen,  trenchant  wit.  All  of 
them  have  been  marked  with  a  vigour  and  richness  of  imagination 
more  to  be  expected  in  a  poet  and  a  man  of  elegant  letters,  than  in  the 
mt;re  bookworm  he  was  reputed  to  be." 

After  touching  casually  upon  another  topic,  the  writer  pro- 
ceeds in  pretty  much  the  same  strain  : 

"  Dr.  Alexander  was  a  signal  proof,  if  any  were  needed,  that  the 
study  of  languages,  even  when  pushed  to  their  most  abstruse  points, 
does  not  necessarily  make  one  dry  and  dull.  The  United  States  proba- 
bly never  produced  a  scholar  of  more  secluded  and  solitary  habits,  one 
who  came  nearer  to  the  character  of  the  mere  bookworm  that  we 
read  of  in  some  European  countries.  Yet  his  writings  and  his  pulpit 
discourses  were  as  simple  and  perspicuous  as  if  he  had  been  a  mere 
English  scholar.  His  sentences  are  as  limpid  in  their  flow,  and  glide  as 
gently  and  smoothly  into  the  reader's  understanding,  as  those  of  the 
Joseph  Addison  after  whom  he  was  named.  This  wonderful  simplicity, 
both  of  his  thoughts  and  his  language,  combined  often  with  a  fervid 
eloquence,  and  always  with  profound  and  comprehensive  views,  made 
his  pulpit  performances  exceedingly  attractive." 

It  is  the  judgment  of  some  thoi'ough  Biblical  scholars,  that 
Dr.  Addison  Alexander's  contributions  to  the  Review  set  forth 
his  splendid  literary  abilities  in  a  much  stronger  light  than  any 


.■536  VAEIETT.  [1842. 

of  his  other  writings.  It  is  very  certain  lie  wrote  in  the  quar- 
terlies and  magazines  with  a  bold,  free  hand  which  was 
somewhat  fettered  when  engaged  upon  the  commentaries.  He 
wrote  in  the  same  free  way  in  his  newspaper  squibs,  children's 
books,  and  some  of  his  letters,  and  in  his  European  journals 
The  greater  part  of  what  he  did,  hoAvever,  in  this  reckless, 
slap-dash  style,  was  not  intended  for  preservation  and,  tliough 
on  merely  literary  grounds  it  is  often  exquisite,  is  for  otlier 
but  equally  weighty  reasons  kept  back  from  the  eye  of  curious 
readers.  The  essays  in  the  Repertory,  on  the  whole,  give  one 
the  best  notion  of  the  variety  of  his  gifts  and  accomplishments 
as  a  writer  of  Englisli.  They  give  the  best  notion,  too,  of  his 
masculine  tastes,  his  general  knowledge,  his  progressive  mod- 
eration, his  sterling  good  sense,  his  genial  humour  and  true 
politeness,  his  fine  wit,  his  facetious  irony,  his  power  (never 
used  without  provocation)  of  withering  sarcasm,  and  the 
marvellous  cunning  of  his  diction.  Viewed  as  an  unbroken 
collection,  these  pieces  certainly  possess  extraordinary  merit ; 
and  all  the  more  so  that  some  of  them  Avere  floated  off  as 
the  veriest  waifs.  One  who  Avishes  to  knoAV  Avhat  he  could 
do  in  the  way  of  elaborate  orations,  should  read  his  printed 
sermons.  When  writing  these  discourses  (as  he  says  himself 
of  the  immortal  English  dramatist),  he  noAV  and  then  "let  his 
imagination  fairly  boil."  For  passion,  music,  movement,  con- 
tour, and  sustained  climax,  and  rare  rhetorical  command  of 
the  united  forces  of  logic  and  eloquence,  we  shall  look  in  vain 
over  his  writings  for  any  thing  comparable  with  these  dis- 
courses. But  the  essays  in  the  periodicals,  and  more  espe- 
cially the  Repertory,  are  interesting  as  being  mostly  unstudied, 
and  Avholly  uninfluenced  by  the  thought  of  an  audience.  They 
are  the  spontaneous  overflow  of  a  brimming  vessel.  The  first 
thing  that  strikes  one  is  the  evident  strength  of  the  mind  and 
hand  that  made  them.  Notice  is  then  attracted  to  the  diversity 
of  their  subjects  and  plans,  the  capricious  changefulness  of 
their  authors  whim  and  genius,  the  graceful  SAVcep  and  curve 
of  the  sentences,  the  all  but  fluid  A'olubility  of  the  diction,  the 
sonorous  rhythm,  occasionally,  of  the  bolder  passages,  but  in 


^T.  33.] 


OVERFLOW.  537 


ordinary  the  homely  but  racy  idioms  of  the  fireside.  These 
essays  sho^v  the  man  of  taste,  the  man  of  feeling,  the  man  of 
the  world,  quite  as  much  as  they  do  the  theologian,  the  slash- 
ing ci-itic,  and  the  professional  censor.  I  am  not  noAV  speaking 
of  the  evidences  they  disclose  of  his  scholarship  ;  which  are 
certainly  not  gi-eater  than  are  afforded  by  his  exegetical  writ- 
ings ;  nor  even  of  the  indications  they  furnish  of  the  generous 
interest  he  took  in  contemporary  literature,  even  in  its  lighter 
forms,  and  in  current  politics  and  passing  affairs ;  nor  of  his 
love  of  Scripture  and  discriminating  knowledge  of  human 
motives  and  character ;  but  of  the  capacity  they  evince  as  a 
writer  who,  had  he  so  chosen,  might  have  been  remembered 
among  the  classics  of  his  native  tongue.  We  find  the  same 
richness  of  matter,  the  same  wisdom  andpropriety  of  thought, 
the  same  modest  independence  of  authority,  the  same  fresh- 
ness of  view  and  novelty  in  the  mode  of  treatment,  the  same 
suggestiveness  and  originality,  in  all  his  writings.  The  same 
fondness  for  old  sayings,  proverbs,  apothegms,  paradoxes,  tra- 
ditions, touches  of  nature  and  obsolete  forms  of  speech,  reap- 
pear constantly.  The  same  happy  interchange  of  large  and 
small  words,  of  long  and  short  sentences,  of  technical  and  fa- 
miliar terms  and  phrases,  will  be  admired  in  all  that  he  has 
left,  whether  in  print  or  manuscript.  The  rhythmical  structure 
which  always  marks  his  impassioned  writing  is,  of  course,  to  be 
met  with  everywhere  in  his  sermons  and  addresses  ;  but  may 
also  be  detected  even  in  his  commentaries,  and  especially  in 
his  paraphrases.*  It  is  often  discernible  even  in  his  most  con- 
densed summaries  and  recapitulations.  It  does  not  occur  so 
often  in  the  critiques  and  essays.  These  have  much  more  free- 
dom as  to  manner.  The  Review  of  the  Scripture  Guide  (his 
inaugural  address)  is,  as  we  might  have  expected,  full  of  this 
wild  melody.     The  closing  syllables  of  the  peroration  come 

*  Notice,  for  instance,  his  commeuts  on  Mark  x:  40,  xii :  17,  27,  parts  of  the 
preliminary  analysis  to  chapter  xiii,  and  comments  on  xiii :  14  ;  also  his  own 
remarks  upon  "  measured  prose,"  under  ix :  48.  See  also  on  Matt,  xvi :  26  ;  lasl 
words  on  Isaiah  liii ;  12,  and  Sermons,  vol.  I,  p.  18Y,  et  passim. 


638  RHYTHMIC    PECULIARITY.  D848. 

rolling  in  like  the  sea-waves  at,  flood.  There  are  passages 
in  bis  discourses  which  affect  me  somewhat  as  does  the 
golden  diapason  of  the  hexameters  in  Homer,  or  the  strange, 
irregular  music  of  tlie  choruses  in  Sophocles.  Yet,  like 
De  Quincev,  he  seldom  or  never  degenerates  into  blank-verse 
prose.  These  measured  periods  (which  are  everywhere  min- 
gled with  simple  and  unmeasured  phrases)  could  not  have 
been  formed  with  deliberation,  for  the  manuscript  in  such 
cases  always  betrays  unusual  excitement.  Yet  the  rhythmic 
peculiarity  of  such  sentences  could  not  have  always  escaped 
his  notice,  for,  in  a  few  instances,  scraps  of  this  kinl  of  writ- 
ing are  divided  off  into  metrical  feet,  as  if  for  purposes 
of  scanning,  or  else  of  mere  critical  scrutiny.  He  has  grossly 
caricatured  this  manner  in  some  of  his  burlesques  for  chil- 
dren. My  conjecture  is,  that  he  did  not  aim  at  it  at  all, 
but  was  conscious  of  the  tendency,  and  when  he  wrote  fast 
and  under  strong  influence,  often  gave  way  to  it,  and  after- 
wards made  it  a  subject  of  reflection,  if  not  animadversion. 
The  most  singular  thing  about  the  whole  matter  is,  that  in 
these  passages  the  sense  is  never  once  sacrificed  to  the  sound. 
The  nice  precision  and  curious  felicity  in  the  use  of  words, 
and  couplets  of  words,  is  never  more  apparent  than  in  these 
musically  rounded  sentences  and  clauses. 

There  is  something  of  this  kind  in  the  English  Bible,  espe- 
cially in  Revelation.  In  the  sermons,  this  trait  is  more  con- 
spicuous in  the  imaginative  and  emotional  parts  which  directly 
precede  the  short,  abrupt,  and  often  startling  appeals  to  the 
conscience.     Take  the  following  passage  as  an  illustration  : 

"If,  my  hearers,  it  be  true,  as  I  believe,  and  as  you  believe,  and  as 
God's  Word  assures  us,  that  in  reference  even  to  the  case  of  those  who 
shall  assuredly  be  saved,  or  as  assuredly  be  lost,  '  it  dotli  not  yet  ap- 
pear what  they  shall  be  ;'  if  it  be  true  that  even  those  who  are  already 
saved,  not  merely  in  God's  purpose,  but  in  fact,  beyond  the  reach  of 
all  disturbing  and  retarding  causes,  even  they  who  are  rejoicing  at  this 
moment  in  God's  presence  as  tiie  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect,  if 
even  they  are  unable  to  enclose  in  their  conceptions  that  illimitable 
ocean  into  which  tliey  liave  been  plunged  but  for  a  moment ;  if  it  be 


^T.33.]  ABRUPT   APPEALS.  539 

true  that  even  those  who  are  disembodied  spirits  and  now  drink- 
ing of  the  cup  of  divine  wnitli,  can,  in  the  anguish  of  their  torment, 
form  no  definite  idea  of  the  volume  and  duration  of  tliat  stream  of  fira 
which  forever  and  forever  fills  their  cup  to  overflowing ;  if  both  these 
souls,  however  ditferent  in  their  actual  condition  and  their  prospects 
for  eternity,  are  forced  alike  to  cry  out  in  a  triumphant  burst  of  grate- 
ful joy,  and  a  convulsion  of  blaspheming  horror,  '  it  doth  not  yet  appear 
what  we  shall  be!'  oh,  with  what  multiplied  intensity  of  emphasis 
may  those  whose  future  state  is  still  unsettled,  who  are  still  upon  the 
isthmus  between  hell  and  heaven,  wavering,  vacillating,  hanging  in 
terrible  su-pense  between  the  two,  unable  or  unwilling  to  decide  their 
fate,  and  waiting,  it  would  almost  seem,  until  some  heaving  of  the 
ocean  of  eternity  should  sweep  them  from  the  earth,  they  know  not, 
think  not,  care  not  whither,  oh !  with  what  empha-is  might  such  ex- 
claim, as  they  hang  over  the  dizzy  verge  of  two  unchanging,  everlast- 
ing states,  '  it  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be/  " 

Dr.  Alexander  had  all  the  qualities  of  the  rhapsodist  as 
well  as  the  chronicler.  He  could  play  the  part  of  an  impro- 
visatore  as  well  as  that  of  a  raconteur  or  annalist.  His  powers 
were  of  an  order  and  degree  that  fitted  him  as  well  for  the  do- 
main of  poetry  as  for  that  of  history  and  eloquence.  An 
eminent  physician  once  remarked  to  me,  "  Dr.  Addison  Alex- 
ander was  a  born  poet." 

On  this  head,  an  old  and  intimate  friend*  of  the  subject  of 
this  memoir  finely  observes : 

"  His  character  included  all  the  elements  of  the  loftiest  enthusiasm, 
and,  as  the  phrases  are  not  exactly  co-extensive,  all  the  chief  elements 
of  the  true  poet :  originality  of  thought,  vivid  and  cultivated  feeling, 
an  active  imagination,  a  love  of  the  beautiful  and  sublime  in  nature  and 
art,  a  sense  of  the  perfect,  and  vast  power  of  exact  and  pointed  ex- 
pression. Not  that  genius  which  fitfully  soars  and  shines,  and  then 
plunges  into  darkness  and  filth  ;  but  that  which  is  consecrated  by 
Chri-tian  inspiration,  and  derives  its  strongest  impulses  from  commu- 
nion with  Jesus  and  eternal  realiries,  the  great  thing  wanting — as  a  prince 
of  critics.  Dr.  Andrew  P.  Peabody,  so  forcibly  remarks — in  so  much 
of  our  American  poetry.    '  If  he  had  not  been  occupied  with  the  de- 

*  Rev.  Paul  Eugene  Stevenson,  Paterson,  N.  J. 


540  TRUE    rOETRY.  [1842. 

lights,  the  poetry,  if  you  please,  of  profound  philosophical  aud  theo- 
logical thinking,  he  might  have  made  his  mark  as  a  poet.' 

"  Since  it  is  said  that  poetry  has  never  been  deflned,  and  hence 
ihe  whole  field  is  clear,  I  shall  venture  to  think  my  definition 
not  fiir  from  right  when  I  say  that  true  poetry  consists  of  striking 
thouglits,  including  feeling  and  imap:ination,  so  expressed  as  to  make  a 
high  order  of  rlietoric,  the  form  of  the  whole  being  modified  and  ren- 
dered musical  by  more  or  less  of  recurrent  measure.  This  excludes 
commonplace  and  prosaic  measured  lines,  which  claim  a  name  as  if 
there  were  magic  in  mere  measure  ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  it  leaves  to 
rhetoric  its  own  splendid  domain,  with  unlimited  liberty  of  discern- 
ment, judgment,  reasoning,  feeling,  imagination,  rhythm,  and  power  of 
expression ;  unless  a  higher  mnse,  whose  work  is  tlie  crown  of  accu- 
mulative series,  is  called  in  to  shape  and  beautify  the  whole,  and  fill  it 
with  the  music  of  '  harmonious  numbers.' 

"  Judged  by  this  standard.  Dr.  Alexander  had  the  powers,  not  only 
of  a  fine  prose  writer,  but  of  a  poet,  even  to  the  possession  of  a  soul, 
an  ear,  and  a  skilful  hand  for  music,  we  are  reminded,  by  the  short 
poems  which,  during  intervals  of  relaxation  from  severer  thinking,  so 
readily  flowed  from  his  pen.  One  thing  I  think  is  certain  :  if  he  had 
given  scope  and  use  to  those  powers,  he  would  have  avoided  some  of 
the  intellectual  and  aesthetic  blunders  of  many  eminent  sons  of  genius, 
e.  g.,  the  cloudy  verbosities  of  Byron,  not  now  to  refer  to  black,  pollut- 
ing immoralities,  and  the  tame,  prosaic  phrases  of  Tennyson,  He  would 
be  sure  to  jjlace  himself  in  that  school  of  poets  who,  like  Thomas 
Campbell,  in  the  Pleasures  of  Hope,  and  Henry  Taylor,  in  Philip  Van 
Artevelde,  have  gone  upon  the  principle,  that  while  a  poet  may  deal  in 
rare  words  as  well  as  rare  thoughts,  and  avail  himself  of  every  allowa- 
ble poetic  license,  fog  helps  neither  poetry  nor  prose,  and  hence,  for  one 
thing,  the  way  to  be  a  de-lightful  writer  is  tobe  aday-lightful  writer."* 

Many  have  lamented  that  he  did  not  unbend  himself  more, 
and  give  more  scoi3e  to  his  fertile  literary  genius,  when  he  w-as 
writing  for  the  press. 

"  I  have  always  thought,"  remarks  Professor  Ilalsey,  himself  an  ac- 
complished writer  and  an  experienced  critic,  "  that  had  he  given  his 
life  simply  to  literature  instead  of  theological  science,  his  wonderful 

*  Mr.  Stevenson  liere  follows  in  the  footsteps  of  Archbishop  Whatcly.  Sea 
Dis  Prcfaec  to  Bacon's  Essays. 


^T.33.j  GENIUS   TRAMMELLED.  541 

mastery  of  diction,  with  his  brilliant  imaginatinn,  would  easily  have 
won  a  rank  equal  to  any  that  has  been  achieved  iu  American  author- 
ship. Several  hymns  composed  by  him,  and  some  fugitive  pieces  in  the 
Princeton  Magazine,  as  well  as  his  articles  in  the  Princeton  Review 
reveal  an  ability  in  this  direction,  which  makes  us  regret  that  he  had 
not  taken  in  hand  some  grand  theme  which  might  have  made  him  the 
Macauiay  or  Prescott  of  Church  History  ;  or  perhaps  but  deepens  our 
feeling  of  loss,  when  we  think  he  was  called  away  ere  his  wonderful 
genius  had  yet  essayed  its  chief  endeavour."  * 

*  Every  reader  of  the  smallest  child's-book  from  the  hand  of  Dr.  Addison  Al- 
exander has  noticed  his  fondness  for  memoirs  and  historical  relations ;  and  has 
felt  the  influence  of  that  elastic  freshness  of  spirits  and  hveUness  of  parts 
which  could  throw  a  kind  of  romantic  or  sentimental  interest  over  the  most 
trifling  and  often  absurd  incidents.  The  same  qualities  reappear  in  his  graver 
essays.  He  loved  to  review  a  volume  of  travels,  and  to  dissect  the  character 
of  the  author.  Historical  and  literary  themes  pleased  him  quite  as  well  as 
philological. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

It  was  most  natural  that  one  of  ISh:.  Alexander's  un- 
doubted social  tendencies,  rarelj'-  manifested  though  they  seemed 
to  be,  should  sometimes  thirst  for  the  pleasures  of  society. 
This  he  evidently  did,  but  seldom  when  at  home  with  the  mem- 
bers of  his  father's  or  his  brother's  household,  and  among  his 
own  fragrant  bookshelves.  Here  he  found  abundant  scope  for 
his  affectionate  feelings  and  exuberant  playfulness,  not  only  in 
intercourse  with  the  family,  but  in  the  company  of  the  little 
folks;  among  whom  in  course  of  time  he  numbered  his  special 
favourites  by  the  score,  if  not  by  the  hundred. 

"  lie  was  not,"  says  Dr.  Tlodge,  "  very  much  inclined  to  society.*  He 
neve;-  visited  (at  least  in  Princeton),  except  in  going  to  see  one  or  two 
of  his  friends  at  their  studies.  The  relaxation  and  diversion  of  mind 
which  others  found  in  social  intercourse,  he  found  in  amusing  himself 
wnth  chDdren.  He  always  had  one  or  more  in  the  constant  habit  of 
going  to  see  him.  For  these  be  would  write  amusing  tales,  with  great 
care  and  skill  in  penmanship,  and  of  diverse  forms.  Nothing  moro 
characteristic  of  the  man  could  he  found  than  a  collection  of  liis  writ- 
ings for  his  juvenile  companions,  teeming  with  humour,  with  originahty, 
and  good  feeling." 

The  number  of  these  hrochurcs, little  and  big,  v.hich  are  still 
extant,  is  exceedingly  great ;  and  many  others  have  perished  or 
have  been  lost.  The  boys  or  girls  Avhom  he  thus  delighted  to 
fascinate  and  please,  were  commonJy  his  pupils  ;  and  he  would 
sit  iUe-d-tef-e  wnth  one  or  more  of  them  for  hours,  sometimes 
interrupting,  and  sometimes  carrying  on,  his  other  work  while 

*  This  remark  must,  of  course,  be  tflken  with  the  proper  and  iutendcd  mod- 
iHcatiou. 


^T.33.j  .  PAPERS    FOR   CHILDREN.  543 

they  were  occupying  his  settee  or  cane-bottomed  chains     His 
chief,  and  commonly  his  first,  business  was  to  write  their  lives. 

"I  have,"  says  Dr.  McGill,  "in  primer  form,  folded  and  stitclied 
and  paged,  with  the  leaves  uncut,  an  amusing  biography  of  a  child  in 
my  own  family  which  he  composed  from  her  conversation  about  the 
I)lace  and  playmates  she  left  in  coming  from  Allegheny  to  Princeton." 

I  suppose  that  I  have  heard  of  thirty  or  forty  of  these 
whimsical  literary  efforts.  At  least  half  a  dozen  of  such 
biographical  pamphlets  by  him  have  been  in  my  hands.  They 
are  usually  very  small  square  volumes,  covered  with  blue, 
pink,  green,  or  brown  paper,  and  written  upon  unruled  sheets. 
In  some  cases  they  were  slim  duodecimos  bound  in  leather. 
He  was  always  careful  to  write  them  in  a  neat  hand,  to  num- 
ber the  pages,  and  to  prefix  a  title  page  and  append  an  index. 
Not  a  few  of  them  are  printed  with  a  pen.  Every  thing  is 
complete,  from  the  record  of  copyright  to  the  "  Finis"  and 
table  of  typographical  errata.  He  seemed  to  have  an  unappeas 
able  rage  for  this  kind  of  composition.  No  event  was  too 
small  to  be  noticed,  and  some  of  these  accounts  now  possess  a 
real  value  for  the  facts  which  they  have  preserved  as  in  amber. 
It  is  needless  to  add  that  these  narratives  were  almost  always 
contrived  so  as  to  awaken  the  sense  of  the  ludicrous.  The 
ironical  gravity  of  some  of  them  is  equal  to  some  of  the  best 
passages  in  Pickwick. 

He  would  sometimes  write  down  a  journal  of  his  travels 
with  one  or  more  of  his  little  scholars."^     He  loved  to  make 

*  One  of  the  most  formal  of  these  records  is  now  lying  before  me,  and  Is 
entitled,  "  Journal  of  the  Exploring  Expedition,  1842."  I  give  a  few  words 
from  the  elaborate  preface: 

"  The  Board  then  proceeded  to  appoint  the  officers  of  the  Expedition  ;  when 
James  L.  Beffo  was  unanimously  chosen  Geographer,  Hydrographcr,  and  His- 
toriographer; and  Col. ,  late  of  the  New-York  and  Erie  Railroad,  was  at 

the  same  time  appointed  Civil  Engineer.  The  expediiion  was  ordered  to  set 
out  immediately,  and  on  its  return  to  lay  its  journal  before  the  Board.  Both 
those  orders  were  complied  with,  and  the  Board  was  pleased  to  direct  that  the 
journal  should  be  published  in  its  present  form.     The  utmost  care  has  been 


544  RIDGE   RECORDER. 


n842. 


these  minute  diaries,  and  it  was  truly  wonderful  how  much  he 
remembered.  He  could  take  down  the  confused  jargon  of  con 
versation  in  a  railroad  car  with  more  than  the  exactness  of  a 
stenographic  reporter.  On  these  occasions  he  was  known  as 
James  L.  Beifo,  and  his  little  friends  received  various  assumed 
names. 

But  about  this  time,  or  to  be  more  exact,  a  few  years 
earlier,  he  conceived  the  idea  of  writing  and  editing  a  bur- 
lesque newspaper ;  somewhat  in  the  fetyle  of  several  of  his 
youthful  publications,  but  for  lads  and  lassies,  and  all  in 
fun.  It  was  to  be  really  printed  with  the  pen,  but  issued 
from  an  imaginar}^  printing  press.  This  was  the  origin  of  the 
"Ridge  Recorder;"  tattered  fragments  of  which  are  now 
lying  on  my  table.  These  are  parts  of  two  numbers  which  were 
issued  at  "  Breckin-Ridge  "  respectively  on  Dec.  28,  1838,  and 
Jan.  16,  1839.  They  are  ludicrous  imitations  of  some  of  the 
New  Jersey  country  newspapers ;  and  are  wholly  filled  with 
the  trivial  incidents  of  household  menage.* 

The  news  articles  are  in  a  style  as  pompous  as  a  Spanish 
bulletin.     The  following  may  serve  as  a  specimen : 


employed  to  secure  the  highest  degree  of  typographical  correctness,  and  no  ex- 
pense or  labour  has  been  spared  in  the  illustration  of  the  work,  by  me;ins  of  the 
most  splendid  engravings.  With  these  advantages,  the  Journal  is  committed  to 
the  public  without  any  hesitation  or  misgiving  as  to  its  reception." 

As  a  specimen  of  his  abilities  as  a  verbatim  reporter,  I  might  copy  his 
transcript  of  the  talk  of  some  lawyers  on  the  train,  who  were  returning  from  the 
trial  of  Monroe  Edwards.  The  principal  persons  engaged  in  it  were  the  Hon. 
Thomas  F.  Marshall,  of  Kentucky,  who  had  been  defending  Edwards,  Col.  Stone, 
and  Judge  Kent.  The  Journal  is  illustrated  with  diagrams,  bills  of  fare,  and 
street  signs. 

*  In  the  left-hand  corner  it  bore  upon  its  face  the  following  startling  an- 
nouncement in  exquisite  fine  print :  "  Published  as  often  as  convenient,  at  the 
corner  of  the  Piazza  and  the  Gravel  Walk.  Terms — nothing  per  annum.  Ad- 
vertisements— $.00  per  line.  Communications  may  be  addressed  to  the  editor, 
postage  unpaid.  No.  11  Heath  st."  The  advertising  columns  are  admirably 
filled,  and  the  proposals  of  the  supposititious  tradesmen,  &c.,  are  designed  to 
interest  very  little  children. 


^T.33.]  '  CHICKEN    COLLEGE.  545 

"  On  Monday,  November  19,  the  reigning  Duke  and  Dntcliess  de  k, 
Eidge  arrived  and  took  np  their  abode  in  the  ducal  palace.  Tlieir  lieir, 
the  Marquis  of  Carrington,  came  with  tliem.  Prince  George  of  Cabello 
had  previously  arrived,  under  tlie  care  of  his  gouvernante.  Signore  Ad- 
disono  Alessandro  had  preceded  them  about  a  week.  The  crown 
prince  of  Essemby,  during  the  absence  of  tjje  Duke  and  Dutchess,  had 
resided  with  his  illustrious  grandparents,  where  he  still  continued  on 
account  of  the  arrival  of  his  Electoral  Highness  the  Lord  Proprietor." 

"Thursday,  Dec.  5.  A  stove*  was  erected  in  the  grand  Entrance 
Hall,  and  the  pipe  carried  through  the  southwest  chamber,  where  ac- 
commodations have  been  fitted  up  for  the  Crown  Prince.  His  High- 
ness partook  of  a  collation  this  evening  in  the  grand  salle-d-manger.'''' 

There  also  appears  the  following : 

"  The  curiosity  of  the  good  people  of  the  Ridge  has  been  much  ex- 
cited by  certain  mysterious  visits  of  two  distinguished  foreigners,  Don 
Eicardo  d'Istocktoni  and  the  Chevalier  Giovanni  Potterini.  It  is  conjec- 
tured that  they  are  engaged  in  secret  negotiations  with  the  Minister  of 
Foreign  Affiiirs.  A  few  days  will  probably  disclose  the  secret.  The 
Chevalier  and  Don  Eicardo  travel  incogniti,  without  attendants,  and 
unarmed." 

In  a  very  grandiloquent  editorial  he  heralds  the  advent  oi 
a  new  poet,  and  gives  seventy-three  short  verses  as  a  sample 
of  his  great  production.  The  following  is  headed  "  Chicken 
College : 

"  The  annual  course  will  commence  on  the  first  of  January  as 
follows : 

On  Feeding,  by  Professor  Cray.t 

On  Scratching,  by  Speckled  Hen. 

On  Roosting,  by  Broken  Leg,  jr. 

On  Laying,  by  Black  Hen. 

On  Cackling,  by  Red  Rover. 

On  Crowing,  by  C.  Chanticleer. 

On  the  Diseases  of  Hens  and  Chickens,  by  P.  W.  Pip. 

On  Pulline  Jurisprudence,  by  W.  "Wagtail. 

*  Which  went  by  the  name  of  its  inventor,  Kisterbock. 
f  Peter  Cray,  a  man-servant  at  the  Breckinridge  House. 


546  ADVERTISEMENTS. 


asiz 


A  limited  nimibei-  of  students  may  obtain  accommoclafion  in  the 
Hen  Eoost,  by  applying  to  Prufessor  Chanticleer,  Dcau  of  the  Fac- 
ulty." 

There  is  also  subjoined  the  following  little  j^iece  of  laugh- 
ing satire : 

"  At  a  meeting  of  the  Anti-railking  Society,  held  in  the  Cow-house, 
on  the  seventh  of  December,  Mr.  Applegate's  cow  was  called  to  the 
trough,  and  Our  Cow,  Esq.,  appointed  Secretary.  On  motion,  it  was 
resolved  that  the  practice  of  milking  cows  is  cruel,  nnjust,  and  oppres- 
sive ;  and  that  we  will  resist  it  to  the  utmost.  It  was  resolved  tliat  a 
Committee  of  Vigilance  be  appointed  to  aid  fugitive  cows  in  their 
escape  from  oppression.  The  proceedings  of  the  meeting  were  ordered- 
to  be  published  in  the  Eidge  Recorder." 

Among  the  advertisements,  I  notice  this : 

"  Roan  Horse  respectfully  informs  the  inhabitants  of  the  Ridge 
that  he  has  opened  an  office  in  the  stable,  where  he  will  promptly 
answer  all  calls  for  his  professional  services  as  a  beast  of  burden.  Ref- 
erence: Sir  Peter  Cray,  Master  of  the  Horse."  tf  w2  xyz. 

There  are,  in  addition,  prices  current,  an  account  of  a 
dreadful  massacre,  and  a  resume  of  foreign  news.  The  famil- 
iar words,  Terms,  Wanted,  and  For  Rent,  are  to  be  seen  on 
the  first  page.  There  are  agricultural,  literary,  and  political 
departments ;  a  list  of  letters  remaining  in  the  Post  Office  at 
Breckinridge;  a  Shipping  List;  and  articles  on  the  Weather, 
Election  Frauds,  Fashionable  Arrivals,  and  Select  Schools. 
There  is,  too,  an  account  of  a  "  grand  concert,"  and  the  follow- 
ing card  appears  under  the  title  : 

"Ran  Away— From  the  subscriber,  on  Olu-istmas Eve,  a  fine  Carp 
Rhine  Cat,  with  blue  eyes  and  yellow  hair.  Any  person  restoi'iiig  the 
said  animal  will  receive  nothing  at  all.  Old  Black." 

Under  the  head  of  Political,  I  find  the  following : 

"The  important  change  mentioned  in  our  last  as  probable    has 


.Ex. 33.]  A   CHILD    OF   NATURE.  547 

tal^en  place.  The  Loudon  Administration  is  at  an  end.  The  Dinah 
Administration  ha?  succeeded  it.  Thii  may  be  regarded  as  a  signal  tri- 
umph of  th3  African  over  the  Anglo-Saxon  party.  The  late  Premier 
resigned  the  seals  of  office  in  the  evening  of  the  eleventh  ;  the  new 
Premier  assumed  them  in  the  afternoon  of  the  twelfth.  We  are  not  yet 
informed  what  policy  will  be  adopted  by  the  new  administration." 

Under  the  head  of  "  Geeat  Watee,"  I  notice  this  ludi- 
crous imitation : 

"Last  night  a  destructive  water  broke  out  in  the  Kisterboclc,  and 
raged  for  ten  minutes  without  intermission.  It  was  at  length  subdued 
by  the  preternatural  exertions  of  the  Ivisterbock  Water  Company, 
whose  hose  was  considerably  wetted." 

The  following  gives  us  a  peep  at  "  the  Great  Unknown  " 
himself: 

"  The  subscribers  continue  to  relate  their  adventures  to  admiring 
audiences  in  the  Northeast  Upper  Room.  Price  of  admission,  one 
burnt  almond.     Apply  to  either  of  the  undersigned. 

"Peter  Aeuk. 
"Old  Black." 

Much  of  the  letterpress  of  the  "Recorder"  resembles  the 
finest  copperplate.  I  have  observed  but  one  erasure  in  either 
of  the  numbers  now  in  my  possession. 

There  are  readers  who  may  think  that  Mr.  Alexander 
demeaned  himself  in  thus  letting  himself  down  to  the  level 
almost  of  infancy.  Not  so  think  many  wise  and  prudent 
judges  of  human  nature,  and  friends  of  the  abrupt  and  solitary 
scholar.  Nor  did  he  ever  think  so  himself  He  was  himself  a 
child  of  nature  as  well  as  of  art.  Aqiiila  non  capiat  muscas^ 
was  no  motto  of  his.  He  evidently  thought  with  Dr.  John- 
son, that  "  The  true  strong  and  sound  mind  is  the  mind  that 
can  embrace  equally  great  things  and  small."  He  could  sym- 
pathize with  Dr.  Clarke,  who  reluctantly  stopped  his  leap-frog 
with  the  boys  on  seeing  Beau  Nash  approaching,  saying,  as  he 
did  so  "  Here  comes  a  fool."     Many  seem  strangely  to  forget 


S48  POLYGONAL.  D842. 

that  it  was  in  tliis  rare  power  of  running  nearly  the  wholi 
gamut  of  things  possible  to  the  mental  faculties  that  a  large 
part  of  Mr.  Alexander's  superiority  consisted.  Others  might 
write  amusing  cliildren's  books,  but  not  such  as  be,  or  such 
books  as  he  wrote.  Variety  and  symmetrical  proportion  were 
the  objects  respectively  of  the  centrifugal  and  centripetal  ten- 
dencies which  made  up  so  large  a  part  of  his  intellectual  char- 
acter. Of  course  such  assertions  are  liable  to  qualification  as 
to  the  degree  of  their  truth.  What  I  aim  at  is  to  express  tlie 
nature  rather  than  the  measure  of  the  excellence.  The  man 
who  could  thus  tickle  the  ears  and  warm  the  hearts  of  little 
children,  could  (had  he  so  pleased)  have  charmed  senates,  and 
did  captivate  and  control  some  of  the  most  intellectual  assem- 
blies in  America,  and  expose  to  mocking  ridicule  some  of  the 
most  illustrious  scholars  of  Germany.  He  put  the  learned 
infidels  of  the  old  world,  and  the  sciolists  of  the  new,  to  the 
torture  of  his  refined  but  inexorable  criticism,  and  has  applied 
the  knout  of  his  galling  sarcasm  to  the  back  of  conceited  folly 
everywhere.  The  changes  in  his  intellect  Avere  as  great  as  those 
in  his  feelings.  On  this  and  kindred  points,  A.  A.  Rice, 
M.D.,  of  Kentucky,  writes  thus  : 

"  Dr.  Addison  Alexander  was  one  of  the  most  '  polygonal '  men  I 
ever  knew ;  nor  do  I  believe  that  there  was  any  one,  ouiside  of  his  own 
immediate  family  wlio  Lad  the  opportunity  of  looldn;^  ^t  him  upon 
every  side  of  his  character.  For  me,  he  was  as  a  colossal  statue  placed 
upon  an  elevated  pedestal,  which  I  could  only  look  up  to  and  wonder 
at.  The  only  time,  during  the  fourteen  years  that  I  lived  in  Princeton, 
that  I  c.-ime  in  direct  contact  personally  with  him,  was  when  I  was 
about  nine  years  old,  and  he  was  then  a  man  grown,  and  was,  I  think, 
a  tutor  in  the  college.  It  was  then,  as  it  continued  to  be  during  his 
life,  a  characteristic  of  his,  to  find  a  relaxation  from  mental  activity  in 
the  society  of  children,  rather  than  of  grown  persons,  and  for  their 
amusement  he  would  pour  forth  wit  and  humour  with  a  profusion 
amply  suflicient  to  establi.-h  the  fact  that  he  was  one  of  the  wittiest  men 
of  the  day.  I  well  remembir  into  what  convulsions  of  laughter  he 
used  to  throw  me  by  his  narrations  concerning  '  Old  Blaque '  and 
'Peter  Arrheu.'     I  give  you  his  own  spelling  of  these  names,*  which 

*  lie  spelt  these  names  in  all  manner  of  ways. 


^T.33.]  JUDGE    BRECKINRIDGE.  549 

I  doubt  not  are  familiar  sounds  to  you,  as  well  as  to  many  others,  now  men 
and  women,  who  in  their  childliood  were  fortunate  enough  to  attract  his 
'Uttention.  Nor  were  these  witty  and  humorous  deliverances  confined 
to  spoken  narratives.  His  pen  was  as  prolific  as  his  tongue,  and  I  am 
sure  that  quite  a  volume  of  his  facetiae  could  even  now  be  found,  if 
they  were  sought  for  in  the  proper  quarters.  There  was  one  story 
that  he  told  me  which  made  a  very  vivid  impression  on  my  mind, 
haunted  my  waking  thoughts,  and  was  reproduced  in  my  dreams  for 
many  years  afterwards ;  which  I  found  was  a  wonderful  travesty  of 
Moore's  Epicurean,  when  I  saw  that  book  after  I  was  grown." 

Many  of  the  boys  who  owed  their  first  or  strongest  impulse 
to  Mr.  Alexander,  have  since  obtained  merited  distinction. 
Among  these  I  may  perhaps  reckon  Judge  Samuel  M.  Breck- 
inridge, of  St.  Louis,  a  son  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  Breckin- 
ridge, a  grandson  of  the  late  venerable  Dr.  Samuel  Mil- 
ler, and  a  blood  relation  of  one  branch  of  the  Alexander 
family,  though  not  connected  in  this  way  with  the  subject  of 
this  memoir.  He  writes  that  the  time  he  spent  in  Princeton  after 
the  death  of  his  mother,  under  the  roof  and  special  care  of  Dr. 
James  W.  Alexander,  Avho  stood  to  him  in  loco  parentis,  was 
about  a  year,  reaching  from  the  autumn  of  1838  to  the  autumn 
of  1839,  when  he  was  from  ten  to  eleven  years  of  age.  Dur- 
ing the  most  of  that  time,  he  was  the  room-mate  of  the  protean 
linguist ;  and  though  Prof  James  Alexander,  whose  duties 
were  in  the  college,  had  taken  charge  of  his  studies,  many  of 
his  recitations  were  made  to  Mr.  Addison  Alexander,  who 
was  his  "  very  intimate  and  much  loved  friend."  Judge 
Breckinridge  goes  on  as  follows : 

"  During  that  time  he  found  recreation,  and  I  infinite  pleasure,  in 
a  little  paper,  edited  (and  with  a  pen  printed)  by  him  ;  very  irregular  in 
size  and  contents  and  times  of  issue,  but  full  of  fun  in  prose  and  verse, 
in  editorial  and  (what  purported  to  be)  communicated  matter,  and  rich 
in  advertisements  of  all  sorts,  &c.  It  is  a  source  of  constant  regret  to 
me  that  in  the  breaking  up  of  my  father's  remaining  establishment  at 
Princeton,  when  in  1839-40  he  went  to  New  Orleans  as  pastor,  and  in 
the  sale  of  his  eflfects  after  his  death  in  1841-2,  while  I  was  absent,  and 
at  any  rate  too  young  to  appreciate  fully  the  value  of  these  papersi 


550  GRATEFUL   TESTIMONIES. 


ri94C 


and  many  others  of  a  like  nature  find  also  written  by  Dr.  Adlison  Al- 
exander, this  coUectiiin  of  what  was  even  then  very  preciou-i  to  mo 
was  lost,  or  destroyed,  and  the  most  careful  search  a:)d  inquiry  has 
given  me  no  tra/e  of  them.*  That  year  was  one  of  the  most  protitab'e 
t'>  me  I  ever  spent;  made  so  by  Dr.  James  Alexander's  teachngaud  his 
brother  A.ldison's,  and  the  benefits  I  could  not  foil,  though  so  young, 
to  derive  from  them." 

With  the  end  of  this  year  Mr.  Breckinridge  left  Princeton, 
and  did  not  return  till  the  autumn  of  1842,  when  he  entered 
the  college  as  a  Sophomore.  He  concludes  in  the  following 
language : 

"I  remember,  of  course,  many  incidents  and  facts,  and  there  are 
end'e.^s  personal  recollections  ;  but  they  are  rather  of  that  kind  which 
make  an  impression  ineffaceable  on  one's  mind  and  n.emory,  and  .\et 
can  only  in  a  very  unsatisfactory  way  be  comniunicati'd  to  another. 
Certainly  Dr.  Addison  Alexander  was  one  of  the  most  rarely  gifted 
men  of  his  time;  witii  marvellous  capacity  fur  acquii-ing  knowIed:,'e 
and  imparting  it :  and  to  me  he  manifested  the  wonderful  wealth  of  his 
nature,  in  showing  that  his  great  labours,  rare  acquirements,  and  devo- 
tion to  his  profession  and  tlie  duties  of  his  place,  left  him  still  able  to 
unbend,  and,  with  fit  opportunity,  to  enjoy  with  all  the  simplicity  of  a 
child  the  sports  of  children,  and  ar,  the  f-ame  time  to  make  them  useful 
and  instinctive.  I  never  loved  one  out  of  my  own  immediate  family 
more ;  very  few  so  much." 

The  grateful  testimonies  of  this  kind  would  make  up  quite 
a  little  library.  Few  of  them  can  be  given  here.  They  all 
present  the  same  outlines  and  the  same  warm  and  pleasin^ 
colouring.  Tliere  are  numbers  of  men  and  women  now  liviii'^' 
who  look  back  with  delight  to  the  days  ^yhan  f ranch  super  viridi, 
or  upon  "  The  Rocks,"  f  or  on  "  The  Mound,"  or  in  "  The  Tan 
Path,"  or  under  the  green  willows  of  "  Piccadilly,"  or  within 
the  ceiled  walls  of  one  of  Mr.  Alexander's  divers  studies,  they 

*  Tlic«e  included,  imque^tiouably  from  the  description,  specimens  of  the 
Ridge  Recjrder. 

t  A  group  of  picturesque  fragments  within  the  Breckinridge  inclosuro, 
resembling  the  summits  of  precipitous  crosses. 


^T.  83.]  EARLY   RECOLLECTIONS.  551 

were  regaled  with  stories  and  amusing  dialogues,  and  initiated 
into  the  absurd  and  tantalizing  mysteries  of  the  "Jarvach,"  or 
the  "  Cappadocian  "  ;  and  who  can  remember  his  toils,  as  an 
infant  biographer,  newspaper  editor,  and  magazinist. 

"I  knew  Anselmo.     He  wns  sage  and  pious ; 
Learning  and  genius  had  their  shares  of  Mm ; 
But  he  was  changeful  as  a  wayward  child, 
And  pleased  again  by  toys  which  childhood  please; 
As  book  of  fables  graced  with  print  of  wood, 
******** 
Or  the  rare  melody  of  some  old  ditty, 
That  first  was  sung  to  please  a  Persian  cradle."  * 

And  I  hold  it  no  detriment  to  "  the  scholar  '  breathing  libra- 
ries,' "  to  exhibit  all  sides  of  his  character ;  and  even  to  lay- 
stress 

"  On  that  best  portion  of  a  good  man's  life, 
His  little^  nameless,  unremembered  acts 
Of  kindness  and  of  love." 

A  favourite  pupil,  and  friend  of  years'  unbroken  intimacy, 
writes,  that  the  only  reason  for  his  saying  any  thing  is  that  he 
profited  perhaps  more  than  any  other  by  Mr.  Alexander's 
great  love  for  children,  and  for  teaching  cliildren.  His  earli- 
est recollections  of  him  are  of 

"  Being  taken  to  see  him  in  his  rooms  in  the  '  Tombs,' t  when  in 
my  petticoats,  and  afterwards  of  being  sent  with  messages  to  'Noah's 
Ark,'  in  Canal  street." 

He  can  now  scarcely  distinguish  between  his  personal  recol- 
lections of  these  visits,  and  the  accounts  his  instructor  used  to 
give  him  of  them  in  later  years. 

."  It  was  when  I  was  a  school-boy,  about  ten  or  eleven  yenrs  ol.l,  that 

*  Slightly  altered  from  the  original. 
f  His  rooms  under  the  Seminary  Chapel. 


552  WISTARS    MAGAZINE.  [1842. 

lie  took  a  fancy  to  attach  me  to  bim  more  permanently.  Going  on 
some  errand  to  his  study  in  his  father's  house,  he  entertained  me  ia  a 
long  conversation,  and  engaged  mo  to  come  again  witli  the  promise  of 
writing  something  for  me.  That  was  the  beginning  of  a  constant  and 
close  association,  in  which  be  gradually  took  possession  of  tbe  whole 
of  my  leisure  time,  detaching  me  from  my  school  playmates  almost  en- 
tirely. At  first,  the  chief  attraction  was  the  magazines  and  letters 
which  he  wrote  for  me,  which  are  now  in  my  possession. 

lie  made  liim  tell  bim  tbe  principal  events  of  his  life  which 
he  could  recollect,  which  he  incorporated  in  little  books  enti- 
tled "  Life  of  Wiss." 

"  Then  commenced  tlie  "  Wistar's  Magazine,"  beginning  with  an  ad- 
vance:! volume  and  number;  of  which  he  would  give  me  usually  a  num- 
ber a  fortnight,  interspersed  with  long  letters  in  rhyme,  one  of  which, 
covering  a  folio  sheet,  was  wrapped  in  an  immense  package.  After 
letting  me  open  this,  be  withheld  it  for  several  days  (to  my  intense  dis- 
appointment), and  at  last  yielded  it  to  my  entreaties.  This  magazine  con- 
tinned  for  two  or  three  years,  running  through  two  series;  showing  a 
fertility  of  invention  and  command  of  language  equal,  I  think,  to  any 
of  his  productions,  and  certainly  among  tbe  most  curious  of  his  literary 
remains." 

All  this  naturally  awakened  as  strong  a  love  as  a  boy  ever 
felt  for  a  man  not  his  own  fatlier.  The  pupil  was  under  no 
constraint  in  the  presence  of  the  master,  and  felt  no  fear  of 
him.  If  the  teacher  was  preoccupied  or  out  of  patience  "svith 
him,  he  had  only  to  wait  "  and  all  would  come  right."  In  this 
way  the  strange,  or  as  some  fancied,  the  unsocial  scholar,  ob- 
tained the  most  perfect  mastery  over  the  boy's  affections  and 
mind.  And  to  this  the  pupil  thinks  he  owes  the  impetus  which 
this  teacher  gave  to  his  studies. 

"  While  visiting  liim  in  this  way,  he  began  to  teach  me.  The  first 
lessons  I  recollect  from  him,  entirely  apart  from  my  school  tasks,  were 
In  tbe  Latin  verb." 

lie  made  him  recite  this  in  the  four  conjugations,  active  and 
passive,  through,  and  without  a  mistake.     Any  slip,  although 


^T.33.]  A   FAVOURITE    SCHOLAR.      "  553 

immediately  corrected,  required  bim  to  commence  again  from 
the  beginning,  till  be  had  thus  gone  through  the  whole  suc- 
cessfully. Then,  in  the  same  way,  he  took  the  active  and  pas- 
sive  of  each  conjugation  together,  then  of  two  conjugations 
together,  then  of  three,  and  finally  of  four.  The  disgust  the 
pupil  felt  after  getting  almost  through  and  then  losing  all  by  a 
single  slip  may  be  imagined.  It  was  some  weeks  before  he 
finally  accomplished  the  feat,  and  the  delight  when  it  was  safely 
done  he  shall  never  forget.  At  the  same  time,  he  was  making 
bim  write  translations  from  Latin  books  and  thus 

Gra'Jually  implauting  a  love  for  this  language  and  desire  for  ac- 
quisition to  which  I  owe  most  of  v,^hat  I  know." 

He  believes  he  was  not  twelve  years  old  when  his  friend  pro- 
posed, much  to  his  joy,  to  take  him  entirely  from  other  schools 
and  prepare  him  for  college.  From  this  time  for  two  years  he' 
was  with  him  almost  constantly,  "  morning,  noon,  and  nip-ht  " 
studying  in  bis  room,  and  going  back  in  the  evening  very  fre- 
quently to  read  with  him.  His  method  of  teaching  was  greatly 
varied,  constantly  exciting  fresh  interest  by  proposing  some- 
thing new.  He  gave  short  lessons  in  the  grammar,  which 
were  to  be  memorized  with  absolute  accuracy.  The  transla- 
tions exacted  were  pretty  long.  He  made  his  pupil  write  a 
good  deal,  translating  back  into  Latin  something  he  had  before 
read ;  besides  writing  exercises  from  some  school-book.  He 
learned  by  heart  a  considerable  amount  of  Latin  verse.  While 
under  this  tuition,  he  also  began  the  study  of  Greek,  going 
through  two  books  of  the  Anabasis,  and  making  constant  use 
of  the  pen  in  his  lessons. 

At  the  same  time,  and  under  the  charm  of  profound  secrecy, 
he  gave  him  some  lessons  in  Hebrew.  He  learned  to  read  the 
text  with  ease,  and  mastered  the  regular  verb  as  completely  as 
he  had  done  the  Latin  verb,  and  besides  reading  and  writino- 
French  in  the  ordinary  way,  the  teacher  would  insist  for  a 
week  at  a  time  on  holding  no  communication  with  his  scholar 
except  in  that  language,  making  him  "Frenchify"  Eno-Hsh 
24  -!  a 


554  INTERRUPTIONS.  L1842. 

words,  when  he  coiild  not  command  French  ones ;  so  that  not- 
withstanding '•  tlie  indescribable  jargon,"  the  learner  gained 
some  knowledge  of  words  and  forms. 

"All  this  time  he  was  inspiring  me  with  a  love  for  history  and  lit- 
erature. He  read  to  me,  making  me  take  notes.  lie  caused  nie  to 
write  copious  condensations  of  historical  books.  He  talked  much  about 
liistorical  characters  and  writers,  and  in  this  way  insensibly  gave  me  a 
knowledge  of  the  outlines  and  relations  of  history  such  as  no  boy  would 
be  likely  to  get  hy  his  own  reading.  He  would  read  poetry  to  me,  too, 
with  iunnense  enthusiasm.  I  shall  never  forget  the  night  of  my  first 
introduction  to  Shakespeare,  hy  his  reading  to  me  the  murder  scene  in 
Macbeth,  nor  my  first  knowledge  of  Sir  Walter  Scott,  (except  the  pun- 
ishment a  previous  teacher  gave  me  in  the  Tales  of  a  Grandfather,)  in 
his  reading  the  tournament  scene  in  Ivanhoe.  So  with  Milton.  Few 
things  have  left  a  stronger  impression  on  me  than  the  classic  simplicity 
of  his  taste  in  literature,  by  which  I  was  kept  from  inferior  authors 
during  the  period  when  I  would  have  been  most  injured  by  them." 

All  this  did  not  seem  to  interrupt  the  teacher's  own  work, 
for  when  most  intently  engaged  in  writing,  he  would  frequently 
break  off  and  talk  for  awhile  about  other  things,  and  oiten 
then  about  the  subject  that  was  engaging  him, 

"Quite  often  I  took  advantage  of  his  exuberant  good  humour  to  get 
off  my  lessons ;  for  if  on  trial  I  found  he  was  inclined  for  '  a  free,'  as 
he  used  to  call  it,  I  could  sometimes  induce  him  to  continue  it  tlie  whole 
time  which  was  to  have  been  occupied  in  preparing  my  lessons." 

Another  interruption  which  this  pupil  used  to  welcome, 
came  from  his  love  of  "  flitting."  He  not  only  removed  from 
house  to  house,  but  from  room  to  room;  tm-ning  his  bed-room 
into  his  study,  and  vice  versa ;  changing  the  book-cases  in  his 
rooms  so  as  to  give  them  a  new  aspect. 

"Several  times  on  going  to  his  study  in  the  morning,  I  would  find 
him  so  engaged,  and  would  help  him  take  his  books  down  and  put 
them  up  differently;  and  when  all  was  done,  he  would  feel  quite  re- 
freshed, and  say  that  it  was    '  the  next  best  thing  to  movin; 


)  1) 


^^•33.]  LITTLE    GIRLS.  555 

^  Once  during  these  years  he  took  this  pupil  with  him  on  a 
trip  to  New- York,  Boston,  Albany,  Washington,  etc. 

"  His  spirits  always  rose  when  travelling.  He  was  fond  of  riding  it 
omnibnses,  jroing  tlie  whole  length  of  ihe  route,  anl  then  taking  an- 
other in  a  (litTerent  direction  ;  always  picking  up  something  to  tell,  in 
the  queer  characters  and  scenes  he  met,  and  sometimes  exciting  the 
wonder  of  the  people  by  talking  to  me  in  Persian  verse,  and  making  me 
answer  with  some  verses  he  had  taught  me  by  ear.  The  record  of  one 
of  these  journeys  was  written  in  Wistar's  Magazine.  He  more  than 
once  wrote  for  my  amusement  minuteaccounts  of  otiier  journeys  which 
he  made.  One  winter,  he  read  me  the  journal  of  his  first  voyage  to 
Europe,  and  seemed  much  to  enjoy  the  desire  it  awakened  to  see  tlie 
s;ime  scenes.  I  little  thought,  then,  that  I  was  des:ined  to  make  the 
voyage  in  his  company.  Any  rem:niscence3  of  that  voyage  would  be 
superfluous,  as  he  kept  a  most  copious  journal  daily,  not  a  word  of 
which  he  would  allow  me  to  see,  either  t!jea  or  afterwards,  as  I  have 
never  yet  obtained  a  sight  of  it." 

This  gentleman's  visits  to  Mr.  Alexander  were  kept  up 
with  no  decrease  of  flirailiarity  or  kindness  on  the  part  of  the 
latter  during  his  college  course.     On  the  contrary, 

"He  often  rend  with  me,  anrl  advised  me;  and  during  the  year 
after  my  graduation,  and  during  my  seminary  course,  I  saw  him  fre- 
quently." 

Mr.  Alexander's  liking  for  children  v^'as  by  no  means 
restricted  to  boys.  No  one  -was  more  sensible  than  he  to  the 
attractions  of  blooming  girlhood,  and  liis  study  was  often  ren- 
dered charming  by  the  rosy  faces  and  laughing  eyes  of  the 
daughters  of  his  friends  and  colleagues.  A  lady  who  has  a 
vivid  recollection  of  him,  testifies  to  this  fact.     She  says  : 

"  A  prominent  characteristic  wns  his  great  liking  for  little  girls.  In 
iiis  broth.-r's  family,  where  he  resided  fit  the  time  referred  to,''the  chU- 
dren  we;e  a'l  boys.  But  he  always  found  in  some  of  the  fau.iles  in 
the  neighbourhood  a  pet,  who  was  urged  to  come  often  to  his  study,  and 
who  never  failed  to  meet  with  a  warm  welcoine  wiien  the  tap  of  tha 
little  visitor  brought  Dr.  Alexander  to  the  door.     On  such  occasions 


556  CHILDREN  S    LIVES.  [1842. 

he  would  entertain  his  guest  by  telling  marvellous  stories,  or  by  writ- 
ing her  name  for  her  in  ever  so  many  different  languages,  or  by  sing- 
ing or  repeating  some  lines  in  an  Oriental  tongue,  and  then  translating 
the  strange  sounds  to  her.  Or  sometimes  she  would  try  her  skill  in 
writing  for  him  on  a  slip  of  paper.  Such  a  fragment,  wiih  perhaps 
nothing  upon  it  but  the  writer's  name  in  childish  charncters,  would 
be  carefully  put  away,  and  months  afterwards  be  produced  from  the 
depths  of  his  pociket-book  to  show  that  he  had  kept  it,  and  perhaps  to 
tease  the  little  penman  on  account  of  the  bad  writing,  which  was  her 
best  not  long  before. 

"  Writing  a  book  for  his  especial  favourite,  was  a  great  pleasure  prom- 
ised sometiiues.  The  writer  well  remembers  a  tiny  volume,  regularly 
bound,  but  its  pages  written  by  Dr.  Alexander,  not  printed,  her  '  Life,' 
which  he  got  up  to  please  her.     It  was  inscribed  upon  the  back  '  The 

Life  of .' 

"  Perhaps  for  want  of  material  in  the  history  of  a  life  of  eight 
years  or  thereabouts,  the  little  book  contained  a  number  of  digressions 
from  the  subject  and  some  blank  pages.  But  there  it  was,  a  real  booh, 
and  with  great  dulight  slie  used  to  display  it  to  her  young  companions." 

He  Bcver  ceased  to  take  a  deep  interest  in  those  of  wliom  he 
was  ever  fond.  He  kept  up  a  pretty  active  correspondence 
with  some  of  the  half-grown  young  ladies  who  had  enjoyed  tlie 
privilege  of  his  company  and  instructions.  Sometimes  his  let- 
ters were  in  rhyme,  but  commonly  in  a  vein  of  grave  or  face- 
tious prose.  These  were  often  made  the  vehicle  of  advice  and 
counsel,  as  well  as  of  mental  stimulus.  I  give  below  parts  of 
one  of  his  rhyming  epistles  to  a  little  girl  After  adverting  to 
her  expected  departure  to  a  neighbouring  city,  he  kindly 
refers  to  her  life  which  he  had  promised  to  write  : 

"This  has  led  me  to  fear  that  you  may  not  be  here  when  the  work 
is  complete.  So  I  send  you  this  sheet,  that  you  may  not  suspect  any 
wilful  neglect  or  intentional  failure.  I  deeply  bewail  your  departure, 
and  would  keep  you  here  if  I  could.  But  as  this  cannot  be,  and  as  I 
may  not  see  you  again  very  soon,  is  it  too  great  a  boon  that  I  venture 
to  ask,  or  too  irksome  a  task  I  impose,  in  beseeching  that  as  soon  as  she 
was  at  home  in  the  city,  she  would,  just  out  of  pity,  take  a  pen  and 
ink,  without  stopping  to  think,  and  at  once,  my  dear  Nan,  fill  a  sheet,  as 
you  can,  I  am  sure  without  trouble;  and  should  it  be  double,  why  so 


^T.33.]  RHYMING    EPISTLES.  551 

much  the  better  ;  for  liow  can  a  letter  from  you  be  too  Ion:''?  I  know 
it  is  wrong  and  disbonest  tu  flatter,  and  this  is  a  matter  in  which  I  may 
seem  to  approa"!]  that  extreme,  yet  I  feel  bound  tu  say  that  I  would,  any 
day,  Very  cheerfully  pay  double  postage  to  see  a  long  letter  from  thee, 
which  would  please  me  as  much  as  if  written  iu  Dutch,  and  be  an- 
swered at  once.  But  I  write  like  a  dunce,  to  suppose  you  will  care, 
when  you  get  settled  there,  for  your  poor  country  friends ;  and  to  make 
some  amends  for  so  foolish  a  thought  as  that  you  could  be  bought  with 
the  bribe  of  a  letter,  I  have  something  better  to  offer,  instead  of  what 
you  have  read.  It  is  this,  that  if  you  will  consent  to  do  what  I  now 
request,  I  will  do  my  bir'St,  by  hook  or  by  crook,  to  finish  the  book, 
and  will  bring  it  down  when  I  come  to  town.  And  if  yuu  will  employ 
a  man  or  a  boy,  a  girl  or  a  woman,  at  some  painting  room  in  the  city, 
to  do  a  good  likeness  of  you,  and  then  send  it  to  me,  it  shall  certainly 
be  without  any  expense  to  your  side  of  the  fence. 

"But  I  almost  forgot  to  inform  you  of  what  might  have  puzzled 
you  sadly,  and  made  you  feel  badly,  if  left  unexplained,  as  it  would 
have  remained  if  some  little  thing  had  not  happened  to  bring  the  af- 
fair to  my  mind;  and  lest  it  should  find  its  way  out  again,  before  this 
poor  pen  can  have  time  to  go  through  what  1  wish  it  to  do,  I  think 
myself  bound,  without  going  around  any  longer,  to  tell  what  I  might 
just  as  well  have  told  you  before;  but  you  know  there  is  more  satisf-c- 
lion  in  knowing  what  one  has  been  going  to  tell,  but  did  not,  than  in 
just  hearing  what  you  never  had  thought  of,  or  wished  to  know  aught 
of;  and  therefore  I  may  take  upon  me  to  say,  tint  this  little  delay  in 
expressing  my  views,  will  not  only  amuse,  but  afford  you  delight.  Yet 
I  own  that  the  sight  of  my  sheet,  almo.-t  done,  has  already  begun  to 
make  me  repent  of  my  evil  intent  and  malicious  desire  to  raise  still 
higher  your  high  curiosity.  Yes,  the  monstrosity  of  such  a  course 
strikes  me  now  with  great  force.  So  I  give  up  my  plan,  and  proceed, 
my  dear  Nan,  to  inform  you,  without  any  winding  about,  that  the  paper 
enclosed  is  a  letter  composed  more  than  three  weeks  ago  ;  but  the  mail 
is  so  slow  that  I  wish  I  had  kept  it.  Please  now  to  accept  it,  as  not  yet 
too  late,  although  much  out  of  date ;  and  now,  my  young  friend,  as  I 
draw  near  the  end  of  my  letter,  I  feel,  I  must  own,  a  good  deal  of  re- 
gret and  concern  at  your  speedy  return  to  the  State  of  your  birth,  which 
is  certainly  worth  more  than  Jersey,  since  you  were  born  there,  and  I 
too;  yet  I  should  have  preferred  very  much  to  have  heard  that  you 
meant  to  remain.  But  regrets  are  now  vain,  and  I  wish  you,  at  parting, 
a  prosperous  starting,  and  easy  transition,  a  pleasant  position,  a  happy 
abode,  and  a  bountiful  load 


558  LIFE    OF   WISS.  D842. 

"  Of  enjoyments  below,  and  of  gifts  from  above, 
In  the  beautiful  City  of  Brotberly  Love; 
(And  thus  I  rev&al  to  you  for  the  first  time, 
That  wliat  you  are  reading  is  written  in  rhyme) 
And  with  a  regard  which  I  feel  for  but  few, 
I  bid  you,  dear  Nannie,  a  final 

Adieu," 

There  is  another,  sent  to  a  cousin  in  Virginia,  which  bcoin 
aing  with  the  usual  common-place  doggerel,  closes  in  a  strain 
of  pathetic  sincerity.     I  give  the  concluding  pai't : 

"  Give  my  love  to  all  in  Livingston  Hall,  from  the  dear  grandsire, 
beside  his  fire,  to  the  youngest  boy  who  is  at  his  toy  ;  and  believe  that 
I,  before  I  die,  will  certainly  try  to  darken  once  more  that  friendly  door 
and  again  behold  that  happy  fold  with  its  lambs  at  play.  Until  that 
day,  *  *  *  do  not  forget  a  far  distant  friend,  who  can  only  send  his 
love  by  mail ;  and  do  not  fail,  Avhen  the  lights  grow  dim,  to  pray  for 
hira  who  prays  for  you,  and  your  household  too,  that  it  long  may  ilirive 
with  its  elders  alive,  its  brothers  five,  its  sisters  seven,  and  one  in 
heaven.  And  oh,  that  He,  before  whom  she  rejoices  now,  would  teach 
us  how,  by  any  pain,  by  any  cost,  we  may  regain  what  we  have  lost  ] 
It  may  be  done,  she  may  be  won,  there  is  a  way,  but  only  one.  If  wc 
believe  and  love  the  Lord,  we  shall  receive  the  same  reward.  Though 
now  we  grieve,  and  now  are  sad,  we  shall  be  glad,  as  she  is  glad !  That 
we  all  may  meet,  in  the  golden  street  of  the  heavenly  city,  our  long- 
lost  Kitty,  no  more  to  part — thus  from  the  heart  will  ever  pray 

"Your  cousin  A." 

Of  all  the  children's  books  the  most  unique  and  brilliant 
are  the  Wistar's  magazines.  Three  of  these  little  waifs  are 
are  now  hidden  under  my  outstretched  hand.  Two  of  them 
are  stitched  in  dark  red  wrappers,  and  one  in  dark  green.  On 
the  back  of  one  of  them  are  strange  characters  that  look  like 
^thiopic.  The  Life  of  Wiss,  which  is  also  lying  near  me,  is 
less  than  half  the  size  of  these,  and  is  in  bright  blue.  The 
hand  is  large,  bold,  regular,  and  characteristic.  Tliis  biogra- 
phy is  kept  up  for  a  while  in  the  Magazine.  The  little  period- 
ical contains  a  store  of  choice  Avriting.  "  Yes  and  No,"  is  an 
account  of  tAvo  boys  James  and  John,  one  of  whom  could  not 


^T.  33.]  •  DON   PATRICK.  559 

say  yes,  and  the  other  could  not  say  no.     It  is  in  a  high  de- 
gree ingenious,  and  is  wholesome  in  its  practical  tendency. 

But  the  most  remarkable  thing  in  these  little  hooks  is  a 
rerbal  gallmafree  entitled,  "  Don  Patrick  :  A  Romance  of  Terra 
del  Fuego."     A  single  extract  will  give  a  saraj^le  of  the  whole : 

"On  the  summit  of  the  Amazon,  above  the  green  fields  ■which  are 
Avatered  by  the  Hecla  and  its  tributary  streams,  there  stood  in  ancient 
times  a  fortified  sirocco  !  From  its  frowning  entablature  the  martial 
canzonet,  as  he  paced  to  and  fro  with  his  easel  on  his  shoulder,  could 
behold  the  verdant  glaciers  of  Owhyhee,  and  occasionally  catch  the  dy- 
ing echo  of  some  distant  mal  di  testa,  as  it  died  away  among  the  cap- 
sules of  the  lofty  prairies.  Here  the  youthful  Masorites  were  wont  to 
angle  for  the  aloe  and  the  centipede,  the  choicest  dainties  of  a  Genti- 
an's table;  while  above  them,  in  the  logarithms  of  St.  Chlorine,  an  ex- 
tenuated monkey  of  the  or  Jer  of  Sangaiion,  wearing  his  rosary  of  snow- 
white  azure,  chanted  the  solemn  and  sublime  replevin  of  the  Vandal 
Church.  In' this  romantic  spot,  bef  )re  the  days  of  Salamanca,  or  per- 
haps while  she  was  reigning,  lived  an  aged  Virtuoso,  who  could  trace 
his  cosmogony  to  Upas  the  Valerian,  through  many  generations  of 
illustrious  Flamingoes." 

In  January,  1842,  Wistar's  Magazine  was  enlarged  to  the 
size  of  a  goodly  duodecimo  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-four 
pages,  bound  in  soft  dressed  leather  almost  as  fine  as  calf.  It 
appeared  after  this  in  double  columns,  needing  five  or  six  more 
issues,  irregularly  numbered,  to  complete  the  second  volume. 
The  numerous  title-pages  are  in  different  styles  of  printing  : 
some  in  large  letters,  and  some  in  small ;  some  in  black  letters 
and  some  in  pale  ;  some  in  Roman  capitals,  and  some  in  German 
text,  or  else  in  different  kinds  of  ornamental  characters.  There 
is  similar  variety  in  the  literal  or  material  execution  of  the 
whole  volume.  Some  of  it  is  printed  with  a  pen,  and  some 
merely  written.  Some  of  it  is  in  very  large  type,  and  some  of 
it  in  type  so  small  as  almost  to  suggest  the  use  of  a  micro- 
scope. The  number  of  erasures  and  interlineations  is  exceed- 
ingly smalL  There  is  equal  diversity  in  the  substantial  eon- 
tents  of  these  very  curious  pages.  The  work  is  intended  either 
to   ridicule,  or,  as  sometimes  seems  to   be   the  case,  merely 


560  WrSTAR'S   MAGAZINE. 


[1842. 


to  parody,  the  current  magazine  literature  of  the  day.     The 
first  table  of  contents  reads  thus : 

"  To  the  Public.  The  Ghost,  a  Poem.  Letter  from  tlie  Man.  Let- 
ter from  Old  Black.  Geographical  Essay.  The  Two  Shirts  (Poetry). 
John  P.  Baratier.  Eoyal  Names.  Correspondence  hetween  Arun  and 
Bald.  The  Bray  Legislative  Proceedings.  Literary  and  Philosophical 
Intelligence.     To  our  Readers  and  Correspondents." 

With  very  few  exceptions  it  is  purely  ironical ;  in  some 
cases  sharply  satirical.  It  is,  however,  not  devoid  of  salutary 
instruction. 

The  piece  on  Baratier,  for  instance,  is  a  serious  article,  and 
ends  with  v.ords  which  the  editor  could  hardly  make  use  of 
without  thinking  of  himself. 

"He  ^as  what  is  called  a  prodigy;  but  such  persons,  even  when 
they  live  long,  seldom  do  as  much  for  the  world  as  tho£e  who  begin 
early  and  improve  more  steadily  for  many  years." 

There  are  two  letters  from  Old  Black ;  both  of  Avhich  are 
written  in  sentences  scarcely  one  of  which  contains  more  than 
three  words,  and  these  the  shortest  and  plainest  that  the  vul- 
gar colloquial  English  affords.  Tlje  duelling  correspondence 
between  Arun  and  Bald  is  carried  to  great  length  through 
successive  numbers.  "  The  Ghost  "  is  continued  almost  to  the 
end  of  the  volume.  Hardly  a  number  is  destitute  of  a  record 
of  "  Legislative  Proceedings,"  e.  g.  of  the  "  House  of  Boys," 
"  House  of  Grannies,"  "  Convention  of  Characters,"  "  House 
of  Correction."  The  Geograj^hical  Essay  is  read  before  the 
"  Little  Boy  "  Lyceum.  Various  personages  figure  in  character, 
either  occasionally,  or  all  through  the  book,  as  for  example : 
James  L.  Befib  (the  editor),  Gaspard  de  la  Foix  (the  proprie- 
tor), Sophonisba  Saltmarsh  Pepperwell,  Dr.  Bald,  Mrs.  Bald, 
Old  Black,  Peter  Arun,  The  Man,  Mr.  Flag  Ship,  Don  Barba- 
ro?sa,  Oliver  Oaf,  Mr.  Ossifrage,  Captain  Cumberland,  and 
M.  W.  Mott.  Some  of  these  merely  flit  across  the  stage, 
but  others  are  more  constant  in  their  periodical  appearance. 
The  characters  of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Bald,  of  Black,  Arun,  and  Cap- 


^T.SS.]  DON   BARBAROSSA.  661 

tain  Cumberland  are  the  most  distinctly  drawn.  There  are 
here  and  there  graiahic  strokes  which  remind  one  of  some  of 
the  old  writers.  The  verisimilitude  is  kept  up  throughout- 
The  most  extravagant  characters  are  never,  unless  intentionally! 
confounded,  and  in  the  "  Convention  of  Characters  "  who  have 
figured  in  Wistar's  Magazine,  each  speaks  propria  voce^  and  sus- 
tains his  part  admirably  in  the  confused  and  grotesque  dia- 
logue. The  "  humour  "  of  Don  Barbarossa  is  to  utter  sonor- 
ous periods  in  which  there  is  the  most  scrupulous  choice  of 
words  and  epithets,  and  often  a  delightful  rhythm,  but  never  a 
grain  of  sense.  "  The  Man  "  pours  out  a  mass  of  ingenious  and 
plausible  contradictions.  After  awhile  "The  Man"  disap- 
pears, and  Barbarossa  absorbs  his  character  into  his  own.  His 
favourite  formula  is  that  he  rises  "  to  express  his  silent  con- 
tempt." Mr.  Flag  Ship  speaks  in  a  fervid  and  sophomorical 
strain,  and  with  continual  repetition  of  such  phrases  as  "  the 
sun  was  peering  like  a  mettled  courser,"  "  pillowed  on  the  lap 
of  ocean,"  "  through  a  canopy  of  gorgeous  clouds  tinged  with 
molten  gold."  Black  is  an  ignorant,  malapert,  quick-witted, 
and  provoking  old  servant-maid.  Arun  is  the  waggish  but 
harmless  Mephistophiles  who  ironically  presides  over  the  un- 
couth convention,  comprehends  the  situation  at  a  glance,  laughs 
at  it  inwardly,  and  coolly  enjoys  his  own  wit  and  the  perplex- 
ity and  blunders  of  his  associates. 

Here  is  a  specimen  of  the  style  of  Don  Barbarossa,  in  which 
he  appears  to  have  snatched  a  grace  from  "  The  Man :  " 


"  A  friend  has  directed  my  attention  to  a  series  of  sedentary  articles, 
contained  in  a  mephitic  publication  called  Wistar's  Magazine,  and  pur- 
porting to  give  a  syllabub  or  syncope  of  my  late  lamented  father's  auto- 
biography. I  read  the  successive  theorems  with  wonder  and  disgust. 
The  suppuration,  the  political  economy,  the  shameless  volubility  of  this 
synonymous  hydrographer,  surpass  belief.  My  parochial  duties  as  a 
military  man  prevent  my  writing  now  in  the  requisite  malignity.  I 
therefore  content  myself  with  asserting  the  barefaced  veracity  of  this 
audacious  eulogist,  and  promising,  as  soon  as  my  hypocrisy  admits  of  it, 

24* 


562  THE    LURID   LEPER. 


n842. 


to  furnish  an  abundant  and  curtailed  corroboration  of  Lis  vapid  mem- 
orandi."  * 

*  There  is  possibly  a  shade  of  the  same  influeuce  observable  in  the  follow- 
ing heroics  from  the  same  pen : 

THE  LURID  LEPER. 

BY  DON  BARDAROSSA. 

lu  that  spasmodic  region  where  mankind 

Are  deeply  synchronous  and  vaguely  blind, 

Where  elemental  anodynes  prevail, 

And  Stygian  carols  ventilate  the  sail ; 

Where  man  is  analyzed,  and  nature's  voice 

Bids  esoteric  fallacies  rejoice — 

In  that  far  distant  soporific  land 

Tlicre  dwelt  an  adipose,  erotic  band. 

Their  crimson  viaducts,  their  bland  petards, 

Their  synaloepha  and  seolic  guards. 

Their  imbecility,  their  chevaliers. 

Annulled  and  scarified  them  many  years. 

At  length  a  leper  of  laconic  form 

Appeared,  sophisticated  on  a  storm  ; 

His  eye  mellifluous,  his  nose  malign ; 

His  lurid  colour  vilified  the  Rhine ; 

While  in  his  air  a  sudorific  sneer 

Of  calligraphic  anguish  did  appear. 

On  either  side  of  his  Savannah  ran 

A  tall,  narcotic,  evanescent  man  ; 

While  all  around  a  cloud  of  granite  spread, 

White  as  a  coal,  and  as  a  lily  red. 

From  this  a  salamander  floated  in 

And  stood  where  once  a  terebinth  had  been  ; 

Paused  for  a  moment,  shook  his  amber  mane. 

Then  rushed  at  once  upon  the  leper.     Vain 

Were  all  his  eSbrts  to  propel  the  pang. 

His  bones  were  crumbled  by  the  murderous  fang. 

He  shrieked,  he  sympathized,  he  vainly  tried 

To  draw  an  inference,  with  ghostly  pride ; 

And  thus  without  a  groan,  the  lurid  leper  died. 

Abovo  his  grave  a  ghostly  catacomb 

Rises,  like  Chimborazo  over  Rome. 


^T.  33.]  HOUSE    OF   CORRECTIO]Sr.  663 

The  article  entitled  "  Proceedings  in  the  House  of  Correc- 
tion "  is  too  good  to  be  lost : 

"  The  Speaker  took  the  chair  at  one  o'clock.  Several  honourable 
and  learned  criminals  presented  petitions,  which  were  referred  to  the 
appropriate  committees.  The  Committee  on  Ways  and  Means  reported 
a  new  mode  of  picking  locks.  The  Committee  on  Foreign  Relationa 
reported  a  bill  for  the  relief  of  Dutch  cousins,  which  was  read  twice  and 
committed.  The  House  resolved  itself  into  Committee  of  the  "Whole 
Hog  on  the  bill  to  rob  the  exchequer,  which  was  read  by  sections  and 
amended.  The  House  resumed*  and  Mr.  Footpad  rose  to  a  question  of 
privilege,  viz.:  Has  every  member  of  the  House  the  privilege  of  rob- 
bing and  cheating  all  the  rest  ?  Mr.  Lightfinger  moved  to  amend  by 
adding  the  wurds,  if  he  can^  which  was  agreed  to.  The  motion  was 
then  carried  without  a  count.  The  Speaker  having  resigned  the  chair, 
the  House  proceeded  to  elect  a  Speaker,  when  Fox  Wolf,  Esq.,  was 
chosen,  and  having  been  conducted  to  the  chair  by  Messrs.  Footpad  and 
Liglitfinger,  spoke  as  follows :  '  Gentlemen  of  the  House  of  Correction, 
my  heart  swells  with  unwonted  emotion  as  I  take  this  venerable  chair. 
I  ho[)e  you  will  believe  me  when  I  say  that  I  shall  do  my  utmost  to 
deserve  your  favour.'  The  Committee  on  the  Judiciary  was  instructed 
to  report  a  bill  to  abolish  all  imprisonment.  The  debtors  present  re- 
solved to  repudiate  their  debts.  On  a  motion  made  by  Mr.  Vagrant 
Rogue,  tbe  Speaker  decided  that  it  was  not  in  order  to  pick  a  member's 
pocket  within  the  bar.  The  following  bills  were  read  a  third  time  and 
passed :  A  Bill  for  the  Suppression  of  Courts,  Justices,  and  Consta- 
bles. A  Bill  for  the  Encouragement  of  Highway  Robbery.  A  Bill  to 
make  Gunpowder  and  Cold  Steel  a  Legal  Tender.  A  Bill  to  Incorpo- 
rate the  Worshipful  Society  of  Knaves.  The  members  were  then 
called  on  for  petitions.     Mr.  Gag  presented  a  petition  for  a  dollar.    Mr. 

Thither  the  pilgrim,  in  his  fell  canoe, 
Eludes  the  gnomon  and  the  wild  haloo, 
And  as  he  vilifies  his  deep  career, 
In  which  a  panoply  of  lights  appear, 
Dethrones  the  universe,  dissects  the  stars. 
Pursues  Pygmalion  in  his  lambent  cars. 
Assails  the  carabine,  ascends  the  Alps, 
And  builds  a  wigwam  of  a  thousand  scalps. 
More  of  thy  history  I  may  not  tell. 
But  bid  thee,  Lurid  Leper,  nowfaren-ell. 


^^*  END    OF   CIIILDREK's    PAPERS. 


0842. 


Starling  petitioned  for  his  freedom.  [A  message  from  the  Eangman  by 
his  private  secretary,  John  Ketch,  jr.,  Esq.]  Mr.  Cunning  bro°]ght  in 
a  bill  for  robbing  Peter  to  pay  Paul,  which  was  laid  upon  the  table. 
Mr.  Goosygoosy  Gander  offered  the  following  resolutions:  Resolved 
that  we  are  free  and  independent.  Resolved  that  we  will  assert  our 
rights  at  any  cost  or  hazard.  Resolved  that  the  Speaker  be  requester]  to 
prepare  a  discourse  proving  that  prisoners  are  free,  and  that  he  deliver 
the  same  to  Buncombe  at  his  earliest  convenience.  A  message  was  re- 
ceived from  the  gaoler  [with  the  prisoners'  dinners]  which°  was  laid 
upon  the  table,  and  then  taken  up,  until  it  passed  (into  the  stomach), 
after  which  the  House  adjourned."  *   * 

I  here  close  the  account  of  these  children's-papers.  When 
the  multitude  of  these  amusing  trifles  is  taken  into  the  account, 
and  when  it  is  considered  that  these  things  were  thrown  off 
spontaneously,  to  relieve  his  own  mind,  and  to  delight  those 
even  to  notice  whom  is  thought  to  be  beneath  the  dignity  of 
some  men   who  aspire  to  the  name  of  greatness ;  above  all 

*  The  subjoined  card,  entitled  "  Error  Corrected,"  needs  no  comment : 
"  To  the  Editor  of  Wistar\  Magazi7ie  : 

"  Sir,  In  your  report  of  proceedings  in  the  House  of  Boys  (p.  14),  I  find 
these  words :  '  Mr.  Baby  moved  the  previous  quesdon,  and  Mr.  Stout  the  floor. 
In  order  to  define  my  position,  I  beg  leave  to  state  the  question  as  it  stood  when 
I  made  my  motion.  On  the  introduction  of  a  bill,  a  motion  had  been  made  to 
reject  it,  and  another  motion  to  lay  the  motion  on  the  table,  and  a  third  to  lay 
the  second  on  the  table,  and  a  fourth  to  postpone  the  second  indefinitely ;  where- 
upon a  point  of  order  was  made,  and  the  Speaker  decided  that  the  fourth  was 
in  order.  From  this  decision  an  appeal  was  taken,  and  a  motion  made  to  lay 
the  appeal  upon  the  table,  and  another  motion  to  postpone  this,  in  order  to  take 
up  a  motion  to  refer  the  whole  subject  to  a  committee,  which  last  motion  was 
withdrawn  in  order  to  make  way  for  a  motion  to  postpone  indefinitely,  which 
was  followed  by  a  motion  to  lay  the  motion  for  indefinite  postponement  on  the 
table,  which  latter  motion  was  amended  so  as  to  include  the  other  motions,  and 
this  amended  complex  motion  was  decided  to  be  out  of  order,  from  which  de- 
cision an  appeal  was  taken,  and  a  motion  made  to  lay  this  appeal  upon  the 
table,  upon  which  motion  I  had  the  honor  to  move  the  previous  question.  In 
the  hope  that  I  have  made  this  simple  case  of  parliamentary  order  as  perspicu- 
0U3  to  you  and  to  your  readers  as  it  is  to  me,  I  beg  leave  to  subscribe  myself 
"  Your  humble  servant, 

"  BOANKP.OKS    BaBV." 


^T.ss.l  THIS    WAS   A   MAISr.  565 

when  it  is  rememlbered  what  were  the  magnitude  and  excellence 
of  the  works  he  was  at  the  time  producing,  and  the  toils  he 
was  engaged  in  on  the  very  days  during  which  he  was  thus 
disporting  himself;  one  is  tempted  to  say,  though  in  a  sense 
somewhat  different  from  that  of  the  Roman  writer, 

'•  0  mortalem  beatum  cui  certo  scioludum  nunqiiam  defuisse.  Hunc- 
cine  hominem  tantis  delectatum  esse  nugis  !  " 

And  I  confess  when  I  think  of  it,  I  again  and  again  revert 
to  the  exquisite  tact  of  the  great  dramatist  in  putting  these 
words,  descriptive  of  Brutus,  into  the  mouth  of  Antony : 

"  His  life  was  gentle  ;  and  the  elements 
So  mixed  in  him,  that  Nature  might  stand  up 
And  saj  to  all  the  world  this  was  a  man." 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

As  the  year  1843  opened,  it  found  Mr.  Alexander,  as  was 
his  wont,  occupied  with  Scripture  expositix)n.  The  journal 
affords  a  few  entries  which  may  be  of  interest  as  showing  the 
direction  he  was  giving  to  his  studies,  and  in  general  the  way 
in  which  he  was  employing  his  time. 

"  January  16.  In  a  fit  of  ennui  I  took  up  the  Philoctetes  to-day; 
was  delighted  with  it,  and  spent  the  whole  afternoon  and  a  good  part 
<f  the  evening  at  it;  till,  with  the  aid  of  Edwards's  absurd  but  use- 
ful version,  I  got  through  it.  The  three  main  characters  are  beauti- 
fully drawn.  The  sufferings  of  Philoctetes  are  so  described  as  to  make 
me  feel  them.  I  know  nothing  in  dramatic  poetry  finer  than  Neopto- 
leraus,  his  reluctance  to  deceive,  his  repentance,  and  his  noble  repara- 
tion. Ulysses  is  less  prominent,  but  finely  contrasted  with  the  other 
two.  The  reader  is  made  to  sympathize  with  the  physical  condition  of 
Philoctetes,  the  intellectual  power  of  Ulysses,  and  the  moral  qualities 
of  Neoptolemus,  head,  heart,  and  body.  The  whole  is  exquisitely 
natural." 

On  February  9th,  I  find  him  reading  Exodus  xv,  in  De 
Wette,  the  half  of  Joshua  in  Hebrew  and  DeWette,  with 
Maurer's  notes.  Having  satisfied  himself  as  to  the  form  which 
he  should  give  to  his  "  treatise  on  Church  government,"  he 
this  day  began  to  write  the  book,  and  before  bed-time  had  com- 
pleted nineteen  pages.  He  records,  that  it  is  his  purpose  to 
give  the  hours  of  daylight,  and  as  many  before  dayliglit  as  he 
finds  necessary,  on  Tuesdays,  Thursdays,  and  Saturdays,  to  the 
Avriting  of  his  book  aforesaid.  On  the  intermediate  days  he 
wished  to  write  lectures,  viz :  Mondays  on  Isaiah,  Wednesdays 
on  Nahum,  Fridays  on  Introduction. 


iBT.33.j  LABOEIOUS    STUDIES.  567 


"  After  dark  in  the  evening  I  read  history,  biography,  topograpliy_- 
the  news,  &c.    I  have  been  reading  more  of  Jefferson's  letters ;  beau- 
tiful style,  but  dangerous  and  full  of  notions." 

The  book  on  Church  goA'ernment,  mentioned  above,  aftei*- 
wards  took  the  form  of  essays,  and  -was  published  in  the 
Princeton  Review,  and  then,  with  additions,  in  a  volume  enti- 
tled "  Primitive  Church  Offices,"  and  after  his  death  with  still 
further  additions  from  the  Princeton  Review,  under  the  title, 
*'  Exegetical  Essays." 

During  the  summer,  he  was  attending  to  his  usral  Seminary 
duties,  and  preaching  every  Sunday  afternoon  in  a  school- 
house  at  Queenston,  a  suburb  of  Princeton ;  occasions  which 
will  long  be  remembered  by  those  who  were  privileged  to 
attend  those  rich  exposfitory  exercises.  He  also  wrote  a  com- 
pendious Hebrew  g  amraar  for  the  use  of  his  classes.  During 
the  year,  he  was  also  giving  instructions  to  C.  W.  Ilodge, 
then,  as  subsequently,  one  of  his  favourite  pupils  and  most 
valued  friends,  and  now  his  successor  in  the  chair  of  New 
Testament  Literature  and  Biblical  Greek. 

The  following  extract  from  the  diary  will  give  some  idea 
of  his  method  of  preparing  and  writing  his  sermons : 

"  Oct.  1.  Read  Mark  ii.  1-12,  and  the  parallel  passages  in  Matthew 
and  Luke,  as  explained  by  Calvin,  Kunoel,  Bloonifield,  and  De  Wette. 
Also  "Winer's  explanation  of  'breaking  up  the  roof  in  his  Realwoit- 
buch.  I  intended  to  preach  on  this  passnge  at  Queenston  ;  but  as  tijey 
did  not  send  for  me,  I  spent  an  hour  or  more  in  expounding  1  Peter,  v.  1- 
5,  extempore  and  audibly,  as  a  preparation  for  the  sermon  whicli  I  think 
of  preaching  on  that  text  before  the  Presbytery  this  week.  Having 
gone  through  it  once,  I  began  again  and  finished  it  a  second  time.  As 
my  mind  was  now  full  of  the  subject,  I  began  after  tea  to  write,  and 
finislied  about  half  of  wliat  I  meant  to  prejjare,  before  I  went  to  bed. 
at  eleven." 

He  had  again  taken  up  his  Commentary  on  Isaiah.  The 
following  extract  will  sufficiently  indicate  his  method  of  pre- 
paration : 


568  DR    GREEK 


a843 


"  Nov.  2,  "Wrote  four  pages  of  my  sermon  before  breakfa'^t,  and 
read  Blunt  on  Genesis  ix.  and  Nehemiah  xi.  in  De  Wette.  Read  Jar- 
clii,  Kimchi,  Aben-Ezra,  tlie  Miclilal  JopLi,*  Luther,  Calvin,  Groiius, 
Junius,  Cocceius,  the  Dutch  Annotations,  Pool's  Synopsis,  Vitringa, 
Clericus,  Gili,  J.  II.  Miohaelis  J.  D.  Michaelis,  Lowth,  Eoseninuller, 
Augu^ti,  Gesenius,  Matirer,  Hitzig,  Ilendewerk,  Barnes,  Henderson, 
Do  Wette,  Ewald,  and  Umbreit,  on  Isaiah  x.  33,  34.  Wrote  tbe  first 
draft  of  a  commentary  on  these  verses.  At  niglit  wrote  out  my 
notes  on  the  same." 

Tbe  reminiscences  of  his  colleague,  the  Rev.  Dr.  William 
Henry  Green,  of  Princeton,  are  exceedingly  valuable  just  here, 
as  few  others  had  such  a  near  view  of  his  habits  as  a  learned 
man  ;  and  of  all  his  friends  few  were  so  well  qualified  to  speak 
judiciously  of  his  attainments.  The  two  jDrofessovs  were 
warmly  attached  to  each  other,  and  as, their  departments  often 
crossed,  there  was  a  good  deal  of  correspondence  between  them 
relating  to  points  of  Biblical  scholarship,  and  the  boundaries 
of  their  respective  chairs. 

Dr.  Green  says  the  first  time  he  ever  saw  Dr.  Addison  Al- 
exander was  in  the  pulpit  at  Trenton,  shortly  before  he  came 
himself  as  a  student  to  the  Seminary.  He  had  no  suspicion 
who  the  strange  minister  was  when  the  service  began,  but  he 
had  not  proceeded  far  in  his  discourse  before  he  felt  sure  that 
he  was  "  listening  to  the  prince  of  American  preachers."  His 
text  was,  "  Awake,  thou  that  sleepest,  and  arise  from  the 
dead,  and  Christ  shall  give  thee  light,"  one  of  the  most  strik- 
ing and  masterly  of  his  discourses.  Dr.  Green's  admiration 
of  him  as  a'  speaker  was  always  mingled  with  wonder : 

"  Dr.  Alexander's  discourses,  even  those  which  were  most  simple 
and  least  elaborate,  such  as  his  talks  at  conference  and  other  religious 
meetings  in  the  Seminary  and  elsewhere,  always  bore  marks  of  his 
transcendent  genius,  which  eschewed  the  commonplace  paths  tro.iden 
by  ordinary  men,  and  hewed  out  a  fresh  passage  for  itself.  Though 
he  dealt  with  old-fashioned  truths,  they  were  always  presented  in  a 
new  light,  or  approached  by  unexpected  ways,  or  exhibited  in  novel 

*  Of  Abeumalech. 


^T.34,j  AS   AlSr   OEIENTALIST.  569 

forms.  I  knew  no  greater  intellectual  treat  than  to  hear  liim  pouring  out 
his  massive  thouglits  in  that  vigorous  English  of  his,  which  set  forth  hi? 
conceptions  as  sliarply  and  clearly  as  if  they  were  pictured  on  canvas, 
while  he  carried  you  up  soma  mighty  climax,  or  exposed  the  follies  and 
inconsistencies  of  unbelief,  or  turned  his  withering  sarcasm  upon  open 
opposers  or  false-hearted  friends  of  true  religion,  or  unfolded  some  of 
the  grand  themes  of  God's  Word." 

His  rapid  and  impetuous  but  distinct  utterance,  and  his 
accurate  emphasis,  together  with  his  earnest  manner  and  quick 
movements,  which  seemed  extorted  from  him  by  strong  feeling, 
and  were  impressive  if  not  always  graceful,  brought  his  audi- 
ence into  lively  sympathy  with  him  and  with  his  subject ;  so 
that 

"His  preaching  delighted  while  it  instructed  and  impressed  his 
hearers.  The  crowds  which  flocked  to  hear  him  while  he  occupied  Dr. 
Boardman's  pulpit,  during  the  absence  of  the  latter  in  Europe,  showed 
how  his  ministry  was  appreciated." 

Dr.  Green's  familiarity  with  the  Hebrew  and  Arabic  adds 
weight  to  his  testimony  as  to  Dr.  Alexander's  consummate 
scholarship  as  an  Orientalist.  As  a  teacher  of  Hebrew,  he 
regarded  him  as  a  great  one  for  the  advanced  minds.  For  the 
others  he  was  also  a  good  teacher,  but  often  terrified  and 
sometimes  discomfited  them. 

"  I  knew  him,"  he  writes,  "  as  a  teacher  only  in  the  capacity  of  an 
instructor  in  Hebrew.  His  lectures  were  prepared  after  my  course  of 
study  was  completed.  It  was  to  facilitate  their  preparation  and  afford 
him  the  leisure  for  giving  a  course  on  O.  T.  history,  thus  relieving  the 
venerable  Dr.  Miller  to  whose  department  this  had  previously  be- 
Ipnged,  that  I  was  made  Dr.  A.'s  assistant." 

His  rapidity,  his  thorough  mastery  of  his  subject,  and  his 
wonderful  fertility  of  invention  were  the  sources  of  his  great 
excellence,  and  of  some  defects,  as  a  teacher. 

"His  own  mind  moved  so  fast,  and  study  was  to  him  such  a 
delight  and  constant  occupation,  that  he  perhaps  had  scarcely  consid- 


670  "     FELIX   TREMBLED. 


D8^ 


eration  enough  for  dull  and  laggard  pupils,  though  manifesting  a  great 
interest  in  those  uho  were  re. illy  making  satisfact'iry  progress,  and  j-re- 
serving  a  lively  memory  of  those  ever  after  who  were  the  best  students 
in  CMch  class  which  came  under  his  instruction?.  His  amazin"-  ver^a- 
f.lity  led  him  to  be  constantly  devising  new  methods  of  communicating 
his  knowledge,  or  presenting  his  subjects,  which  however  suggestive 
to  those  who  were  able  to  follow  him,  proved  perplexing  to  those  who 
were  in  the  early  stages  of  study." 

When  a  fault  occurred,  he  was  sometimes  uusijaring  in  his 
strictures. 

"  "When  deserved,  he  could  administer  rebukes  which  Avould  be  felt. 
The  neglect  into  which  Hebrew  was  apt  to  fall  in  the  second  year,  was 
very  trying,  or  certainly  not  very  stimulating,  to  a  professor.  His 
patience  used  to  be  severely  tested  by  our  cla-s,  I  remember;  until 
one  day,  after  numbers  had  been  called  upon  to  recite,  with  tho 
constant  answer,  '  not  prepared,'  he  announced  for  the  next  lesson 
four  verses,  perhaps  a  third  or  a  fi.nrih  the  usual  quantity,  and  added, 
'I  wish  I  had  some  gauge  by  which  to  measure  the  capacity  of  the 
class.'  I  need  not  add  that  the  class  did  better  afterwards.  Subse- 
quently it  fell  to  his  lot  to  hear  the  speaking  of  one  of  the  classes.  I 
have  heard  him  say  tliat  he  disrelished  this  task;  for  criticise  as  gently 
as  he  could,  the  students  who  had  undergone  the  process  were  sure  to 
be  coming  to  his  room  the  next  day  to  ask  if  he  did  not  think  they 
had  mistaken  their  calling  in  seeking  the  ministry." 

This  reminds  me  of  something  that  happened  in  the  pres- 
ence of  scA^eral  living  Avitnesses.  A  number  of  gentlemen 
members  of  the  Board,  were  once  dining  at  Dr.  Addison  Alex- 
ander's, and  among  them  the  late  Dr.  Gurley ;  when  the  cou' 
versation  fell  on  the  foolish  sermons  that  are  sometimes 
preached.  Dr.  Gurley  then  asked  Dr.  Alexander  whether  he 
recollected  what  I  am  about  to  relate:  A  student  took  for  his 
text  in  the  oratory,  "  As  Paul  reasoned  of  righteousness, 
temperance,  and  judgment  to  come,  Felix  trembled."  He 
went  on  to  say,  that  we  know  Paul's  opinions  on  these  points  • 
and  thereupon  he  gave  what  he  said  he  supposed  to  be  the 
burden  of  Paul's  discourse  before  Felix.      When  the  young 


MT.S-i.]  A    FRIEND    OF   THE    STUDENT.  •   571 

man  had  finished,  Dr.  Alexander  remarked,  approaching  the 
subject  in  his  circuitous  way,  that  it  was  hard  to  say  in  a 
given  case  how  much  we  had  preserved  to  us  of  an  Apostolic 
sermon.  Sometimes  only  the  subject  Avas  recorded.  At  other 
times,  it  seemed,  an  epitome  was  given.  There  were  cases  in 
which  we  had  the  introduction  and  conclusion,  and  other  cases 
in  which  we  had  the  main  discussion.  This,  he  said,  was  a 
case  where  the  main  topics  were  merely  suggested.  We  knew 
nothing  of  the  exordium  or  peroration,  and  could  only  guess 
at  the  argument.  He  did  not  think  it  possible  in  such  a  case  to 
supply  the  omission.  He  did  not  believe  that  ant/  body  could 
preach  the  seimon  which  Paul  delivered  before  Felix.  But 
of  one  thing  he  felt  sure,  and  that  was,  that  the  young  brother 
had  not  preached  Paul's  sermon  in  the  oratory  that  night ;  for 
if  Paul,  on  the  occasion  referred  to,  had  preached  the  sermon 
they  had  just  heard,  Felix  never  ivould  have  trembled.  As  he  told 
this  story,  the  speaker  looked  round  furtively  at  Dr.  Alexan. 
der  and  awaited  his  reply.  The  professor  looked  a  little  dis- 
concerted, and  admitted  that  he  had  a  faint  recollection  of 
hearing  and  criticising  a  sermon  on  that  text,  thou^^h  he 
"thought  that  in  this  case  the  stone  had  gathered  some  moss 
in  rolling." 

It  is  remarkable  that  most  or  all  of  these  tart  sayings  of  his, 
and  every  one  of  his  scorching  or  annihilating  review  articles, 
belong  to  this  earlier  period.  In  after  years  his  feelings  greatly 
softened  towards  human  infirmity. 

Professor  Green  himself  always  experienced  the  most  gen- 
erous kindness  from  him  as  an  instructor.  He  was  always 
warmly  received  and  made  to  feel  that  he  was  welcome, 
when  he  sought  an  explanation  of  difficulties,  or  wished  fur- 
ther information,  or  desired  counsel.  Books  were  freely 
lent  him,  and  time  lavished  upon  him  in  the  way  of  special 
instructions  in  Arabic,  etc.,  and  he  was  encouraged  to  push  his 
studies  under  his  general  direction  further  than  they  were  car- 
ried in  the  regular  course.  Like  courtesies  were  extended  to 
any  of  his  pupils  who  were  disposed  to  avail  themselves  of 
them,  though  he  could  also  be  curt  to  impertinent  intrusion. 


'^2  PROFESSOR   PHILLIPS. 


[1843. 


"You  probably  remember,"  he  says,  "the  obtrusive  questioner 
wliom  lie  put  down  by  the  reply,  '  1  prefer  the  dogmatic  method  of 
in&Lruction.'  You  also  remember  the  generosity  with  wliich  his  house  in 
Steadman  street  -was  thrown  open  to  the  occupancy  of  students  until 
every  room  was  filled.'' 

There  was  no  end  to  his  little  benefactions.  The  world 
never  knew  of  them,  and  he  too  much  scorned  its  good  opin- 
ion. His  sharp  retorts  were  sudden,  and  often  innocuous,  ex- 
plosions. His  kindness  shone  on  unregarded,  like  the  common 
light  of  day.  We  pay  more  attention  to  flashes  of  lightning 
than  to  the  steady  beams  of  the  sim.  He  would  go  as  far  as 
any  man  to  serve  a  friend,  and  he  warmed  towards  people  he 
saw  in  his  travels,  with  the  impulsiveness  of  a  boy. 

Another  pupil,  himself  now  a  professor  *  writes : 

"I  was  a  pupil  of  Dr.  Addison  Alexander  for  one  year  only,  and 
that  the  first  year  of  the  course  at  the  Seminary.     It  was  fashionable 

then  to  be  afraid  of  him. used  to  say  that  he  went  into  his 

recitation  room  thinking  of  the  sign-board  on  a  riiilroad,  'Look  out  for 
the  locomotive !  t  Once  when  he  asked  me  at  the  close  of  a  recitation 
to  come  to  his  study  at  a  certain  hour,  the  members  of  my  own 
little  coterie  bade  me  an  affectionate  farewell.  "When  I  returned  safe, 
they  pretended  to  be  very  much  astonished,  and  to  be  incredulous  that 
tlie  awe-full  professor  only  wanted  me  to  study  Arabic.  But  I  had 
been  taught  to  admire  Dr.  Alexander  before  he  went  to  Princeton,  so 
that  I  had  only  to  learn  to  love  him,  and  this  I  did  easily  and  quickly  as 
any  Freshman  will  a  great  professor  who  is  courteous  to  him  and  in- 
spires him  with  the  hope  of  doing  something  in  this  world." 

The  subjoined  account  by  his  esteemed  friend,  the  late 
Rev.  Dr.  Joseph  H.  Jones,  of  Philadelphia,  is  very  true  and 
graphic.  The  picture  of  the  seemingly  abstracted  student 
who  yet  saw  and  remembered  everything,  slowly  moving 
about  the  streets  incognito,  with  his  hands  behind  his  back,  ia 
nature  itself; 

*  The  Rev.  Professor  Charles  Phillips,  of  Chapel  Hill,  N.  C. 

f  Which  so  much  amused  the  English  tourist,  Captain  Hammond. 


^T-34]  AN   INDISCRETION.  573 

"  He  was  often  in  our  city,  where  lie  was  greatly  admired  as  a 
preacher,  but  was  rarely  the  guest  of  any  private  family.  He  had  many 
invitations  from  those  who  would  have  deemed  it  a  privilege  to  enter- 
tain liim,  but  he  usually  went  to  the  hotel.  I  do  not  recoUect  that  lie 
ever  consented  to  stay  at  my  house  in  Philadelphia  except  when  be 
came  to  occupy  my  pulpit.  On  such  occasions  his  reserve  was  laid 
aside.  He  was  very  communicative  and  social,  full  of  anecdote  and 
sprightly  remarks  about  persons,  books,  and  passing  events.  Nobody 
could  be  more  entertaining.  He  had  an  instinctive  dislike  of  crowds, 
of  the  artificial  customs  and  many  of  the  requisitions  of  fashionable 
society.  In  a  large  and  promTscuous  assembly  he  was  generally  taci- 
turn, and  seemed  to  be  alone.  Magna  civitas,  magna  solitudo.  I  never 
met  him  at  a  public  dinner,  nor  at  a  large  evening  party.  To  see  him 
walking  by  himself  in  our  streets,  with  hands  clasped  behind  his  back, 
he  appeared  to  be  musing  in  a  sort  of  reverie,  as  if  unconscious  of  any 
thing  around  him.  While  in  this  state  of  apparent  abstraction,  he  was 
a  very  close  observer  of  every  thing.  His  recollection  of  persons  and 
events  was  as  remarkable  almost  as  that  which  Xenophon  ascribes  to 
Cyi-us.  He  never  forgot  any  one  that  he  ever  knew,  and  often  sur- 
prised graduates  of  the  Seminary  who  had  been  absent  many  years 
by  addressing  them  by  name.  He  was  so  much  disposed  to  'keep 
to  himself  when  in  Philadelphia,  remain  incognito,  and  look  out  from 
his  retreat  upon  men  and  things,  that  none  of  his  friends  ever  heard 
or  saw  half  as  much  of  him  as  we  desired," 

After  one  of  these  visits,  in  a  letter  to  Dr.  Hall,  he  refers 
to  his  love  of  preaching,  and  to  an  indiscretion  into  which  it 
had  led  him : 

"Peixceton-,  Jiihj  13,  1843. 
"My  Dear  Sir: 

"  One  of  my  few  weaknesses  is  an  incapacity  to  say  no,  especially 
when  asked  to  preach,  and  for  this  I  am  sometimes  sufficiently  pun- 
ished. E.  g.  I  foolishly  consented  to  preach  a  third  time  in  Philadel- 
phia last  Sunday  for  Mr.  Willis  Lord,  who  was  suffering  from  influenza. 
After  preacliing  twice  for  Mr.  Jones,  I  had  the  pleasure  of  a  walk  from 
Third  street,  below  Lombard,  to  Broad,  above  Chestnut,  and  back 
aprain  in  a  perspiration,  being  solaced  at  the  close  of  the  walk  home  by 
the  gentleman  who  escorted  me,  with  an  assurance  that  if  it  had  been 
any  day  but  the  Sabbath,  he  would  have  brought  a  carriage.  The  next 
time  I  shall  choose  to  preach  there  on  a  week-day.     That  night  I  lost 


574  ABUNDANT    WORK. 


[1843. 


my  rest,  and  on  Monclny  was  quite  uncomfortable,  but  executed  my 
purpose  of  g 'iug  via  Aiiiboy  to  New-York,  which  I  reached  in  a  liighly 
inlliienzial  state.  I  am  now  quite  hoarse,  with  a  cnugh,  sore  throat, 
and  general  feeling  of  dislocation.  Tliis  inay  pass  offs'ion,  or  it  may  nor. 
I  slia'l  make  it  a  reason,  however,  for  declining  your  flattering  1  ivitition, 
and  thus  des  r  y  tlie  liopes  which  my  first  sentence  n  >  doubt  exc'ted. 
Let  me  add,  for  your  further  consolation,  tliat  Dr.  Alexander  is  still  in 
Virginia;  that  Dr.  Miller  does  not  sleep  from  home  when  he  can  help 
it;  that  Dr.  Hodge  preaches  for  Boardman;  that  Dr.  Carnahan  and 
Dr.  Maclean  have  engagements  in  College ;  that  Dr.  J.  "W.  Alexander 
preaches  in  the  white  Church  here,  while  Dr.  Rice  (I  think)  adminis- 
ters the  communion  in  the  coloured  one  ;  and  that  Dr.  Dod  has  to  exam- 
ine on  mathematics  on  Monday  morning,  July  the  24th.  Thus  yon  see 
that  neither  the  working  bee  nor  tlie  '  drone  '  can  give  you  any  help  on 
the  day  you  mention. 

'•p.  S.  I  llnd  that  Dr.  Hodge  is  to  preach  for  Boardman  on  the 
16th  inst.  In  answw  to  a  message,  he  says  he  does  not  know  now 
whether  he  could  go  to  Trenton  on  the  23d." 

It  will  be  seen  from  tlie  slvetch  which  I  give  below,  by  the 
Rev.  Dr.  B.  T.  Lacy,  of  Missouri,  that  Mr.  Alexander  was  now 
at,  but  not  at  all  past,  his  intellectual  climacteric.  The  account 
is  from  one  who  saw  him  several  times  under  circumstances  well 
fitted  to  call  out  his  latent  but  strong  social  traits,  but  who 
knew  him  still  better  as  an  instructor  and  preacher: 

"During  the  years  from  1843  to  1846,  tlie  duration  of  my  stay  at 
the  Seminary,  Dr.  Adilison  Alexander  was  in  vi,'orois  hedtli,  and  in 
the  very  maturity  of  his  proilucrive  powers.  He  had  passed  the  yenrs 
of  his  lahorions  studies,  during  which  lie  had  made  such  magnificent 
attainments  in  s -hoi  irship,  and  1  dd  up  such  amile  stores  of  profound 
and  varied  erudition;  and  now  he  was  prepared  to  give  to  the  world 
the  valuable  and  splendid  results  of  so  much  research.  He  was  in  the 
midst  of  his  work  on  Isaiah,  and  had  completed  the  first  volume.  His 
time  was  entirely  occupied,  and  he  allowed  nothing  to  interL're  with 
his  allotted  tasks." 

While  his  secluded  habits  were  regretted  by  many  of  his 
friends,  and  were  the  occasion  of  disappointment  during  his 
life  time  to  those  Avho,  from  congeniality  of  tastes  and  simi- 


^T.34.]  CANDOUR.  575 

larity  of  studies  and  pursuits,  would  have  coveted  his  friend- 
ship, yet  they  can  now  see  how  well  it  was  that  his  valuable 
time  was  left  undisturbed ;  for  in  the  mystery  of  God's  purpose 
but  a  few  years  more  were  given  him  in  which  to  work  for 
his  generation  and  posterity. 

His  singular  impartialit^jsand  honesty  as  an  interpreter  and 
a  polemic,  have  impressed  themselves  on  the  minds  of  a  who'e 
school  of  exegetes  and  preachers  which  he  may  be  said  to  have 
founded.  His  ardent  puj)ils  and  readers  have  sometimes  fret- 
ted at  his  intellectual  moderation.  On  this  point  the  pupil 
from  whom  I  last  took  extracts,  writes  forcibly.     He  says  that : 

In  all  his  instructions,  truth  was  the  one  subject  of  investigation 
and  the  great  object  to  be  attained.  Perfect  candour  and  unswerving 
honesty  marked  all  his  methods  and  all  his  conclusions.  He  never 
once  suspected  him  of  a  partial  presentation  of  the  evidence  designed 
to  sustain  a  system  or  a  theory.  His  ability  and  clearne^>s  in  the  pre- 
sentation of  the  proofs  which  sustain  and  establish  the  sy-item  of  doc- 
trine and  polity  of  the  Old  School  Presbyterian  Church,  in  connec- 
tion with  the  entire  fairness  and  frankness  with  which  all  objections 
and  claims  of  opposing  systems  were  stated,  produced  the  happiest 
and  most  satisfactory  results  on  the  opinions  and  convictions  of  hh 
classes.  He  can  distinctly  recall,  in  some  instances,  a  sen?e  of  disap- 
pointment at  the  apparent  deficiency  of  proof  which  would  be  ad  iuced 
for  dogmas  loudly  maintained  by  the  confident  assertions  of  authors, 
and  held  by  the  writer  in  common  with  others.  But  when  the  whole 
subject  was  fully  examined,  and  the  evidence  on  every  ?ide  collected 
and  compared,  he  would  receive  the  conclusion  with  a  clearer  convic- 
tion of  its  truth,  and  rest  in  the  doctrine  with  a  stronger,  because  more 
intelligent  f  dth.  In  no  one  instance  did  the  teacher's  s 'arcliing  and 
honest  annlysis  shake  his  pupil's  confiaeu'^e,  or  di-ttirb  his  be  ief  in 
regard  to  any  one  of  the  distinctive  doctrines  of  our  Church.  This  result 
has  been  of  incalculable  advantage  to  him  in  fixing  his  individual  opin- 
ions, and  influencing  the  whole  course  of  his  ministry.  He  also  learned 
from  his  teacher  more  respect  for  the  opinions  and  systems  of  others. 
"While  his  instructions  strengthened  his  scholar's  faith,  they  also  tended 
to  enlarge  his  charity. 

In  the  style  of  his  composition  and  in  his  extempore  re- 
marks, the  same  writer  says  : 


676  AMUSING   SKETCH.  [1813. 

"  He  grently  excelled  any  man  I  have  ever  known,  Uo  appeared  to 
possess  complete  mastery  over  language.  Not  one  element  of  excel- 
lence seemed  wanting.  Concise,  almost  laconic,  without  any  mcagre- 
ness  of  expression,  simple  and  clear  to  transparency,  "without  the  sacri- 
fice of  beauty  and  felicity.  He  was  without  an  affectation  or  a  manner- 
ism, and  with  a  perfect  adaptation  of  the  expression  to  the  subject  and 
the  occasion.  All  the  varied  excellencies  of  style  which  appear  in  his 
reviews,  his  commentaries,  and  his  eermons,  were  equally  apparent  in 
his  class  instruction^,  and  in  the  brief  but  comprehensive  and  beautiful 
prayers  with  which  he  opened  the  exercises." 

The  impression  of  Mr.  Alexander  which  prevailed  among 
most  of  the  new  students  was  not  altogether  agreeable.  It 
took  time  and  a  little  wisdom  to  know  him  as  he  was.  The 
popular  view  Avas  that  he  was  a  Colossus  of  intellect,  a  mighty 
scholar,  a  trenchant  wit,  a  prince  among  teachers,  preachers, 
and  reviewers ;  but  one  whom  it  was  dangerous  to  speak  to 
except  in  the  most  guarded  words.  To  this  day,  there  is  a  lu- 
dicrous exaggeration  in  many  minds  of  traits  in  the  professor 
which  were  the  product  of  a  strong  will  and  an  elastic  and  im- 
pulsive temperament. 

The  life-like  and  amusing  sketch  which  follows  is  from  the 
pen  of  the  Rev.  James  Park,  of  Nashville,  Tennessee ;  who  went 
through  the  usual  curriculum  at  Princeton  Seminary  at  this 
time,  beginning  Avith  the  session  of  1843.  Mr.  Park's  state- 
ments are  of  such  a  peculiar  nature  as  almost  to  defy  abridg- 
ment : 

"  I  went  to  Princeton,"  he  says,  "in  August,  1843,  and  was  there 
two  or  three  weeks  before  the  session  opened.  It  Avas  my  first  trip 
from  liome.  Dr.  A.  Alexander  and  Dr.  Miller  were  the  only  persons 
thereof  whom  I  liad  ever  heard  any  thing  particularly.  The  students 
who  had  been  there  before,  seemed  specially  pleased  to  'post'  me  in 
regard  to  the  professors,  and  were  particularly  communicative  in  ref- 
erence to  Dr.  Addison,  giving  me  some  terrible  descriptions  of  scenes 
that  had  occurred  in  liis  class-room.  "When  the  term  opened,  the  stu- 
dents came  in  with  remarkable  punctuality,  and  the  'old  ones '  seemed 
very  kind  and  attentive  to  the  'new  ones,'  and  took  special  pains  to 
put  us  on  our  guard  as  to  '  Dr.  Addy.'     When  the  bell  rang  for  us  to 


^r.34.]  PARKS    MATRICULATION.  577 

assemble  in  the  oratory,  I  entered  with  the  crowd,  hut  with  fear  and 
trembling.  I  was  to  have  my  first  sight  of  '  Dr.  Addy.'  I  had  called 
on  Dr.  A.  Alexander  and  Dr.  Miller,  and  had  been  treated  so  kindly,  and 
was  made  to  feel  so  easy  by  those  good  old  fathers  that  I  had  no  fear  of 
them.  Dr.  Hodge  I  had  seen  several  times,  but  had  not  been  intro- 
duced to  Lim.  Dr.  Addison  I  had  not  seen  at  all.  Ee  came  in  with 
his  father,  walking  immediately  behind  him,  with  a  port-folio  under  his 
arm.  Dr.  A.  (sr.)  read  a  portion  of  Scripture  and  prayed,  after  which 
Dr.  Addison  opened  his  port-folio,  handed  his  father  a  strip  of  paper, 
opened  a  record  book  and  laid  it  on  the  desk,  also  an  intstand  and 
pens." 

The  young  Tennesseean  watched  every  movement  ho  made 
with  something  like  the  feelings  of  a  martyr.  Dr.  Archibald 
Alexander  announced  the  first  business  in  order,  the  matric- 
ulation of  new  students,  and  requested  them  to  ascend  the 
rostrum  when  their  names  were  called. 

"  When  the  first  name  was  called,  and  the  student  advanced.  Dr. 
Addison  rose  from  his  chair,  and  when  the  student  went  up  on  the 
platform  and  presented  his  credentials,  Dr.  Addison,  with  a  quick,  ener- 
getic gesture,  told  him  to  '  take  a  seat  on  that  chair,'  I  wondered  what 
they  were  going  to  do  with  the  poor  fellow ;  whether  it  was  possible 
they  were  going  to  examine  him  right  then  and  there ;  or  what  will  they 
do  ?  Dr.  Addison  looked  at  tlie  papers  handed  him  by  the  student,  an- 
nounced the  contents,  which  seemed  satisfactory,  read  the  obligation 
to  be  signed  by  the  students,  and  then  pointing  to  a  line  on  the  record 
book,  said,  '  Write  your  name  there,  sir ! '  I  am  sure  no  one  ever 
looked  upon  a  man  with  more  awe  than  I  did  upon  him.  When  my 
name  was  called,  I  went  up,  presented  my  diploma,  which  was  duly 
announced,  and  was  told  to  sit  down  and  write.  I  should  like  to  see 
that  specimen  of  chirography  now !  I  am  not  at  all  sure  my  name  was 
spelled  rightly.  I  know  it  was  not  traced  in  my  usual  style.  When  I 
returned  to  my  seat  it  was  with  a  feeling  of  thankfulness  that  that 
much  of  it  was  over,  and  I  was  still  alive.  And  then,  as  I  sat  there 
and  gazed  upon  that  expanse  of  shining  white  forehead,  those  ruddy 
cheek>,  those  flashing  eyes,  that  month  so  expressive  of  firmness  and 
decision,  that  whole  form  so  indicative  of  energy  and  strength,  men- 
tal, moral,  and  physical,  I  wondered  whether  Luther  on  his  way  to  the 
Diet  of  Worms  was  half  such  a  man ;  and  then  whether  such  a  fool  as 
25 


57S  FIRST    RECITATION.  [1843. 

T  felt  myself  to  be  could  ever  meet  liim  in  a  class-room  -without  pro- 
voking his  fury  and  incurring  inevitahle  disgrace." 

At  length  the  matriculations  terminated,  the  time  for  the 
different  classes  to  meet  their  respective  professors  was  an- 
nounced, and  the  students  were  dismissed. 

They  were  soon  called  upon  to  put  their  mettle  to  the 
proof.  The  account  of  the  first  recitation  to  Dr.  Addison  Alex- 
ander is  a  little  startling  : 

"  Our  first  contact  with  Dr.  Addison  was  on  Ilebrew  Grammar. 
He  had  a  roll  of  the  class  alphabetically  arranged,  and  called  upon  the 
students  in  that  order,  always  looking  steadily  at  him  wLo  rose  in  re- 
ply to  the  name  called ;  but  that  roll  we  never  saw  any  more  after  tlie 
last  name  on  it  was  called  once.  lie  knew  every  man  and  called  him 
by  his  right  name  after  he  had  onco  responded  to  it,  and  the  roll  was 
no  longer  used. 

There  were  two  of  the  name  of  Park  in  tAe  same  class,  and 
they  were  distinguished  by  their  first  initials,  as  Mr.  O.,  and 
Mr.  J.  It  was  only  at  the  tliird  recitation,  that  the  professor 
reached  their  names  on  the  roll. 

"  Every  member  of  the  class  had  manifested  some  trepidation  when 
he  was  fii'st  called  up.  My  first  appearance  on  the  floor  is  memora- 
ble. I  had  begun  to  get  homesick,  not  a  strange  circumstance  con- 
sidering this  was  my  first  separation  from  my  family  and  friends ;  and 
my  youthfulness  favoured  it  too,  for  I  was  next  to  the  youngest  student 
in  the  Seminary.  I  rose  promj^thj^  'cery,  at  the  call  of  my  name,  with 
quickened  breath  and  bounding  pulse.  Dr.  A.'s  spectacles  were  won- 
derfully bright,  yet  not  so  bright  as  the  eyes  looking  through  them. 
He  asked  a  question;  I  answered;  he  smiled;  several  students  tittertd. 
A  second  question,  followed  by  the  answer  ;  Dr.  A.  smiled  more  per- 
ceptibly ;  all  the  cla^s  snickered,  and  I  broke  out  in  a  sweat.  A  third 
question  was  answered ;  several  students  guffawed.  Eap^  rap,  rap,  on 
the  desk,  and  with  an  indignant  voice  Dr.  A.  called  out,  '  Order  in  the 
class !  I  see  nothing  to  laugh  at.'  And  then  to  me,  '  That  will  do, 
sir,'  and  called  the  next.  I  sat  down  in  a  state  of  terrible  excitement, 
perplexed,  confused,  and  ashamed,  supposing  I  had  exposed  myself  to 
the  contempt  and  ridicule  of  the  class,  and  resolved  to  start  home  the 


^T.34.]  CHANGE    OF   FEELING.  579 

next  day.  When  the  class  was  dismissed,  I  was  pushing  my  way  to 
the  door,  anxious  to  escape  from  the  gaze  of  the  students,  for  some  of 
them  were  still  di-posed  to  laugh  at  me  ;  but  as  I  approached  the  door 
Dr.  A.  calle;!  to  me,  beckoning  with  his  finger,  'Mr.  J.  P.!  Mr.  J.  P.! 
I  was  afraid  not  to  go  to  him,  and  yet  only  expected  to  hear  him  say, 
'Young  man,  you  had  better  go  home,  you  are  too  much  of  a  ninny 
for  this  place,'  or  something  else  that  would  be  as  bad." 

Instead  of  this,  be  asked  him  about  two  other  young  men 
in  Tennessee,  who  he  Lad  heard  were  coming  to  Princeton 
(sons  of  Drs.  Edgar  and  Lapsley,  of  ISTashville). 

"While  tliis  was  going  on,  the  class  passed  out,  and  then  he  said, 
'Mr.  P.,  I  will  remain  in  the  cla^s-room  a  few  minutes  each  day  after 
t!ie  recitation  to  answer  any  inquiries  tlie  students  may  have  to  make 
conoerning  difficult  points  they  may  meet  with,  and  I  hope  you  will 
feel  perfectly  free  to  ask  me  any  questions  relating  to  your  studies  at 
such  times.  And  at  any  otiier  time  that  I  am  not  engaged  in  class,  I 
would  be  glad  to  have  you  call  at  my  study,  whenever  you  want  any 
explanations  or  assistance.'  It  was  all  done  with  such  simplicity,  and 
with  a  countenance  and  voice  so  full  of  kindness,  that  I  choked  with 
emotion,  stimmered  my  thmks,  and  when  he  had  [as^ed  out,  hurrying 
to  my  room  I  locked  the  door  and  sat  down  and  wept  like  a  child." 

From  that  moment  all  his  feelings  towards  him  changed, 
and  while  he  still  revered  the  dreaded  Professor  of  Hebrew 
beyond  any  man  he  ever  saw,  he  loved  him  with  a  deep  and 
abiciiig  affection. 

Mr.  Park's  own  language  is  essential  to  the  effect  of  what 
follows; 

"  When  my  emotion  subsided,  and  I  had  wasljcd  my  face  and  brushed 

my  hair,  a  rap  on  tlie  door  le  1  me  to  open  it.     *  came  in,  hi3 

countenance  bright  with  good  humour,  to  explain  the  conduct  of  the 
class  dnripg  my  recitation.  He  said  every  one  saw  my  excitement 
when  T  was  called  up;  my  first  answer  was  given  in  full  voice,  tremu- 
lous fro:ii  agtaiion;  the  second,  in  a  tone  loud  enough  to  have  been 

A  classmate;  himself  a  distinguished  clergyman  in  one  cf  the  great 
cities  of  the  Southwest. 


580  A   FIRST   IMPRESSION.  11843. 

distinctly  heard  Jit  a  distance  of  forty  yards;  and  tlie  third,  as  if  Dr. 
A.  was  in  a  mill  in  full  clatter,  and  I  on  the  outside  thirty  or  forty 
feet  from  the  duor." 

The  mark  made  upon  him  by  the  considerate  manner  and 
generous  offer  of  Dr.  A.  to  him  after  that  Jirst  recitation  is 
ineffaceable. 

"  His  kindness  and  sympatliy  overpowered  me,  and  over  afterwards 
I  felt  indignant  at  the  bare  suggestion  of  his  being  unfeeling  or  uncon- 
o-eiiial.  As  long  as  I  remained  at  the  Seminary  notliing  ever  occurred 
to  cause  nie  to  change  my  opinion.  His  heart  was  as  great  as  his 
head.  No  man  ever  won  my  affections  so  completely;  and  it  was  an 
instantaneous  transformation.  The  terrible  dread  and  dreadful  terror 
of  him  up  to  that  time  was  never  afterwards  experienced  by  me.  Still 
I  had  lo.-t  none  of  my  profound  reverence  for  him,  nor  did  my  desire 
to  appear  w^ell  before  him  abate  one  whit;  but  I  had  a  new  motive." 

There  were  men  in  every  class  who  seem  to  have  taken  the 
measure  of  their  teacher,  and  who  still  entertain  for  him  the 
most  reverent  admiration.  The  class  of  1S43  appears  to  have 
been  full  of  such  men.  He  was  to  each  one  of  these  gentlemen 
magnus  Apollo,  and  seems  to  have  strongly  impressed  upon 
them  the  stamp  of  his  shaping  influence.  A  clergyman  of  St. 
Louis,*  who  was  then  one  of  his  students,  writes : 

"  The  impression  he  made  upon  me  when  I  first  saw  him,  wliicli 
was  at  Princeton  in  1843,  and  in  the  presence  of  the  other  members 
of  the  faculty  of  the  Seminary,  was  one  of  awe  mingled  with  intense 
curiosity  to  hear  him  and  to  know  m.ore  of  him." 

This  impression  was  not  so  much  owing  to  what  he  had. 
heard  of  him,  as  it  was  derived  from  his  striking  appearance 
and  attitude. 

"  His  youth,  in  comparison  with  his  father  and  the  venerable  Dr. 
Miller,  as  well  as  with  Dr.  Hodge  ;  his  stout,  full  figure,  more  imposing 
when  'sitting  than  when  upon  his  feet ;  his  perfectly  erect  ajid  motion- 

*  The  Rev.  Beverley  Tucker  Lacy. 


.et.34.]         character  of  class  instruction's.  581 

less  position;  his  resemblance  in  contour  of  face  and  Lead  to  the  first 
Kapoleon  ;  his  proud,  solemn,  and  solitary  expression  of  countenance  : 
and  more  than  all,  his  most  remarkably  developed  forehead,  so  capa- 
ci(nis  and  so  perfect  ia  its  outline,  a  mighty  dome  of  thoujihr,  almost  aa 
impressive  as  the  head  of  Web^ter,  and  far  more  beautiful ;  all  com- 
bined to  awaken  a  profounder  interest  than  had  been  excited  in  me  by 
the  appearance  of  any  otiier  man. 

"  This  impression  once  made  was  never  lost;  it  was  continually  re- 
newed in  many  hundred  interviews.  Indeed,  it  produced  something  of 
a  habit  of  gazing  steadfastly  at  him  when  we  supposed  it  would  not 
attract  his  attention,  and  it  caused  me  to  give  closer  attention  to  to  all 
he  uttered  in  conversation,  in  the  class-room,  or  in  the  pulpit.  I 
remember  distinctly  an  idea  which  often  occurred  to  me  while  under  his 
instructions  at  Princeton  ;  that  he  possessed  more  wisdom  than  belonged 
to  other  men,  and  that  he  occupied  a  place  in  the  temple  of  know- 
ledge somewhat  similar  to  that  of  the  ancient  priesthood  who  delivered 
their  responses  to  the  enlightened  but  heathen  nations  of  the  world." 

Hence  his  instructions  became  to  this  jKipil  somewhat  orac- 
ular, and  he  felt  the  necessity  of  attending  to  every  word. 
He  says  that  he  has  never  been  led  to  expect  so  much  from  any 
man  as  from  him,  and  that  he  was  never  or  seldom  disaj)- 
pointed. 

The  same  writer  testifies  that  his  clags  instructions  were 
marked  by  wonderful  clearness,  conciseness,  and  comprehen- 
siveness. 

"  The  manner,"  he  says,  "  was  apparently  stern  and  rather  abrupt, 
and  the  utterance  unusually  rapid,  but  distinct.  His  explanations  were 
not  only  satisfactory,  but  exhaustive;  not  only  c'ear,  but  transparent, 
and  but  seldom  repeated.  At  times  he  manifested  a  d  gree  of  impa- 
tience which  I  think  was  unreasonable,  and  which  always  betrayed 
itself  in  a  severity  of  reproof,  and  a  keenness  of  sarcasm  overwhelm- 
ing in  their  effects." 

The  writer  bears  witness  that  whenever  he  became  satisfied 
that  he  had  been  guilty  of  injustice,  or  had  violated  the  pro- 
prieties of  the  occasion,  he  generously  and  candidly  made  all 
reparation.     As  a  teacher,  he  thinks  he  was  at  this  time  too 


582  FACTS    FROM    THE    JOURNAL.  [1845. 

much  feared,  and  that  there  was  too  great  a  distance  observed 
""jctween  him  and  his  pupils,  "  esi)ecially  those  of  dull  and 
blundering  minds."  This  was  not  the  result  of  any  intention 
or  preference  on  his  part,  but  owing  to  the  peculiarities  of 
temperament  to  a  great  extent  not  within  his  control. 

It  is  my  own  opinion  that  even  "dull  and  blundering 
minds  "  received  great  profit  from  Mr.  Alexander,  where  they 
Avere  not  also  lazy,  conceited,  or  excessively  timid.  My  recol- 
lections, however,  date  back  to  a  pei-iod  much  later,  I  know 
that  the  laborious  teacher  aimed  at  a  benefit  that  should  be 
general,  and  Avould  have  considered  that  he  had  failed  in  his 
Avork  unless  he  had  supposed  he  had  raised  the  average  level 
of  scholarship  and  capacity  in  every  class. 

The  journal,  meagre  as  it  is,  affords  a  fcAV  particulars.  On 
November  the  7th,  I  find  him  reading  Blunt  on  the  14th  chapter 
of  Genesis,  and  the  2d  chapter  of  Esther  in  De  Wette.  Before 
breakfast  he  prepared  his  notes  for  recitation.  He  then  walked 
and  meditated  on,  "  Say  among  the  heathen  the  Lord  reigueth," 
He  examined  the  class  that  day  on  Genesis  i.  4-6,  and  analyzed 
verses  7-10  ibr  them.  Later  in  the  day  he  pei-used  Calvin 
on  the  eleventh  chapter  of  Isaiah,  Avith  ncAV  delight  and  admir- 
ation. "  Such  sense  !  such  piety !  such  style  !  "  are  his  exclama- 
tions over  this  great  author.  At  night  he  read  Grotius,  Juni- 
us and  Cocceius  on  the  same,  as  well  as  the  debates  in  Con- 
gress, and  Bridges  on  the  119th  Psalm.  One  day  can  hardly 
be  distinguished  from  another.  This  one  was  the  image  of 
hundreds,  so  far  as  extant  records  are  concerned.  There  was 
perpetual  variety  in  the  midst  of  general  resemblance.  If  Ave 
could  have  entered  his  study  about  this  time, or  possibly  some- 
Avhat  later,  we  should  have  found  his  floor,  and  a  structure  of 
temporary  sheh'es  Avhich  he  had  erected,  extending  entirely 
across  the  room,  covered  Avith  the  learned  treatises  of  all  na- 
tions haA^ing  any  bearing  upon  the  Avork  in  hand.  Dictiona- 
ries and  cyclopedias;  the  Versions;  the  Rabbins;  vellum 
folios;  quarto  and  octavo  grammars;  Vitringa,  Calvin,  the 
Fathers,  the  classics,  the  Germans,  the  latest  English  authors, 
the  infidels  and  the  Christians,  were  tossed  pell-mell  about  the 


^T,  34.]  MEMOIRS    OF    THE    ALEXANDERS.  585 

rounc-S  of  his  cliairs,  and  under  the  huge  legs  of  his  table. 
There  he  sat  entrenched  among  his  forces,  and  girdled,  like  a 
leaguered  camj),  by  strong  redoubts  and  escar^Dments.  His 
dark,  soft  brown  hair  Avas  thinning  somewhat  on  the  top  of 
the  head,  and  was  becoming  slightly  gray.  Rosy  health 
painted  his  cheek,  and  added  to  the  comely  roundness  of  his 
person  and  the  sparkle  of  unusual  pleasure  in  his  eye.  He 
wore  gold  spectacles,  and  was  in  every  sense  a  Saxon  rather 
than  a  Gaul.  His  voice  could  be  heard  through  his  closed 
door,  as  in  chirruping  mood  he  sang  his  Arabic  and  Persian 
songs,  blew  tunes  upon  his  ivory  paper-folder,  or  murmured 
strange  words  in  tones  which  might  have  deceived  an  inexpe- 
rienced bee-hunter.  Then  lie  would  pause,  whirl  the  leaves 
of  a  lexicon,  murmur  again,  whistle,  soliloquize,  cross  and  re- 
cross  the  floor,  resume  his  seat,  and  so  da  capo.  Sometimes 
perhaps,  when  bending  over  Jarchi  or  J.  D.  Michaelis,  a  funny 
thought  would  strike  him,  and  he  would  laugh  aloud,  quickly 
uttering  the  syllables,  "ha,  ha,  ha." 

I  am  able  to  present  at  this  point  the  testimony  of  the  Rev. 
Dr.  A.  A.  Hodge,  of  Allegheny  City,  and  Professor  of  Tlie- 
ology  in  the  Western  Theological  Seminary.  After  speakino- 
of  the  mighty  changes,  some  of  them  terrible  or  sad  ones, 
wrought  by  the  late  civil  conflict,  he  observes : 

"  But  the  iKist ;  the  men,  the  friends,  the  beloved  teachers,  associ- 
ates, lessons,  and  associations;  are  all  safe.  Their  deathless  memories, 
sweet  and  large,  furra  an  abiding  home  and  a  peaceful  contentful  rest. 
And  there,  in  the  centre  of  the  innermost  circle,  the  Alexanders, 
father  and  sons,  render  the  scene  sacred  and  precious.  I  never  go  to 
Princeton  without  visiting  their  graves,  and  I  never  think  of  them 
without  having  my  poor  staggering  faith  in  God  and  in  regenerated 
humanity  strengthened.  Let  us  uncover  our  heads  and  thank  God  for 
them !  " 

His  reminiscences  will  be  found  interesting.  As  a  little 
boy  he  was  admitted  to  unusual  intimacy  with  Professor  Ad- 
dison Alexander,  and  saw  much  especially  of  his  humorous 
Bide,     He  wrestled  with  him  on  the  floor,  teased  him  for  his 


584  A   GIANT.  n843. 

stories  and  "  sat  ainazecl  ■vvbilo  ho  sang  English,  French,  Ger- 
man, Italian,  Turkish,  Latin,  Greek,  Hebrew,  and  Arabic  songs 
or  chants." 

Then  he  went  to  school  and  college,  and  tlie  intercourse  was 
suspended.  When  he  entered  the  Seminary  in  1844,  he  met 
him  as  a  stranger,  in  his  infrequent  visits  to  his  study,  sitting 
nervously  on  the  edge  of  his  chair,  ready  to  go  as  soon  as  the 
promptly  despatched  business  was  over.  "  In  the  class-room 
he  amazed  as  well  as  instructed  us,  as  with  inexhaustible  ful- 
ness, and  an  almost  baffling  rapidity,  he  poured  forth  streams 
of  light." 

He  then  compares  himself  and  his  fellow-students  to  "hali- 
fledged  birds  "  striving  "  eagerly  with  outstretched  necks  and 
ineffectual  wings  "  to  follow  the  glowing  portent  in  its  track 
through  the  heavens. 

"■  The  prominent  impression  I  received  from  him  was  tliat  I  was 
beholding  a  giant  putting  forth  his  great  strength ;  but  behind  it  all 
possessing  an  unfathomable  reservoir  of  reserved  force.  The  work 
done  was  great  ia  itself,  but  appeared  dwarfed  by  tlie  contrast  inevita- 
bly suggested  of  possibilities  lying  just  below  the  surface,  of  absolutely 
indefinite  extent.  AVhen  contemplating  liim,  I  often  thought  of  tbe 
great  Ark,  pregnant  witli  all  animate  creation,  carrying  a  workl  of  pos- 
sibilities, but  on  a  new  sea ;  apparently  not  steered  on  the  shortest 
courses  to  the  harbours  frequented  by  ordinary  practical  mercbaut- 
men." 

He  was  almost  equally  struck  by  the  professor's  evident 
piety,  and  with  the  remarkable  quality  of  his  prayers. 

"  Tben  there  was  the  habitual  and  ab-prevalent  tenderness  and 
devoutnessof  his  spirit.  "Whenever  lie  prayed,  wbile  bis  sentences  ran 
on  condensed  and  rapid,  each  a  complete  confession,  supi)lication,  or 
doxology  ill  itself,  through  all  breatlied  tlie  tender,  yearning,  trustful 
spirit  of  a  child.  While  holding  bimself  morbidly  aloof  from  the  inter- 
course of  men,  it  was  evident  that  his  heart  was  in  tender  sympathy 
with  all  human  joys  and  sorrows,  and  that  it  nestled  close  to  the  lieart 
of  Christ." 


^T.35.j  •  HIS    DAY    BOOKS.  585 

During  the  next  two  years,  Dr.  Addison  Alexander  was 
closely  engaged  upon  his  commentary,  and  his  journal  be- 
comes itself  a  mass  of  mere  interpretation.  It  was  his  habit, 
when  at  work  upon  a  new  volume,  especially  in  the  prelim- 
inary stages,  to  jot  down  in  his  day-book  every  new  thought 
or  suggestion  as  it  occurred  to  him.  Many  of  these  are  fresher 
than  the  statements  in  the  printed  book,  but  they  are  not  in 
every  case  his  matured  opinions,  and  as  casting  no  reflected 
ray  upon  his  life  at  this  time,  need  not  be  inserted  here. 
Sometimes  the  entries  of  an  exegetical  kind  are  made  in  a  hand 
so  small  as  almo^st  to  require  glasses  to  read  them.  The  He- 
brew text  is  beautiful.  The  penmanship  throughout  is  free 
and  bold,  and  often  very  elegant.  Back-hand  prevails,  but 
the  old-fashioned  quill-pen-hand  of  "  the  fathers,"  inclining 
gracefally  to  the  right,  is  nearly  as  common.  He  wrote  much 
in  the  legal,  and  now  and  then  in  the  commercial  style.  In  the 
midst  of  these  grave  comments  occur  multiplied  repetitions 
of  his  own  full  name,  and  the  names  of  acquaintances  ;  notes  to 
imaginary  friends  or  diplomatic  characters,  signed  by  Launcelot 
Andrews  or  James  L.  Beffo,  and  the  curt  correspondence  of 
suppositious  duellists. 

Every  motive  of  friendship  and  affection  constrained  the 
brothers  to  be  much  together.  I  find  Dr.  James  Alexander 
enumerating  among  a  series  of  reasons  why  he  ought  to  be 
contented  with  his  situation  in  Pi-Inceton,  of  which  he  some- 
times tired,  that  he  was  among  friends  of  eminent  learning 
and  wisdom  ;  and  he  mentions  besides  the  names  of  those  now 
living,  his  father.  Dr.  Miller,  and  his  brother  Addison, 

It  gives  me  pleasure  to  introduce  here  the  impressions  of 
one  who  knew  the  Seminary  teacher  well,  and  could  appreci- 
ate him,  and  who  was  long  his  neighbour  and  visitor,  .and  lat- 
terly one  of  his  closest  friends  and  comforters.* 

The  writer  says  his  acquaintance  with  Dr.  Addison  Alex- 
ander began  in  February,    1844,  when  he  himself  enterpd  the 

*  The  Rev.  D.  Abraham  Gosman,  of  Lawrenceville,  N.  J,  one  of  the  Amer 
ican  translators  of  Lange. 
25* 


586  ATTACHMENT   OF   HIS    STUDENTS.  [1844. 

Seminary,  and  continuGcl  witli  a  growins;  intimacy  until  his 
lamented  death.  Throngh  all  this  period  he  found  him  a  val- 
ued instructor,  counsellor,  and  friend.  It  was  then  quite  a 
prevalent  opinion  in  the  Seminary  that  it  required  some  cour- 
age to  enter  his  study,  and  that  the  venture  could  only  be 
made  upon  some  urgent  consideration,  but  the  result  of  his 
first  interview  convinced  him  that  the  opinion  was  groundless, 
and  this  conviction  grew  stronger  and  stronger  the  more  per- 
fectly he  came  to  know  him,  during  his  subsequent  student 
life,  and  in  all  liis  intercourse  with  him  afterwards. 

"Tlie  frankness  and  cordiality  wiih  which  ho  received  me,  gave  me 
confidence,  and  n[)on  stating  my  wishes  and  i)hins,  I  met  with  tliat 
ready  sympathy  and  kindness  wliich  were  never  intermilted,  and  which 
have  laid  nie  under  obligations  I  can  never  repay." 

No  one  could  be  in  his  presence  any  length  of  time  without 
being  impressed  with  his  extraordinary  powers  and  attain- 
ments, and  with  his 

"Entire  freedom  from  pride  and  ostentation,  and  from  any  ap- 
parent cons3iou3nes3  even  that  he  was  '  from  his  shoulders  and  upward  ' 
above  the  ordinary  rank  of  men.  This  was  perhaps  the  most  distinct 
and  universal  impression  which  he  made." 

The  eagerness  with  which  nearly  all  the  more  intelligent  and 
deserving  of  his  old  pupils  have  come  to  the  rescue  of  Mr.  Alex- 
ander's character  for  humility,  amiable  feeling,  conscientious 
efforts  towards  the  impi'ovement  of  his  classes,  depth  and 
liveliness  of  sensibility,  and  the  earnest  and  tender  piety,  not 
only  seems  to  establish  the  existence  of  these  and  kindred 
traits  in  their  preceptor,  but  also  furnishes  strong  evidence 
that  he  made  bis  classes  love  as  well  as  fear  him.  Some  of  his 
pupils  talk  now  as  if  they  would  have  fought  for  him.  No 
mere  proud  scholar,  and  certainly  no  misanthropist,  could  have 
so  powerfully  xnoved  so  many  hearts.  The  man  who  excited 
such  feelings  must  have  been  himself  a  person  of  large  and 
noble  affections. 

The  testimony  offered  in  this  volume  ought  to  be  sufficient 


^T.  35.]  HE    LOVED    CONFIDENCE.  o8T 

to  silence  the  calumny  that  Mr.  Alexander  was  habitually  mo- 
rose or  cold-hearted.  Never  was  an  impression  moi-e  ill- 
founded.  It  was  just  as  far  from  the  truth  that  he  was  not  a 
man  of  singular  practical  wisdom.  Hear  an  affectionate  pupil 
on  these  heads,  and  one  who  for  many  reasons  and  in  many 
ways  enjoyed  his  intimacy. 

"  So  far  from  being  distant  and  cold,  no  one  came  to  him  with  con- 
fidence who  did  not  meet  with  confidence.  He  had  no  time  for  mere 
idlers,  but  to  help  those  who  were  in  earnest  was  his  delight.  His 
time  was  at  their  command,  and  yielded  not  reluctantly  and  grudgingly, 
but  willi  evident  pleasure.  His  sympathies  were  quick  and  tender.  He 
entered  easily  and  fully  into  our  perplexities  and  trials,  and  although 
living  a  comparatively  secluded  life,  his  advice  upon  all  practical  ques- 
tions was  always  clear  and  judicious.  KesuUs  uniformly  attested  its 
wi-;dom.  Eecalling  now  the  various  occasions  upon  wijich  I  went  to 
him  for  counsel  upon  matters  varying  from  those  of  a  day  to  those 
which  were  to  decide  my  life-course,  I  cannot  bring  up  an  instance  in 
wliich  his  advice  was  not  correct,  as  time  and  events  have  shown.  In 
cases  as  to  which  my  own  judgment  differed  from  his,  I  have  had 
reason  to  regret  not  listening  to  his  counsel." 


CHAPTER  XX. 


The  reader  has  been  made  acquainted  with  Mr.  Alexander's 
disposition  to  hunt  novelty  in  nearly  every  field  of  pursuit. 
But  in  affairs  of  importance  it  would  be  an  error  to  suppose 
that  he  surrendered  himself  to  every  capricious  suggestion.  In 
little  things,  lie  undoubtedly  pursued  the  phantom  of  ever-mul- 
tiplying and  ever-shifting  variety,  for  its  own  sake,  and  as  a  re- 
freshment both  to  mind  and  body.  But  in  these  as  well  as  in 
greater  matters,  he  was  actuated  after  all  not  so  much  by  love 
of  change  as  by  hatred  of  sameness ;  and  as  regards  the  main 
business  of  his  life,  he  was  impelled  in  these  perpetual  turn- 
ings and  ti'ansformations  chiefly  by  the  absence  of  any  mere 
pride  of  opinion,  by  the  exuberance  and  restless  productiveness 
of  his  genius,  by  a  sincere  and  ardent  love  of  truth,  and  an 
honest  disdain  of  consistency  where  consistency  is  but  a 
name  for  wilful  perversity,  and  above  all,  by  the  continual  dis- 
covery of  new  and  often  really  better  methods  of  study  or 
instruction,  and  the  advances  he  was  daily  making  in  know- 
ledge and  the  ability  to  use  it  to  the  best  advantage. 

On  this  subject  a  friend  of  this  and  later  periods  writes  with 
great  justice : 

"  You  are  familiar  with  his  pcculiai'ities  as  an  insti'uctor.  Eis  mind 
seemed  to  tire  of  any  thing  like  routine  or  monotony.  His  love  of 
variety  appears  even  here;  and  while  it  was  restrained  within  tlie 
hounds  which  the  routine  teaching  required,  it  led  him  to  change  his 
methods  fi-equently.  Plans  which  were  laid  down  at  the  beginning  of 
the  session,  Avere  soon  interrupted  or  thrown  aside  for  what  seemed  to 
him  to  promise  better  results.  It  was  not  caprice,  hut  his  earnest 
desire  to  carry  his  class  through  the  fields  open  before  him,  yet  with- 
out retarding  their   progress  towards   the  end,   which   led  to   these 


■^^•25-J  A    GEEAT   TEACHEE. 


589 


changes.  Eesults  showed  how  wisely  they  were  made.  He  nevet 
probably  took  the  same  course  with  any  two  classes.  And  yet  no  real 
student,  I  think,  ever  failed  to  feel  how  clearly  the  end  had  been  kept 
in  view,  how  successfully  and  steadily  it  had  been  pursued,  and  what 
large  and  varied  knowledge  had  been  gained  through  the  very  changes 
which  at  the  time  may  have  seemed  arbitrary,  and  only  to  be 
regretted. 

"  There  are  few  men  who  could  easily  or  safely  adopt  the  same 
course,  but  with  him  it  was  a  grand  success.  He  not  only  thoroughly 
understood  what  he  attempted  to  teach,  but  understood  how  he  could 
best  teach  it.  He  kindled  the  minds  of  the  students  into  ardour  and 
enthusiasm ;  never  suffered  them  to  weary ;  turned  them  aside  into  pleas- 
ant openings  which  skirted  their  pathway,  while  they  were  still  perhaps 
unconsciously  pressing  towards  the  end,  and  that  more  rnpidly  than  if 
they  had  been  plodding  in  one  weary  round.  It  may  safely  be  said 
that  as  there  have  been  few  teachers  who  were  so  admired  by  their 
students,  so  there  have  been  few  who  have  conferred  as  great  and  last- 
ing benefits." 

It  is  more  than  -doubtful  whether  under  any  one  of  these  meth- 
ods alone,  or  any  single  «iethod  whatever,  no  matter  how  com- 
prehensive  or  felicitous,  he  co^.ld  have  awakened  the  same  in- 
terest or  imparted  the  same  amount  of  knowledge.  It  is  very 
certain  that  his  own  spirits  would  have  nagcrcd  under  a  system 
of  monotonous  routine;  the  wings  of  hil  darino-  intellect 
would  have  melted  like  was  in  such  an  atmosphere.  '^  He  could 
not,  in  such  a  state  of  things,  any  longer  cleave  the  cloud  or 
moimt  towards  the  sun.  He  must  be  disporting  himself  in  an 
element  of  delight,  or  else  he  lay  panting  on  the  earth  incapa- 
ble of  putting  forth  any  proper  exertion,  or  at  least  unable  to 
brace  his  faculties  for  any  valuable  and  sustained  effort. 

Here  is  a  letter  to  a  little  girl,  which  contains  some  pretty 
compliments : 

"  Peinoeton,  February  28, 1844. 

"Dear : 

"Last  Thursday  we  celebrated  the  birthday  of  Washington,  and  to- 
day I  propose  to  celebrate  the  birthday  of .    Do  you  know  who 

is  just  completing  her  eleventh  year  ?    A  friend  of  mine  whom  I  have 


590  LETTER   TO    A    GIRL.  [1M4. 

not  seen  f<n-  more  tlian  tivo  months.  When  I  saw  her  last  she  was  very 
phimp  and  rosy,  but  I  do  not  know  how  the  city  air  may  have  agreed 
with  her.  A  vear  ago  this  very  day  her  throat  was  sore  and  her  jawa 
tied  up ;  but  she  soon  got  over  that.  If  you  know  who  she  is,  and 
sh-.nld  meet  her  in  the  street,  tell  her  that  I  wish  her  many,  many 
aappy  birthdays.  And  now,  as  for  yourself,  my  little  friend,  I 
wish  to  thank  you  for  your  very  kind  and  interesting  letter.  The 
ace  .unt  of  what  you  saw  on  Christmas-day  was  very  entertaining.  But 
you  neither  told  me  how  you  were,  nor  said  a  single  word  about  your 
new  home,  or  your  new  friends,  or  your  studies,  or  a  hundred  other 
things  of  which  I  wish  to  hear.  I  want  to  know,  for  instance,  who  is 
•'s  successor  as  your  bosom  friend,  and  how  you  are  com- 
ing on  in  Latin  and  Hebrew?  Do  you  know  the  meaning  of  n.-n 
rzD^Nn  ?  This  is  not  my  Hebrew  pen,  and  I  am  very  much  afraid  that 
I  have  written  it  illegibly.  If  so,  I  can  try  it  again  in  my  nest.  I  wish 
I  had  some  Princeton  news  to  tell  you ;  but  you  get  it  all,  no  doubt, 
from  vour  other  corresiondents.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Seabury  preached  in 
Trinity  Church  last  Sunday.  Old  Mrs.  Millet  was  buried  the  sawe  day. 
The  roof  of  the  Seminary  was  on  fire  this  morning,  but  wn^soon  extin- 
guislieil.  Professor  Henry  has  determiued  not  to  f^'iow  'you  all '  to 
Philadelphia.  The  house  next  to  this  will  J^^  vacant  in  April.  Do 
come  back  and  take  it !  Jemmy  has  t^rd  me  twice  to  send  his  love  to 
you,  and  beg  you  to  write  again.  Have  you  read  the  Letters  to  a  Very 
Young  Lady  ?  *  My  glass,  >vhich  you  refused  to*  take,  has  been  at 
Capt.  Crabb's  for  c^veral  months.  I  am  sorry  you  always  think  me 
joking  when  I  want  to  have  your  likeness  taken.  You  ought  at  least 
to  be  daguerreotyped,  for  my  satisfaction,  and  at  my  expense.  If  you 
do  not  choose  to  have  it  done  for  me,  I  will  have  it  done  for  myself 
■when  I  come  to  see  you.     There  must  be  three  copies  :  one  for  you, 

^,^Q  for ,  and  one  for  me ;  but  I  am  to  have  the  prettiest  and 

the  one  most  like  you.  In  the  mean  time  you  must  choose  in  what  po- 
sition tliey  shall  t;ike  you,  where  you  will  put  your  hand,  and  whether 
you  will  have  a  flower  in  it,  or  a  roll  of  music.  Do  you  ever  sing  now  ? 
If  you  do,  here  is  a  little  song  for  you  to  practise  on : 

"  Sakee  beyari  badeh  keh  amud  zemani  gul 
Ta  beshkeneemi  taubeh  deegher  der  miyani  gul 
Hafiz  -wesali  gul  telabi  hemchu  bulbulan 
Ian  koon  fedai  khaki  rehibaghebani  gul."  f 

*  By  Dr.  James  Alexander. 

f  This  was  his  favourite  Persian  song,  and  is  about  a  rose. 


^T.35.]  THE    DOCTORATE.  591 

"You  cnn  see  liow  pleased  T  wns  to  get  your  letter  by  the  speed 
■with  wliich  I  answer  it;  fur  I  hardly  think  you  expected  an  answer  in 

six  montlis.     But  in  earnest, ,  I  was  very  much  delighted,  and 

almost  tlie  only  reason  for  not  writing  sooner  was  that  I  did  not  wish  to 
plague  you  and  give  you  the  trouble  of  answering  my  letter  as  soon  as  you 
received  it.  Now  take  notice,  little  woman,  you  are  not  to  answer  this 
until  you  are  at  leisure  and  would  rather  write  than  not;  and  if  that 
time  never  comes,  alihough  I  shull  be  sorry  not  to  hear  from  you,  I 
shall  neither  be  offended  nor  suppose  that  you  have  forgotten  me,  which 
I  do  not  mean  to  believe  until  I  have  it  from  you  in  black  and  white. 
I  am  glad  you  like  the  marker;  it  was  made  by  my  sister.  I  am  sitting 
up  at  Might  to  write  this  letter,  or  everybody  here  would  be  sending 
love  to  you.  I  hope  you  will  always  be  as  much  beloved  as  you  are 
now,  and  deserve  it  as  well. 

"  Sincerely  yours." 

The  next  letter  to  Dr.  Hall  is  in  the  usual  vein  of  badinao-e. 
The  allusion  to  the  Doctorate  is  an  ironical  expression  of  his 
known  opinion  of  it.  Another  allusion  is  explained  by  the 
fact  that  he  had  a  peculiar  horror  of  men  who  ptit  on  sancti- 
monious airs  and  talked  about  their  hearts.  He  was  like  the 
statesman  who  said,  that  whenever  he  heard  a  man  talk  much 
about  his  honour,  he  at  once  set  him  down  for  a  rascal.  The 
best  irony  in  the  letter  is  in  the  first  sentence  of  the  postscript : 

"Peincetox,  September  IT,  1844. 
"Dear  A^^D  Eon'^oiteed  Sir: 

"Your  anxiety  to  keep  your  eye  upon  me  when  I  come  to  preach  at 
Trenton  is  altogether  natural,  considering  your  precarious  situation 
there,  and  the  excellent  train  into  which  matters  have  been  brought. 
Just  at  present,  however,  I  am  on  another  scent.  You  say  nothing 
about  politics.  You  are  requested  to  write  an  article  on  the  march  of 
mind,  or  the  holiness  of  virtue,  as  you  please.  I  was  called  Doctor  *  by 
every  body  in  my  late  visit  to  New  York.  Oh,  my  good  sir,  what  can 
this  portend  ?  If  I  know  my  own  heart,  I  shall  not  allow  our  rela- 
tions to  be  much  affected. 

Yours  truly, 

J.  A.  Alexandee." 

"As  it  requires  a  good  deal  of  peculiar  talent  to  distinguish  the 
*  He  received  the  degree  from  Rutgers  College. 


592  ISAIAH   BEGUN.  [1844. 

delicate  vein  of  huruour  running  tlirongliiny  first  paragraph,  I  add  in  a 
translation,  that  I  expect  to  preach  three  times  at  Elizabethtown  next 
Sunday,  and  twice  in  Princeton  the  Sund:iy  after  that.  But  for  this, 
the  plan  which  you  propose  would  be  highly  agreeable.  You  will 
rejoice  to  hear  that  I  am  convalescent ;  but  you  see  my  hand  trembles, 
and  my  pen  too,  though  of  steel." 

The  latter  part  of  April  was  beautiful.  The  pastures  and 
grain-fields  smiled  with  verdure;  the  woods  were  in  tender 
leaf,  and  the  orchards  were  bending  under  odoriferous  blos- 
soms. The  aspect  of  May  was  equally  lovely.  The  country 
had  scarcely  ever  looked  so  green.  A  lap  of  gracefully- 
sloping  meadow  and  tilled  land,  now  in  rich  colour,  might  be 
seen  to  advantage  from  the  Steadman-street  corner  of  the 
front  Library  lot.  On  the  27th,  Mr.  Alexander  and  one  of 
his  brothers  returned  from  a  jaunt  which  had  carried  them 
through  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  Washington, 
York,°Columbia,  and  Harrisburg.  The  General  Assembly  was 
in  session.  The  final  examination  was  going  on  at  college.  A 
great  Whig  convention  at  Trenton  was  spoken  of.  Webster,  it 
was  thought,  would  speak. 

The  older  brother  writes  to  Dr.  Hall:*  "Addison  is  just 
completing  a  bargain  with  Wiley  &  Putnam  for  the  publica- 
tion of  his  '  Commentary  on  Isaiah.'  He  will  print  it  in  a  very 
leisurely  manner,  as  it  is  not  fully  written  out.  It  will  be 
chiefly  for  clerical  readers,  etc.  and  will  make  a  large  octavo 
volume.  He  has  laboured  very  much  at  it,  and  has  gone  over 
almost  every  part  with  his  pupils." 

I  do  not  know  that  the  brothers  consulted  much  together 
over  questions  presented  in  the  study  of  Isaiah.  Professor 
James  Alexander  never  heartily  gave  in  to  some  of  the  views 
propounded  in  his  brother's  volumes.  They  did,  however, 
talk  much  together  about  difficult  and  curious  points  suggested 
in  the  critical  reading  of  Matthew.  The  elder  brother  gave 
the  younger  many  striking  views  of  passages  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  himself  wrote  a  large  part  of  a  popular  Commentary 

*  Fam.  Let.  I.  p.  895. 


^T.35.]  PEINCETOK   OF   THAT   DAY.  593 

on  the  first  Gospel,  of  which  his  brother  Addison  spoke  in 
terms  of  strong  eulogy. 

On  the  9th  of  June,  the  two  brothers  accidentally  preached 
from  the  same  text,  Isaiah,  57:  ult.  the  one  at  the  college,  and 
the  other  at  Queenston.     As  I  look  back  ujaon  it  through  the 
sunshine  of  boyish  remembrance,  this  strikes  me  as  aoout  the 
golden  age  of  Princeton.     The  senior  professors  at  the  Semi- 
nary were  not  only  alive  but  hale  and  vigorous,  and  their  influ- 
ence upon  the  Church  was  at  its  height.     Professor  Addison 
Alexander  was  in  the  full  glow  of  perfect  health,  and  splendid 
attainment  and  reputation.     At  the  college,  Professor  Henry 
experimented  and  lectured,  as  none  else  could.     Professor  Dod 
inspired  his  mathematical  class  with  admiration  and  zeal,  and 
the  dead  languages  and  Belles  Lettres  became  a  delightful 
entertainment  in  the  hands  of  such  a  man  as  Professor  James 
"VY.  Alexander.     There  were  many  charming   families  in  the 
place;  literary  men  abounded,  in   and  out   of  the  faculties; 
the  preaching  to  be  heard  in  any  of  the  pulpits  was  of  the' 
highest   order,   and   the    general    educational   tendencies    of 
its  schools  were  unequalled.     The  Princeton  of  that  day  was 
truly  Athenian.     Not  that  I  would  pretend  that  the  standard 
of  scholarship  was  so  high  as  it  ought  to  be,  or  has  since  be- 
come ;  but  there  was,  so  to  speak,  a  vital  oxygen  in  the  air,  to 
breathe  which  almost  gave  a  man  a  smattering  of  knowledge 
and  taste,  and  to  live  in  which  was  itself  a  tolerable  education. 
There  is  something  too  subtle  about  these  academic  and  col- 
legiate influences  for  the  litmus  of  exact  analysis.      What  I 
speak  of  is  found  in  its  perfection  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge, 
and,  in  various  degrees,  at  Yale  and  Harvard,  and  the  Uni- 
versity of  Virginia.     Each  of  these  and  similar  places,  is  now 
at  least  a  little  hoary,  and  gives  its  own  distinctive  impress, 
without  regard  to  the  extent  of  the  course,  or  the  diligence 
of  the  pupil.     But,  besides  having  this   air  of  antiquity  and 
this  liberal  aroma,  Princeton  was  graced  at  that  time  by  the 
presence  of  quite  a  constellation  of  intellectual  and  famous 
men. 

In  July,  Professor  James  Alexander  proceeded  to  New 


594  COIfVEESATION   OF   BEOTHEES.  [1844. 

York,  and  pronounced  an  address  before  the  Societies  of  the 
University.  The  day  was  very  Avarm,  and  the  house  crowded. 
He  was  sought  after  by  certain  persons  from  Boston,  who 
wished  him  to  be  called  to  the  Bowdoiu-street  Churcli ;  but  he 
could  not  favour  the  project. 

The  following  thoughts  were  struck  out  in  talk  between 
the  brothers  James  and  Addison,  some  time  in  August.  There 
was  entire  concurrence  between  them,  but  Dr.  Addison  Alex- 
ander's peculiar  stamp  is  upon  several  of  the  expressions  : 

"  Almost  all  extemporaneous  preachers  have  this  fault :  they  talk 
about  the  icay  in  which  they  are  preaching.  Thus:  'After  a  few  ;;re- 
liminary  remarks,  I  shall  proceed  ti),'  ets. ;  or,  'What  I  shall  lay  down 
will  talve  tlie  form  of  jieneral  principle^.'  '  I  come  with  liesitation,' 
etc.  '  I  shall  be  more  brief  on  this  point.'  'You  will  observe  that  in 
this  discussion  I  do  so  and  so.'  Avoid  all  such  observations.  More 
generiiliy  still,  avoid  all  that  brings  the  speaker's  personality  before 
the  he;u-cr.  A  better  model  than  our  honoured  father,  in  this,  there 
could  not  be." 

I  give  below  the  opinion  of  one  who  is  now  a  rector  in  the 
Episcopal  Church,  *  and  whose  writings  have  long  been,  exten- 
sively known : 

"  Seeing  Dr.  Addison  Alexander,"  he  says,  "  almost  daily,  for  sev- 
eral years,  receiving  from  him  some  of  the  most  powerful  impressions 
my  mind  has  ever  received ;  honoured  by  his  unsolicited  approbation  of 
my  literary  efforts ;  indebted  to  him  for  literary  labours ;  this  profound 
critic  and  scholar,  this  powerful  and  trenchant  revicA-er,  this  re- 
markable and,  in  my  experience,  unrivalled  preacher,  was  personally 
as  little  known  to  me  as  if  we  had  inhabited  different  planets.  TIio 
students  generally  felt  equal  admiration  of  his  power  and  respect  for 
his  reserve.  His  life  of  recluse  study  was  to  all  of  us  a  problem  ;  with 
most,  the  instincts  of  scholarship  solved  it,  without  the  elements  of 
romance  and  mystery.  It  was  nevertheless  very  surprising  that,  in 
our  age,  and  in  America,  a  man  poss.^ssing  the  practical  force  of 
Luther,  and  the  genial  scholarship  of  Erasmus,  should  have  lived  in 
an  atmosphere  like  that  which,  to  our  Protestant  imagination,  sur- 
rounded St.  Dominic,  or  Loyola;  and  in  one  of  the  great  thoroughfares 

*  The  Rev.  W.  W.  Lord,  of  Vicksburg,  Miss. 


MT.S5.]  DE.    ALEXANDER   E^'   NEW   YOEK.  59r 

of  America,  and  one  of  the  great  universities  of  the  world,  should 
seem  to  invest  himself  with  the  solitude  of  the  Thebaid,  or  the  seclu- 
sion of  a  mona-tery." 

On  the  2cT  of  October,  the  Rev.  James  W.  Alexander  re- 
moved, with  his  famil}',  to  New  York,  to  take  charge  of  the 
Dnane  street  Church,  -whose  call  he  had  acceined.  He  was 
installed  the  next  day,  and  remained  in  tliis  situation  until 
1849,  when  he  returned  to  Princeton,  to  occupy  the  chair  of 
Church  History  and  Government,  which  had  been  left  vacant 
by  the  retirement  of  Dr.  Miller.  This  removal  to  New  York 
was,  in  some  respects,  a  trial  to  Mr.  Alexander,  though  it  added 
inducements  to  his  frequent  desire  for  travel.  The  settlement 
of  another  brother  in  the  same  city  soon  and  greatly  increased 
its  domestic  attractions.  The  first  house  occupied  by  the  new- 
pastor  was  No.  83  White  street ;  and  there  the  great  scholar 
from  the  country  would  "gather  the  hahes^''  as  he  facetiously 
called  them,  and,  putting  them  before  him  on  a  sofa,  would 
describe  all  the  odd  characters  of  the  neighbourhood,  and  tell 
them  new  tales  about  Old  Black  and  Peter  Arun.  He  bad 
great  sympathy  with  his  toiling  brother  in  his  new  and  heavy 
cares;  and  sometimes  exhorted  him  to  take  summary  measures 
with  the  troup  of  idlers,  busybodies,  and  charlatans  who  de- 
voured his  time,  and  cut  him  off  from  the  smallest  chance  of 
rest  or  leisure. 

The  elder  brother  writes,  about  this  time,  to  Dr.  Hall,  at 
Trenton:  "Visitors  knock  and  ring  '  frae  morn  till  e'en.'  Ad- 
dison says,  I  should  practice  self  denial — at  the  door^*  These 
little  witty  mots  v/ere  too  common  and  incessant  to  be  taken 
down;  othervrise  a  cveditable  volume  might  have  been  made  of 
his  speeches  o^this  kind.  But,  as  has  often  been  remarked,  he 
never  crossed  the  limits  of  propriety,  and  did  not  fail,  even  in 
these  little  things,  to  "  magnify  his  office." 

The  Isaiah  was  by  this  time  fairly  in  the  hands  of  the  pub- 
lisher. It  appears  from  a  letter  to  Dr.  Hall,  of  October  the  30th, 
that  Dr.  James  Alexander  sometimes  sought  nepenthe  from  his 

*  Fam.  Letters,  Vol.  II.,  p.  30. 


596  SCHEME   OF  LECTTJEES.  [1845. 

anxieties  in  the  rooms  of  Mr.  Wiley,  and  in  the  fresh  books 
and  pamphlets  from  tlie  continent.  He  writes  :  "  As  Addison 
is  printing  [Isaiah]  with  Wiley  &  Putnam,  I  have  the  entree 
there,  and  enjoy  a  grand  gloat  on  the  arrival  of  each  steamer." 
He  always  had  the  knack  of  making  friends  with  "  the  trade," 
and  picked  up  many  a  new  word  or  happy  thought  as  he 
roamed  among  the  shelves,  or  lingered  at  the  counter  to 
bandy  foreign  epithets  with  some  bibliophile,  or  whiskered  and 
moustached  polyglot  from  Germany.  He  was  much  addicted 
to  Anglo-Saxon,  and  comparative  grammar,  and  loved  to  bur- 
nish up  his  Avits  with  such  accomplished  bookmen  as  Mr.  Gar- 
rigue  and  Mr.  Westermann.  He  spoke  French  and  German 
well,  and  Latin  creditably,  and  could  hold  his  own  in  a  short 
conversation  with  an  Italian  or  a  Spaniard.  He  also  knew  some- 
thing of  the  Dutch,  and  latterly  of  the  Danish,  Swedish,  and 
Norwegian.  He  often  visited  the  synagogue,  and  sometimes 
had  a  brush  with  one  of  the  Jewish  doctors.  One  of  his  sex- 
tons, a  faithful  simple-hearted  fellow,  by  the  name  of  Peter 
Tarlsen,  belonged  to  the  land  of  the  Skalds  and  the  Edda,  and 
from  him  he  derived  much  instruction. 

The  following  scheme  of  lectures  and  private  reading  was 
observed  by  Mr.  Alexander,  during  the  greater  part  of  the 
year  1845,  and  shows  the  nature  of  his  occupation  at  that 
period : 

"February  23,  1845.     Plan  for  the  next  session,  if  I  live  : 

Introductory  lecture  on  the  studies  preliminary  and  auxiliary  to 
Interpretation. 

Study  of  Hebrew  grammar,  with  occasional  lectures  on  Biblical 
philosophy,  criticism,  and  archfeology. 

Analytical  lectures  on  the  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  in  their 
order,  with  specimens  as  Hebrew  lessons. 

Messianic  Prophecies,  wiih  the  first  class. 

Acts  of  the  Apostles,  with  the  second  class." 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  ])lan  was  adhered  to  with 
great  tenacity,  and  that  Mr.  Alexander  was  now  devoting  all 
his  best  energies  to  the  critical  interpretation  of  the  Bible. 


^T.36.]  A   PLAYFUL   LETTER.  597 

His    Isaiah   (that  is,  his   first  part)  ^yas  approaching  comple< 
tion. 

The  next  letter  is  in  the  playful  vein  again.  He  sends  a 
student  to  preach  at  Trenton. 

"Friday,  March  14,  1845,  2  o'clock,  p.  m. 
"  Mt  Dear  Sir  : 

"  As  misfortunes  never  come  alone,  our  invalidity  has  been  syn- 
chronous (see  the  dictionary),  I  have  been  under  medical  treatment 
for  some  days — principal  symptoms  naufea  and  a  very  severe  headache. 
Furtiierraore,  I  have  put  off  two  exercises  till  next  Monday,  and  have 
just  begun  an  article  for  the  Eepertory  which  ought  to  have  been 
written  at  the  beginning  of  this  week,  and  must  be  done  to-morrow 
night.  Again,  it  is  next  Sunday  that  my  father  is  to  preach  in  the 
chapel :  besides  that,  he  declines  going  away  from  home  at  this  season. 
You  say  nothing  about  a  third,  person ;  but,  in  the  plenitude  of  my 
benevolence,  and  with  a  great  sacrifice  of  feeling,  I  liave  engaged  Mr. 
James  E.  Moore,  of  Belvidere,  N.  J.  of  our  first-class,  to  preach  for 
you.  It  is  very  likely  you  will  not  thank  me  for  this  officious 
overstepping  of  my  commission ;  but  one  mnst  run  the  risk  of  such 
censures  and  mistakes,  in  the  sacred  cause  of  friendship.  Mr. 
Moore  has  friends  in  Trenton  with  whom  he  will  stay ;  but  I  have  in- 
timated the  probability  of  your  paying  his  expenses.  If  he  should  not 
please  the  fastidious  taste  of  your  metropolitan  audience,  it  will  be  a 
salutary  mortification  of  your  ambitious  views.  James  has  just  spent 
two  days  with  us. 

"And  now,  my  dear  sir,  how  shall  I  express  my  condolence  with 
your  sufferings,  and  the  pleasure  which  it  would  have  given  me  to  aid 
you  in  your  labour  of  love  ;  a  privilege  to  which  I  stiU  look  forward, 
in  the  course  of  the  present  season,  witli  feelings  which  defy  descrip- 
tion, and,  in  the  meantime,  have  the  pleasure  and  satisfaction  of  sub- 
scribing myself  Yours  very  truly, 

J.  A.  Alexander." 

"  P.  S. — As  my  late  indisposition  has  affected  my  mind,  it  may  be 
prudent  not  to  let  this  letter  go  beyond  the  Session  and  Board  of 
Trustees. 

I  have  only  had  your  letter  half  an  hour.  You  need  not  send  for 
Mr.  M." 

His  youngest  brother,  H.  M.  Alexander,  Esq.  of  New 
York,  communicates  the  following  important  reminiscences : 


698  EEADING   BOOKS.  [1845. 

"He  is  connoctccl  with  my  earliest  recollections.  My  cldef  dcMglit 
■was  in  hearing  his  stories;  wliicli  he  pmired  out  with  prodigious  prod- 
igality. He  instituted  a  lund  wliicli  he  called  the  Caupadocian  So- 
ci^^ty  ;  a  mysterious  and  awe-inspiring  institution  to  me,  the  meetings 
being  liold  in  a  darkened  room,  and  what  was  not  said  and  done  being 
far  more  impressive  than  that  which  was.  He  mixed  songs  composed 
by  himself  with  stories  which  never  ended,  and  always  broke  otf  at  tlie 
most  interesting  parts.  Two  of  these  songs,  which  always  introduced 
two  ghosts,  or  mysterious  characters,  I  can  sing  the  tunes  of  now.* 
He  was  always  cheerful;  and,  as  a  child,  my  recollections  of  him  are 
not  connected  with  a  single  unpleasant  association.  When  I  began  to 
study  Latin  and  Greek  he  became  my  instructor,  and  was  such,  from 
time  to  time,  until  I  entered  college.  I  do  not  think  I  learned  much 
of  the  regular  studies  I  pursued  with  him  (which  was  no  doubt  my  owa 
fault),  but  I  learned  ama?s  of  other  things  wliich  sometimes  seem  to  me 
to  be  all  that  I  know  now.  I  studied  in  his  library  ;  and  lie  would  talk  to 
me  f  )r  hours,  on  subjects  which  interested  him,  precisely  as  if  I  was  his 
equal  in  nge  and  knowledge.  He  would  never  read  aloud  to  me,  but 
would  pour  out  the  contents  of  volumes  digested  ami  made  plain,  some 
of  which  I  remember  now.  I  never  saw  any  one  who  might  be  ^aid  to 
devour  a  book  as  he  did.  He  appeared  to  take  up  a  page  Jis  soon  as  he 
looked  at  it,  just  as  a  pponge  t:ikes  up  a  spot  of  wa:er  from  a  slate.  I 
recollect  once  expres4ng  a  doubt  whether  he  had  actually  re  ;d  some- 
thing, he  turned  the  leaves  so  rapidly:  whereupon  he  handed  me  the 
book,  and  recited,  ahr.ost  verbatim,  every  sentence  on  a  page  or  two.f 
He  took  a  wonderful  del'ght  iu  the  men  and  hi^to^y  ol' the  time  of  the 
Georges,  and  would  talk  incessantly  about  them.  1  became,  in  this 
way,  acquainted  with  that  period  as  I  am  with  no  other.  There  w;,s 
no  need  to  read  on  £iny  subj -Ct.  He  would  read  a  book,  and  thin 
pour  it  out  in  a  condensed  form,  retaining  all  that  was  intere-tng,  and 
supp'ementing  it  with  everything  he  knew  n[)on  the  subject  from  other 
sources.  I  am  surprise^  when  I  look  back,  at  the  way  in  which  he 
used  to  consult  me  upon  the  matters  he  wrote  fa-  publication.  Oftea 
he  would  alter  what  he  had  written,  upon  my  making  an  objection, 
even  when  the  objection  was  merely  the  thoughtless  remark  of  a  boy 

*  I  remember  the  tunes  spoken  of,  but  do  not  associate  them  with  the 
ghosts. 

f  The  same  brother  says  he  has  seen  liim  read  a  long  paragraph  (say  a 
large  part  of  a  page)  more  carefully,  but  only  once,  and  tiieu  repeat  it  word 
for  word. 


^^•36]  PREPARING   TO   WRITE.  '        599 

of  fourteen.  "When  he  was  writing  his  Commentary  on  IsaiaTi,  he 
caused  to  be  made  two  standing  desks  reaching  frnm  one  end  to  the 
other  of  his  large  study.  These  were  two  stories  high.  On  the  h)wer 
story  he  placed  the  folios  and  qnartos,  and  on  the  upper  the  octavos. 
I  should  estimate  that  the?6  stands  held  about  fifty  vokimes,  all  of 
them  open.  He  would  first  pass  down  the  line  where  the  commen- 
taries were,  then  go  to  the  lexicons,  then  to  other  books ;  and  when  he 
was  through,  -iie  would  hurry  to  the  table  at  which  he  wrote,  write 
rapidly  for  a  few  minutes,  and  then  return  again  to  the  books : 
and  this  he  would  repeat  again  and  again,  for  ten  or  twelve  hours 
together.  While  this  was  in  progress,  nothing  seemed  to  be  au  in- 
terruption. He  would  answer  every  question  a*ked,  or  would  stop 
and  give  some  amusing  description  of  what  he  had  seen  o;-  heard  on  a 
trip  to  New  York  or  Philadelphin,  and  then  go  on  with  his  work.  He 
was  much  troubled  with  toothache,  and  the  hot  weather  afi'ected  him 
a  good  deal,  and  I  have  often  heard  him  say  that  the  best  relief  from 
both  these  annoyances  was  some  ditHcult  passage  to  explain.  I  used  to 
go  often  with  him  when  he  travelled;  when  he  seemed  to  gather  more 
amusement  from  the  people  he  saw,  and  what  he  heard  them  say,  in  a 
day,  and  would  make  the  thing  more  interesting  in  detailing  it,  tlian 
most  men  would  in  a  year.  His  powers  of  sarcasm  were  dreadful. 
His  reproofs  were  usually  given  in  this  way ;  and  I  am  sure  the  particu- 
lar thing  reproved  was  never  repeated,  without  the  recollection  of  the 
reproof.  His  admiration  and  love  for  his  mother  were  unequalled. 
Her  ability  and  manners  he  constantly  spoke  of  in  the  most  atfection- 
ate  and  exalted  terms.  I  have  seen  him,  numbers  of  times,  leave  his 
writing  to  go  to  her  and  read  the  verse  he  was  commenting  upon,  and 
ask  what  she  supposed  it  meant ;  and  I  once  heard  him  say,  her  com- 
mon sense,  in  certain  matters  of  this  kind,  was  worth  more  than  -Al 
the  commentaiies  in  the  world. 

"He  seemed  to  have  a  morbid  appetite  for  reading  what  to  every 
body  else  was  the  merest  drud,:^ery.  I  do  not  recollect  the  books  now, 
but  I  remember  well  how  I  wondered  to  see  him  reading  them,  and  to 
hear  him  burst  into  laughter  at  something.  When  I  asked  him  what  it 
was,  he  would  reply,  '  Nothing ;  you  would  not  think  it  funny.' 

"  He  was  also  fond  of  law,  and  of  courts,  and  causes — of  whatever 
kind  they  might  be.  I  have  known  him  spend  day  after  d  ly  in  our 
courts,  listening  to  cases  (civil,  not  criminal  cases,)  which  every  body 
else  who  could,  would  shnh.«  sHe  often  came  to  my  office,  where  my 
partners  would  be  amused  at  his  asking  for  the  printed  cases,  in  any 
suits  going  on.  which  he  would  devour  for  hours  at  a  time.     These 


600  CONTEMPT   FOK   CONVENTIONS.  [1845. 

ca«03  consist  of  the  jileadings,  such  testimony  as  is  important  to  be  laid 
before  the  higher  court,  the  charge  of  the  judge,  and  the  points  of  law 
relied  upon  by  the  lawyers  on  either  side. 

"  He  was  very  fond  of  attending  trials  in  which  Mr.  O'Conor  was 
engaged,  and  said  he  was  a  man  of  genius.  He  said  it  was  delightful 
to  be  thoroughly  convinced  by  the  argument  of  the  counsel  who  first 
spoke,  and  then  to  be  convinced  of  precisely  tlie  opposite.  He  said 
juries  should  have  several  days  before  being  called  on  to  render  their 
verdict. 

"  He  had  a  sovereign  contempt  for  the  usual  ways  of  doing  things 
by  societies  and  associations,  where  there  was  no  direct  object  in  view. 
I  recollect  a  humorous  article  he  wrote  about  conventions,  in  which  he 
gave  pretended  reports  of  the  rag-pickers'  convention,  etc.  I  think  this 
was  a  great  mistake;  for  there  is  nothing  which  so  aids  people  engaged 
in  the  same  thing  as  to  learn  how  others  do  it.  You,  no  doubt,  know 
how  terribly  severe  he  used  to  be  on  the  use  of  big  words  where  com- 
mon, small  ones  would  answer — such  as  commence  for  begin,  converse 
for  talk ;  et  id  omnc  genus.  I  intended  to  mention  the  satisfaction  he 
took  in  listening  to  preaching,  however  stupid  to  me,  provided  it  was 
not  pretentious.  He  was  ofien  thrown  in  the  way  of  hearing  an  old 
minister  who  had  to  leave  the  ministry  because  no  one  could  stand  his 
long,  tedious  sermons.  I  have  frequently  laughed  at  the  attention  he 
paid  this  old  gentleman,  and  the  pleasure  he  expressed  on  coming 
home. 

"I  doubt  whether  he  ever  thought  whether  anything  was  whole- 
some, or  unwholesome,  or  whether  it  was  imprudent  to  sit  in  a 
draught,  or  drink  ice-water  when  heated.  He  constantly  said  that  he 
rejoiced  that  he  did  not  know  enough  about  anatomy  to  be  alarmed 
when  he  was  ill,  or  be  in  pain  lest  it  should  prove  a  vital  organ.  Per- 
haps a  little  more  attention  to  these  things  might  have  lengthened  his 
life." 

The  account  given  in  this  communication  of  Mr.  Alexan- 
der's mode  of  study  when  prej^aring  his  great  Commentary,  is 
confirmed  by  other  evidence.  His  seclusion  was  more  uninter- 
rupted than  ever,  and  his  rapid  movements  in  his  room,  from 
window  to  window  and  backwards  and  forwards  over  the  floor, 
which  were  in  plain  view  of  the  streat,  excited  much  attention 
and  remark.  What  could  it  mean  ?  Was  the  professor  taking 
exercise  ?  or  was  it  only  one  of  his  freaks  of  fancy — one  of  his 


^T.  30.]  A   BUSY   BIOGEAPHEE.  601 

comical  vagaries  in  the  way  of  diversion  ?     But  there  was  no 
concealment  of  bis  pur2^oses.     Dr.  Gosman  wn-ites  : 

"When  I  first  entered  Lis  study,  ho  was  hnsy  with  his  great 
exegetical  labours  upon  Isaiah  ;  and  every  available  spot  seemed  to  be 
occupied  with  the  works  of  the  great  autliors,  ancient  and  modern, 
upon  that  book.  Ills  thorough  conscientiousness  led  him  to  verify 
every  reference  he  made.  I  cannot  vouch  for  the  truth  of  the  story 
prevalent  among  us  students  at  the  time,  that  some  brother  minister, 
looking  around  upon  the  massive  folios  lying  open  for  reference,  gird- 
ling the  whole  room,  began  to  deplore  the  great  misfortune  which  the 
learned  professor  had  suffered,  in  liaving  so  many  valuable  books  wet- 
ted and  damaged,  but  can  easily  believe  it  true."  * 

The  Cappadocian  Society  changed  greatly  in  its  character 
in  after  years,  being  reduced  to  a  mere  club  of  children  who 
sat  round  Dr.  Alexander's  green-morocco  table,  and  talked 
nonsense  with  him  and  for  him.  Its  sessions  seemed  to  afford 
him  much  refreshment,  and  his  little  scholars  not  a  little  merri- 
ment. He  was  one  of  the  busiest  of  biographers.  He  made  it 
a  point  to  write  the  life  of  each  member,  and  loved  to  make 
odd  puns  on  each  name.  The  boys  and  girls  he  seated  upon 
his  settee,  contenting  himself  with  a  hard-backed  chair.  He 
used  to  tell  me  a  boy  could  not  study  in  an  easy-chair,  or  in  a 
lounging  position ;  that  it  was  useless  to  try ;  that  it  was  well 
if  the  chair  was  a  little  rough  and  uncomfortable,  for  it  then  acted 
as  a  spur  to  industry.  He  seemed  to  be  in  earnest  when  he 
said  this,  though  he  may  have  been  in  fun.  Some  of  his  best 
stories  were  matured  and  told  at  these  meetings.  He  spent 
much  time  in  plaj-fully  satirizing  the  little  follies  and  weak- 
nesses of  his  pupils ;  but  only  for  the  purpose  of  correcting 
these  bad  habits  in  them,  and  in  such  a  manner  as  to  cause  the 
blooming  creatures  to  love  him  all  the  more. 

At  one  time  he  had  a  favourite  seat  under  two  large  willows, 
on  the  east  side  of  his  father's  house,  which  lie  called  Picca- 
dilly ;  and  he  would  take  his  little  playfellows  with  him  there, 

*  This  account  is  literally  true. 
26 


602  INTRODUCTION    TO    ISAIAII.  11846. 

and  sometimes  read,  and  sometimes  puzzle  them  with  dark 
sayings,  and  tell  them  stories,  and  make  fun  for  them  in  vari- 
ous ways.  He  had  a  door  cut  in  the  wall  communicating  with 
this  spot.  A  Baltimore  oriole  had  its  nest  in  one  of  these 
trees,  and  he  and  the  bird  picked  up  quite  an  acquaintance,  and 
he  became  really  fond  of  it.  Either  the  same  or  another  oriole 
frequented  the  spot  for  several  successive  summers.  Another  of 
his  resorts  had  been  "  the  mound  "  at  the  Breckinridge  House. 
The  spacious  yard  there  had  enabled  him  to  take  more  exer- 
cise than  he  was  wont  to  do  elsewhere.  There  were  children, 
too,  on  every  side  of  him.  His  brother's  return  to  Princeton 
subsequently  threw  him  once  more  among  the  former  scenes, 
but  the  faces  that  had  then  beamed  on  him  were  gone, 

"  And  the  names  he  loved  to  hear 
Had  been  carved,  for  many  a  year, 
On  the  tomb.'' 

There  are  no  joui-nals  of  this  year.  In  their  absence,  the 
following  letter  from  Mr.  Alexander  to  his  eldest  brother  may 
o-ive  an  insight  into  his  thoughts,  now  that  he  was  just  on  the 
eve  of  publishing. 

"PiuNCETON,  February  lOth,  1846. 
"  My  Dear  Brother  : 

"  In  my  Introduction  to  Isaiah,  with  which  I  am  now  busietl,  I  wisli 
to  correct  the  use  of  Lowth's  theory  of  Hebrew  poetry,  by  sliowing 
that  the  peculiarities  which  he  insists  upon  exist,  to  some  extent,  in 
the  animated  prose  of  all  languages.  You  can  help  me  in  this  by  get- 
ting down  the  names  of  a  few  writers,  ancient  and  modern,  in  wlioni 
you  think  there  is  the  nearest  approach  to  tlie  Hebrew  manner.  A 
welcome  addition  (if  you  could  make  it  without  search  or  labour), 
would  be  that  of  a  few  examples  of  parallelism  and  strophical  arrange- 
ment in  prose.  Of  the  last,  I  have  as  yet  no  examples,  except  those 
furnished  by  the  French  preachers,  when  they  end  a  number  of  suc- 
cessive paragraphs  with  a  text,  as  a  kind  of  burden  or  refrain.    *     * 

Yours, 

J.  A.  Alexander." 

About  the  middle  of  the  month,  Mr.  Alexander  was  re- 


^T.36.]  HAED    WOEK.  603 

freshed  by  a  visit  from  his  brother  James,  who  had  rmi  down 
from  New  York.  These  meetings  of  the  brothers,  after  ab- 
sence, were  marked  by  all  the  Avarmth  of  a  friendship  that  was 
not  susceptible  of  decrease  or  change,  and  all  the  unaffected 
carelessness  of  an  intercourse  that  was  restrained  by  none  of 
the  conventional  formalities  and  restiictions.  When  the  New 
York  pastor  was  able  to  slip  away  from  his  visiting  list,  and  his 
study  in  White  Street,  to  the  jileasures,  not  found  elsewhere, 
of  a  night  under  his  father's  roof,  his  spirits  rose,  his  merry  face 
beamed,  and.  his  sonorous  voice  rang  from  cellar  to  tile.  Every 
one  at  his  lather's  experienced  something  of  the  same  glow. 
The  old  people  were  in  a  glee,  and  the  two  brothers  who  had 
been  separated  often,  became  as  hilarious  as  if  they  had  drunk 
wine  ;  though  they  had  taken  nothing  but  water. 

The  following  pleasant  letter  to  his  brother  shows  that  he 
was  just  about  to  print  his  Isaiah.  It  seems  the  celebrated 
"  Introduction  "  to  this  volume  was  not  the  offspring  of  pain- 
less idleness : 

"  February  24tb,  1846. 
"My  Dear  Beother: 

"I  have  bound  myself  to  bring  out  a  volume  of  Isaiah  in  a  few 
weeks,  and  am  still  over  bead  and  ears  in  my  "  Introduction,"  which 
lias  cost  me  an  amount  of  labor  out  of  all  proportion  to  its  length  and 
value.  I  can  keep  myself  at  work  only  by  giving  up  every  thing  else. 
As  to  leanness  (metaphorical  of  course),  I  am  a  skeleton  to  you,  who 
always  can  do  more  the  more  you  Iiave  to  do,  and  do  it  better. 

I  am  on  the  point  of  printing  my  "Introduction,"  with  running 
titles  in  the  lateral  margin,  after  the  old  fashion  still  retained  by  Ban- 
croft and  Pre.^cott.  This  is  intended  partly  to  save  room,  and  avoid 
tiie  common  American  method  of  enumerated  sections;  partly  to 
gratify  a  typographical  penchant  of  my  own.  If  you  think  it  unad- 
visable  for  any  reason,  I  should  be  thankful  for  a  Lint  to  that  effect. 

Yours  truly, 

J.  A.  A." 

The  volume  on  tho  earlier  prophecies  of  Isaiah  was  now 
ready  for  the  public  ;  having  gone  from  the  author's  hands  into 
those  of  the  printer.  It  was  awaited  with  much  anxiety, 
especially  by  the  city  pastor. 


604  OEIGIN   OF   WOKK   ON   LSAIAH.  [1846. 

On  the  24th  of  March,  Dr.  James  Alexander  tells  Dr.  Hall 
that  "  Addison's  first  volume  [Isaiah]  is  all  '  in  hands '  and  daily 
expected."  *     And  on  the  8th  of  April  he  writes,  "  I  this  day 
corrected  the  title-page  of  Addison's  book."     Very  soon  after 
this,  the  portly  book  was  given  to  the  public.     It  was  issued 
from  the  press  of  Wiley  &  Putnam.     Its  appearance  had  been 
delayed  by  various  causes,  and  especially  by  its  author's  growing 
sense  of  the  difficulty  of  the  undertaking,  and  of  his  own  incapaci- 
ty to  do  it  justice,  together  with  a  natural  reluctance  to  confess 
how  little  after  all  had  been  accomplished,  f    The  idea  and  plan 
of  this  work  struck  his  mind  about  the  year  1835,  and  he  at 
once  set  about  the  collection  of  his  materials.     During  the  next 
few  years,  it  was  Avholly,  and  some  parts  of  it  repeatedly,  re- 
duced to  writing.     About  the  year  1842,  he  found  the  difficul- 
ties of  the  nndertaking  so  great  that  he  laid  the  work  aside, 
determining  to  publish  first  upon  the  minor  prophets  ;  and  did 
actually  j^repare  a  commentary  upon  Obadiah,  and  gathered 
materials  for  the  remainder  of  the  task.     In    1843,  he  again 
took  up  the  Isaiah,  and  M'orked  upon  it  steadily  until  it  was  com- 
pleted.    From  this  statement,  meagre  as  it  is,  the  reader  can 
form  a  pretty  correct  notion  of  the  nature  and  extent  of  his 
studies,  during  the  years  in  which  this  work  was  in  progress. 
*'  Often,"  says  his  brother  Samuel,  "  have  I  seen  him  with  from 
ten  to  twenty  volumes  open  before  him,  which  he  consulted, 
one  after  another,  in  order  to  discover  the  views  of  different 
Avriters  on  the  particular  passage  under  consideration ;  and  so 
remarkable  Avas  his  memory,  that  Avhen  he  began  to  write,  he 
had  no  occasion  to  refer  to  these  authors,  but  would,  seriatim, 
give  their  opinions  and  answer  them  mrrente  calamoy 

Speaking  of  his  memory,  the  same  brother  assures  me  that 
Mr.  Alexander  could  announce  the  Christian  name  and  middle 
letter  of  every  one  of  the  old  graduates  of  the  Seminary,  if  only 
the  surname  were  given  him. 

I  have  known  him  to  do  something  perhaps  as  surprising 
as  even  that.     He  has  submitted  jocularly  to  my  examination, 

*  Fam.  Letters,  Vol.  XL  p.  49.  f  See  his  Preface   p.  vii. 


^T.  36.]  FEATS    OF   MEMOEY.  605 

and  told  me  without  hesitation  wliere  he  was,  and  what  he 
was  doing,  on  any  day  of  any  year  I  chose  to  name.  This  was 
when  I  was  a  boy,  and  one  of  his  private  pupils.  He  spolce  on 
tlie  instant ;  except  in  a  few  cases,  when  he  would  say,  "Let  me 
see !  "  and  would  make  a  pause,  but  never  a  very  long  one.  My 
impression  is,  that  he  restricted  the  examination  to  certain  par- 
ticular years  (including  his  first  journey  in  Eurojie);  but  am  not 
quite  sure  tJiat  there  was  any  restriction  at  all.  I  have  no  recol- 
lection that  he  ever  made  a  mistake.  He  would  also  consent 
to  be  catechized  about  the  kings  and  queens  of  ancient  or  mod- 
ern Europe,  having  previously  familiarized  himself  with  certain 
lists  or  tables  of  'his  own  construction.  lie  would  usually 
(perhaps  invariably)  have  it  in  his  power  to  tell  the  name  of 
the  king  or  sovereign,  together  with  the  exact  dates  of  his 
birth  and  death,  or,  perhaps,  of  his  coronation  and  chief 
exploits.  This  used  to  fill  me  with  wonder ;  but  it  was  not 
moi'e  strange  than  other  feats  of  his  of  the  same  kind.  He 
would  examine  his  class  in  the  Seminary  on  the  minutest  de- 
tails of  Greek  and  Hebrew  scholarship,  with  a  raj^idity  and 
cleanness  of  finish  that  put  one  in  mind  of  the  machinery  in  a 
l^in-or-needle  factory.  No  one  w^as  ever  known  to  trip  him 
But  the  grandest  triumph  of  his  memory  was  the  ease  and  per- 
fection with  which  it  grasped  all  the  extant  comments  on  Isaiah. 
I  have  heard  him  say,  rejoeatedly,  and  in  the  most  natural  and 
modest  wpij,  that  he  had  a  remarkable  faculty  for  "  remem- 
bering trains  of  thougM.''''  Little  did  I  know,  at  the  time,  that 
it  was  a  part  of  his  meaning  that  he  could  swee^D  thirty  or 
forty  volumes  Avith  liis  eye,  and  then  reproduce  the  gist  of 
them,  without  need  of  further  reference,  and  without  danger 
of  confusion  or  mistake.  While  on  his  sick  bed  he  told  a 
friend  that  he  had  the  whole  book  of  Matthew  constantly 
spread  out  before  his  mind.  He  has  told  me  he  often  carried 
a  sermon  in  this  way,  and  that  he  has  recovered  the  whole 
train  of  ideas  without  omitting  a  sentence,  though  without 
care  or  wish  to  reproduce  the  very  words.  He  was  a  prodigy 
of  exactness  in  his  recollection  of  dates:  though  he  showed 
his  wisdom  by  undervaluing  the  gift  in  others.     He  used  to  say 


606  FEATS    OF   MEMOEY.  [1846. 

that  the  essential  thing  was  relative  not  absolute  chronology ; 
and  that  history  might  be  written  intelligibly  in  a  descriptive 
way,  without  a  particular  date  being  given.  He,  however, 
greatly  vexed  the  souls  of  the  feeble-minded  in  the  Seminary 
with  the  innumerable  "  periodologies  "  of  the  German  histori- 
ographers. 

Another  instance  of  his  power  of  memory  occurs  to  me  as 
I  write.  It  was  his  invariable  exactness  in  hitting  the  right 
word,  in  his  lectures,  and  especially  in  his  prayers,  and  in  his 
more  elaborate  stoi'ies.  His  lectures  were,  of  course,  carefully 
thought  out,  and  no  doubt  many  of  the  important  sentences 
Avere  in  his  mind  when  he  went  into  the  class-room;  but  his 
prayers  in  the  family  circle  were  offered  twice  in  the  day,  and 
were  indefinitely  varied  as  to  the  language,  which  must  have 
been,  in  large  part,  the  prompting  of  the  occasion.  Yet  any 
one  of  them  might  have  been  stereotyped  at  once.  This  con- 
summate knowledge  and  choice  of  the  English  vocables  im- 
plied a  faculty  of  recollection  of  the  most  tenacious  grasp  and 
the  utmost  readiness. 

One  of  his  students  writes: 

"  Tlie  minute  accuracy  of  Lis  memory,  extending  to  the  smallest 
diversity  of  punctuation  or  accent  in  different  editions,  contrasted  in  a 
remarkable  manner  with  his  grand  comprehensive  views,  and  his  bold, 
sweeping,  but  philosophic  genei'alizations.  His  statement  tlirew  a 
broad,  strong  light  over  tlie  whole  subject ;  and  then  every  obscure  or 
doubtful  point  was  placed  in  ibe  focus  of  a  powerful  lens,  which  re- 
vealed every  line,  and  detected  every  flaw,  even  the  slightest  or  the 
finest.  Not  nnfrequently  he  held  the  book  unopened,  and  would  con- 
duct the  entire  examination  with  his  eyes  closed.  When,  in  the  rapid 
mode  of  his  questioning,  he  would  pass  from  student  to  student,  and  to 
the  ditferent  parts  of  the  lesson,  it  was  truly  astonishing  how  lie  would 
prompt  and  correct,  from  memory,  the  hesitation  and  blunders  of 
tiiose  who  were  intently  looking  upon  the  page,  and  on  the  alert  to 
keep  pace  with  him.  Tliis  prompt  and  rapid  method  possesse;!  the  ad- 
vantage of  securing  the  attention,  and  exciting  to  constant  activity  the 
facuHies  of  some,  while  it  served  to  confuse  and  embarrass  the  minds 
of  the  slower  and  more  diffident." 


^T-  37.]  FEATS  OF  MEMOEY.  607 

When  I  was  a  boy,  he  used  to  say  to  me  unexpectedly  in 
the  midst  of  other  conversation,  "JSTow  I  am  going  to  talk 
without  thinking!"  and  would  proceed  incontinently  to  pour 
out  the  most  harmonious  periods  that  contained  not  one  sylla- 
ble of  sense.  I  was  overwhelmed  with  torrents  of  strange 
words  and  incongruous  images.  He  would  then  suddenly 
break  out  laughing,  as  if  to  himself;  having  probably  begun  to 
think  again.  He  seemed  to  have  the  power  of  suspending  his 
reason  and  giving  a  free  rein  to  his  fancy  and  memory.  These 
toiD-s  de  force  which  I  witnessed  in  my  childhood,  have  con- 
vinced me  that  he  could  produce  such  pieces  as  the  "  Fandango 
of  Osiris  "  almost  automatically, 

Mr.  Alexander  committed  to  memory,  with  ease,  entire 
books  of  the  Hebrew  and  English  Bibles,  and  if  he  had  set  him- 
self to  the  task,  I  do  not  doubt  in  the  least  that  he  could  have 
committed  the  whole  of  either.  This  verbal  mastery  of  the 
original  Scriptures  has  been  thought  wonderful  in  the  case  of 
eminent  learned  Jews.  Several  ancients  and  moderns  have 
got  the  poems  of  Homer  by  heart.  A  Roman  priest,*  it  is  said, 
could  begin  at  a  designated  line  of  one  of  the  Italian  poets  and 
recite  a  hundred  lines,  backwards  or  forwards  according  to  the 
caprice  of  his  listener.  There  is  a  gentleman  connected  with 
one  of  the  Chinese  missions,  who  can  do  something  of  this  sort 
with  several  of  the  Latin  classics.  Dugald  Stewart  somewhere 
tells  the  story  of  a  French  marquis,  who  made  a  hand-book  of 
France  from  recollection,  describing  every  chateau  in  the  king- 
dom. There  is  a  little  uncertainty  hanging  over  the  fact  in  some 
of  these  and  the  like  cases.  There  are  some  things,  however,  of 
this  nature  which  are  incontestable.  When  Macaulay  was 
caught  tripping  in  a  line  of  the  "Paradise  Lost,"  Prescott  says, 
he  came  back  a  few  days  after  with  a  book  in  his  hand  and  the 
light  of  triumph  in  his  eye:  "I  do  not  think,"  quoth  the  his- 
torian, "  that  you  will  catch  me  tripping  in  the  Paradise  again  ; " 
and  Prescott  says,  they  did  not.f     The  Cardinal  Mezzofanti 

*  See  Life  of  Mezzofanti.         f  See  Life  of  Prescott,  by  Ticknor. 


608  POWER    OF   MEMOEY.  [1846. 

had  an  all  but  miraculous  remembrance  of  entire  dictionaries 
and  grammars.* 

*  Professor  John  S.  Hart  has  kindly  permitted  me  to  see  the  advance  sheets 
of  bis  work ^  entitled  " The  Schooh-oom,"  from  which  I  select  the  following 
extract.  The  anecdote  about  Mr.  Alexander  I  had  heard  before,  and  Dr- 
Hodge  vouches  substantially  for  it,  in  his  reminiscences  of  his  departed  col- 
league : 

"  A  distinction  is  to  be  made  between  memory  as  a  power  of  the  mind  and 
the  remembrance  of  particular  facts.  One  or  two  examples  will  illustrate  this 
difference.  The  late  Dr.  Addison  Alexander,  of  the  Theological  Seminary  at 
Princeton,  had  memory  as  an  intellectual  power  to  a  degree  almost  marvellous. 
The  following  instance  may  be  cited.  On  one  occasion,  a  large  class  of  forty 
or  fifty  were  to  be  matriculated  in  the  Seminary,  in  the  presence  of  the  Faculty. 
The  ceremony  of  matriculation  was  very  simple.  The  professors  and  the  new 
students  being  all  assembled,  in  a  large  hall,  each  student  in  turn  presented 
himself  before  the  professors,  had  his  credentials  examined  by  them,  and  if  the 
same  proved  satisfactory,  entered  his  name  in  full,  and  his  residence,  in  the 
register.  When  the  matriculation  was  complete,  and  the  students  bad  retired, 
there  was  some  bantering  among  the  professors  as  to  which  of  them  should 
take  the  register  home  and  prepare  from  it  an  alphabetical  roll — a  work 
always  considered  rather  tedious  and  irksome.  After  a  little  hesitation,  Dr. 
Alexander  said,  "  There  is  no  need  of  taking  the  register  home ;  I  will  make 
the  roll  for  you  ;"  and,  taking  a  sheet  of  paper,  at  once,  from  memory,  with- 
out referring  to  the  register,  and  merely  from  having  heard  the  names  as  they 
were  recorded,  proceeded  to  make  out  the  roll,  giving  the  names  in  full,  and 
giving  them  in  their  alphabetical  order.  This  was  a  prodigious  feat  of  pure 
memory ;  for  in  order  to  make  the  alphabetical  arrangement  in  his  mind,  before 
committing  it  to  paper,  be  must  have  had  the  entire  mass  of  names  present  in 
his  mind  by  a  single  act  of  the  will.  Some  of  the  wonderful  games  of  chess 
performed  by  Paul  Morphy  are  dependent  in  part  upon  a  similar  power  of 
memory,  by  which  the  player  is  enabled  to  keep  present  in  his  mind,  without 
seeing  the  board,  a  long  series  of  complicated  evolutions,  past  as  well  as  pro- 
spective and  possible.     The  same  is  true  of  every  great  military  strategist. 

"In  all  these  cases,  there  is  an  act  of  pure  memory  ;  a  direct  and  positive 

-  power  of  summoning  into  the  mind  its  past  experiences,  such  as  can  only  take 

place  where,  either  by  natural  gift  or  by  special  training,  the  memory  as  a 

faculty  of  the  mind  is  in  a  high  state  of  vigour.     But  there  are  other  cases,  in 

which  a  man  is  enabled  to  recall  a  great  number  of  particular  facts  by  a 

1  "The  Schoolroom;  or,  Chapters  on  the  Thilosophy  of  Eilucation."  By  John  S. 
Hart,  LL.D.,  Trincipal  of  Ncvr  Jersey  State  Normal  School.  Eldrcdgc  &  Brother,  17  & 
19  South  Sixth  Street,  Philadelphia,  Pa.     pp.  59,  CO. 


^''•S7]  FEATS    OF  MEMOET.  609 

I  have  not  the  data  to  go  upon  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Alexan- 
der, which  would  authorize  me  to  say  he  could  do  any  of  the 
particular  things  just  described,  that  have  been  so  much 
lauded  in  others ;  nor  would  I  venture  to  say  he  was  equal  to 
any  one  of  the  great  prodigies  of  memory  of  Avhom  we  read 
accredited  accounts ;  but  it  is  within  bounds  to  allege,  that  his 
mind  wa§_  one  of  this  rare  and  surprising  class.  It  must  be 
considered,  how  little  time  he  had  for  efforts  of  this  character  ; 
and  how  opposed  he  was  to  every  kind  of  pedantry  and  vain 
show.  He  committed  nothing  to  memory  for  the  m^re  sake  of 
the  feat ;  but  he  had  committed  to  momory  the  inflections,  and 
syntax,  and  multitudes  of  the  words  and  phrases,  of  certainly 
twenty-four  languages  without  counting  English.  He  had  his 
past  life  always  lying  before  him  in  a  bird's-eye  view,  which  in- 
cluded each  separate  day  for  months  and  years  together.  He 
could  recite  whole  catalogues  of  names,  without  omitting  an 
initial ;  he  could  repeat  the  express  words  of  a  lengthened  con- 
versation, days  after  it  had  taken  place,  and  even  the  discon- 
nected and  broken  s'entences  he  had  heard  in  a  night-journey  in 
the  cars;  he  could  read  a  heavy  volume  in  a  strange  tongue,  and 
then  sit  down  and  give  a  digest  of  every  chapter,  and  almost 
every  jDaragraph ;  and  he  could  write  voluminously  for  hours, 
and  then  repeat  blindfold  what  he  had  written.  "  He  would," 
says  Dr.  Jones,  of  Bridgton  "  at  the  opening  of  a  new  session, 
call  the  roll  of  a  class  comprehending,  it  may  be,  forty  or  iiffcy 
new  students,  and  from  that  day  onward,  each  name  and  face 
Avas  known  to  him."  A  gentleman  who  has  favoured  me  with 
many  reminiscences  offers  the  following  apology  for  his  own  '' 
seeming  extravagance  : 

"  To  one  not  knowing  Dr.  Alexander  as  I  did,  my  estimate  of  liim 
may  seem  extravagant,  and  I  should  suspect  myself  of  bias,  did  I  not 
remember  that  far  better  judges  than  myself  rate  him  quite  as  Li-h  as 


species  of  artifice  or  trick,  which  does  not  imply  any  special  mental  power,  and 
the  study  of  which  does  not  tend,  in  any  marked  degree,  to  develop  such 
power." 

26* 


610  GRATEFUL   EMPLOTIMENTS.  [IS^ 

I  have  done ;  and  that  it  was  precisely  the  ripest  scholars,  and  the 
choicest  minds  among  his  students,  who  carried  away  from  the  Semi- 
nary, and  who  liave  since  retained,  the  strongest  impression  of  his  truly 
extraordinary  powers;  and  who  will  ever  regard  him  as  unrivalled  in 
his  generation,  in  the  original  strength  and  compass  of  his  mind,  and  in 
the  variety,  value,  and  thoroughness  of  his  acquirements/' 

The  following  letter  is  to  his  brother  James,  Jwd  was  in- 
tended to  accompany,  or  rather  succeed,  a  presentation  copy 
of  the  new  work : 

"  Peixcetox,  May  lltli,  1846. 
"  My  Dear  Brother  : 

"I  judge  from  the  complaisance  of  your  remarks,  that  II.  did  not 
forget  to  present  you  with  a  copy  of  Isaiah  'from  the  author.'  Will 
you  urge  him  to  send  me  on  two  copies  by  the  first  private  hand,  and, 
if  possible,  this  week.  I  wish  to  make  a  sacrifice  of  one  or  two  copies 
to  foreign  missions,  and  at  the  same  time  discharge  an  old  debt  by 
acknowL'dging  several  presents  of  books  from  former  pupils  now  'in 
the  field.'  My  only  creditors  in  this  way  are,  Joseph  Owen,  John  E. 
Freeman,  and  Walter  M.  Lowrie — the  last  on  a  very  small  scale;  the 
fiirst  to  the  amount  of  several  valuable  works;  and  the  second  by  sev- 
eral valuable  remittances,  including  a  very  curious  copy  of  the  Koran, 
which  I  think  you  have  inspected.  I  overlook  the  smallncss  of 
Lowrie's  claim,  in  consideration  of  his  superior  ability  to  profit  by  the 
book,  and  make  it  useful, 

"  Yours, 

"J.  A.  A." 

He  kept  up  his  old  interest  in  little  girls,  and  taught  them 
as  well  as  boys.  One  of  his  favourite  topics  with  them  was 
French ;  another  was  history,  especially  as  related  to  geo- 
graphy and  chronology,  and  to  the  study  of  human  character 
and  motives.  He  made  his  lessons  easy  and  delightful,  and 
mingled  them  with  free  conversation  and  stories.  There  are 
many  who  recur  to  these  hours  spent  wdth  the  terrible  profes- 
sor, with  a  sense  of  grateful  obligation. 

A  lady  of  Virginia  who  enjoyed  his  instructions  for  a  time, 
though  at  a  later  period,  and  who  has  been  fortunate  in  her 
intellectual  guides,  has  told   me  that  when  teaching  her  his- 


^T.37.]  PEIVATE   ESrSTEUCTIOE-S.  611 

tory  and  chronology  he  never  made  use  of  a  text-book,  and 
displayed  that  thorough  acquaintance  with  the  whole  subject 
which  his  reputation  for  learning  might,  indeed,  have  led 
her  to  expect,  but  which,  notwithstanding,  could  not  fail 
to  strike  one  with  astonishment  and  admiration.  She  goes 
on  to  say : 

"He  gave  these  lessons  during  the  few  hours  of  leisure  left  from 
other  engagements  and  studies;  and  yet  never  was  he  at  a  loss, 
among  the  longest  lists  of  kings  and  emperors,  either  for  a  name  or  a 
date.  By  this  living  treatment  of  the  subject,  where  the  teacher  acted 
as  a  substitute  for  the  silent  book— and  more  than  a  substitute  (for  he 
was  a  speaking  compendium  of  many  books),  even  the  dry  bones  of 
chronology  assumed  shapely  and  attractive  forms;  so  that  his  pupil 
made  easy  and  pleasurable  progress. 

"  What  tended  still  further  to  relieve  the  monotony  of  recitation, 
was  the  occasional  outburst  of  that  wonderful  flow  of  humour  which 
so  distinguished  him.  This  was  the  natural  rebound  and  relief  of  that 
severe  intellectual  tension  demanded  by  a  studious  and  thoughtful  life. 
The  eftect  was  necessarily  heightened  by  the  striking  contrast  such 
pleasantries  presented  to  his  well-known  attainments  and  profound 
learning." 

The  work  on  the  earlier  Prophecies  of  Isaiah  .was  published 
early  in  May.  If  not  the  noblest  product  of  his  genius,  it  is 
certainly  the  most  imposing  monument  to  his  industry.  It  is 
not  and  was  not  designed  to  be  a  popular  commentary,  but 
an  original  and  exhaustive  exhibition  of  the  bare  sense  of  the 
prophet,  and  a  confutation  of  the  sciolists  who  have  marred 
that  sense  or  obscured  it. 

It  does  not  come  within  the  scope  of  these  personal  me- 
moirs to  attempt  any  elaborate  critique  upon  the  Isaiah.  It 
is  everywhere  conceded  to  be  one  of  the  most  important  con- 
tributions, if  not  the  one  most  important  contribution,  to  the 
study  of  the  Hebrew  prophets  and  especially  of  the  sou  of 
Amoz,  that  has  been  made  since  the  days  of  Vitringa.  This  is 
certainly  the  opinion  of  some  in  Scotland,  France,  and  America; 
and  there  are  many  who  place  this  work  far  above  all  others 
on  this  subject,  not  excepting  that  of  Calvin.    Dr.  Alexander's 


612  APPEAEAlfCE  OF  WOEK  ON  EAELLER  PEOPHECIES.  [1816. 

work  is  confessedly  superior  to  the  Geneva  Reformer's  on  the 
score  of  verbal  exegesis  and  the  visible  display  of  ancient  and 
modern  learning,  while  it  is  deemed  at  least  equal  to  it  on  the 
score  of  logical  oohei-ence.  La  JReformation,  the  organ  and 
vehicle  of  some  of  the  finest  continental  scholarship,  noticed 
its  first  appearance  in  terms  of  exalted  encomium,  and  testified 
that  its  author  had  shown  himself  master  of  the  entire  German 
literature  of  his  subject.*  Dr.  Eadie,  his  eminent  British  editor, 
in  a  most  able  introduction  to  the  volume  (in  which  every  pre- 
vious and  sound  writer  on  Isaiah  receives  what  was  fitting  in 
the  way  of  measured  praise),  places  Dr.  Addison  Alexander, 
of  Princeton,  above  them  all,  not  even  excepting  Vitringa 
and  Calvin  :  though  Dr.  Eadie  is  exceedingly  cautious  and 
discriminating  in  his  statements.  In  Germany,  and  among 
the  Jews,  Alexander  on  Isaiah  is  admired  wherever  known. 
Dr.  SchafF  tells  me  it  is  the  fate  of  all  modern  commentaries 
to  be  little  known  in  Germany  unless  exhibited  in  a  German 
dress. 

His  correspondence,  never  copious,  may  now  furnish  us  a 
few  hints.  The  subjoined  letter  to  Dr.  Hall  is  on  the  usual 
topic  of  "  ministerial  supplies."  He  closes  with  a  serio-comic 
reference  to  his  Isaiah,  about  which  his  friend  was  already 
fully  informed : 

*  *'  M.  de  Lengerke,  professeur  a  KcJnigsberg,  autenr  d'un  commentaire  siir 
Daniel,  a  public,  en  deux  volumes,  uuc  traduction  des  Psaumes  avec  un  com- 
mentaire. C'est  ici  le  lieu  de  ineutionner  anssi  une  explication  des  trente-neuf 
premiers  chapitres  d'Esaie  par  Alexander,  professeur  de  tbeologie  k  Princeton, 
aux  Etats-Unis.  Ce  fruit  de  I'erudition  americaine  nous  a  paru  remarquable, 
cntre  autres  par  la  connaissance  complete  dela  litterature  allemande  sur  Esaie, 
dont  I'auteur  fait  preuve,  soit  dans  le  commentaire  mt'me,  soit  dans  Tintroduc- 
tion  ou  il  cite  et  apprecie  tous  ses  pred6cesseurs.  OUo  de  Gerlach  a  donne  Ic 
second  volume  de  ses  notes  sur  I'Ancien  Testament,  qui  comprennent  mainte- 
nant  tous  les  livres  historiques.  AViner  a  commence  unc  nouvclle  edition  de 
son  dictionnaire  biblique. 

"  Nous  avons  enfin  i\  annoncer  les  premieres  livraisons  d'unc  dogmatique 
catholique  de  J.  Kuhn,  qui  aura  quatre  volumes.  La  troisieme  partie  de  I'Es- 
quisse  d'un  systeme  de  philosophic  de  J.-H.  Fichte  est  une  th6ologie  specula- 
tive et  apparticnt  h  la  philosophic  de  la  religion." — La  Reformation^  1847. 


iET.37.]  COEEESPOOT)EFCE.  613 

"  Peinceton,  April  17,  1846. 
"MyDeaeSie: 

"  The  consummation  wliicli  you  so  devoutly  wisli  for,  in  your  own 
case,  lias  been  virtually  realized  in  mine  :  that  is  to  say,  my  call  to  the 
ministry,  at  least  in  the  foreign  field,  has  expired,  or  been  suspended 
until  after  tbe  third  Thursday  of  May  instant.  But  in  consideration 
of  your  torpor,  both  intestinal  and  cerebral,  I  think  I  may  venture  to 
resume  my  functions  as  a  bishop  in  partihus  inficlelium  pro  Tide  vice 
(how  hard  it  is  to  stop  writing  Latin  when  we  begin) ;  I  will  therefore 
undertake  to  fill  your  pulpit  on  the  day  proposed,  provided  you  allow 
me  the  right  to  send  a  substitute,  should  I  find  myself  hard  pushed,  or 
even  morally  unable  to  attend  in  person.  To  this  indispensable  con- 
dition I  shall  understand  you  to  assent,  unless  I  hear  from  you  again ; 
at  the  same  time,  I  may  add,  for  your  encouragement,  that  my  present 
intention  is  to  come  m3'self,  and  that  if  I  send  a  substitute,  it  shall  be 
the  oldest  I  can  get ;  for  I  know,  with  sorrow,  your  unamiable  pre- 
judice against  the  young  and  rising  generation,  and  your  culpable 
backwardness  in  giving  them  an  opportunity  to  try  their  gifts.  If  any- 
thing should  happen  to  remove  the  necessity  of  my  assistance  (such  as 
the  arrival  of  a  Free-Church  minister,  a  seaman's  chaplain,  or  the  like), 
I  shall  be  very  far  from  counting  it  a  slight,  to  be  relieved  from  my  en- 
gagement until  better  times.  It  will,  no  doubt,  give  you  pleasure  to 
learn  that  I  have  made  up  my  mind  to  prepare  a  work  upon  Isaiah, 
for  which  I  liave  been  long  engaged  in  gathering  materials.  I  hope  to 
go  to  press  within  a  month ;  any  aid  in  the  way  of  subscriptions  or 
donations  will  be  thankfully  received ;  any  minister  obtaining  ten  sub- 
scribers will  be  entitled  to  a  copy  at  half-price — all  communications 
post-paid. 

"  Very  truly  yours, 
"J.  A.  Alexandee,  D.D.  F.A.  PS.  FGS.  M.  0." 


CHAPTER    XXI. 

The  niontli  of  June  was  filled  with  the  exciting  intelligence 
of  the  great  battles  in  Mexico  that  had  been  fought  in  May  un- 
der Taylor.  Mr.  Alexander  devoured  all  the  despatches,  and 
knew  the  geographical  and  strategical  bearings  of  every  one 
of  the  military  positions.  The  elder  brother's  diaries  are 
filled  with  excerpts  from  the  daily  papers  containing  the  de- 
spatches. 

The  commentator  now  threw  himself  with  all  his  heart  and 
soul  into  the  work  of  preparing  a  second  volume  of  his  Isaiah 
for  the  press.  He  was  now  writing  on  the  later  Prophecies. 
For  this  purpose  he  characteristically  sought  the  town.  He 
went  there  for  the  sights  and  the  noise.  He  had  also  another 
reason  which  is  thus  referred  to  by  his  brother,  in  a  letter  of 
July  22:  -'Addison  is  in  my  place  in  New  York,  but  for  no 
reason  but  that  he  may  have  more  perfect  seclusion  in  order 
to  complete  his  work.  He  has  finished  to  the  end  of  the  57  th 
chapter,  since  the  first  volume  was  published.  He  is  almost 
overwhelmed  by  it,  and  I  do  not  wonder  that  he  escapes  all 
engagements  when  he  can."  *  It  was  a  Herculean  task,  but  the 
author  bad  great  powers  and  an  indomitable  desire.  Some- 
times his  purpose  flagged ;  but  he  went  on,  and  at  length 
wrote  his  last  page.  There  were  moments  of  wavering,  when 
this  man  upon  the  mountain-toj)  needed  to  have  his  hands  up- 
held by  others,  but,  in  the  final  issue,  the  victory  over  all 
difficulties  was  achieved,  and  the  Amalek  of  German  infidelity 
was  overcome.  It  was  an  era  in  the  history  of  American  in- 
terpretation. The  heaviest  jjart  of  his  toil  had  been  gone  over 
already  in  Princeton. 

*  Fam.  Let.  Vol.  II.  p.  55. 


-Et.ST.]  rapid   work.  615 

The  commentary  was  flowing  rapiilly  from  his  pen.  He 
was  indeed  writing  under  great  difficulties.  Though  by  the 
almanac  the  summer  was  now  over,  the  weather  was  yet 
nearly,  or  quite,  as  oppressive  as  in  July.  There  was,  how- 
ever, a  perceptible  sea-breeze  towards  evening ;  gushes  of 
delicious  coolness  floating  inland,  from  the  Battery  at  fitful  in- 
tervals, and  reaching  as  far  as  Chambers  street,  where  the  ab- 
sorbed student  had  been  sitting  hour  by  hour,  denuded  often 
of  his  upper  vestment,  regardless  of  the  stifling  heat,  through  a 
number  of  weary  days,  or  drinking  in  the  whiffs  of  gracious 
oxygen,  and  crowding  all  his  enormous  energies  into  the  one 
task  of  putting  the  last  ink  on  his  Isaiah.  Fortunately  the 
niglits  were  comfortable  while  he  had  been  writing  at  this 
rate  of  speed.  Lope  de  Vega,  Balzac,  or  G.  P.  R,  James 
could  hardly  fill  a  page  in  shorter  time.  His  hand  moved  in- 
cessantly over  the  paper,  and  the  Av^et  sheets  (as  had  happened 
in  the  case  of  Scott  and  Wilson)  often  dropped  like  sibylline 
leaves  at  his  feet,  and  covered  a  large  space  on  the  floor.  The 
greater  part  of  the  work  had  been  done  in  the  noisy  soli- 
tude of  a  hotel  far  '  down-town.'  The  volume  was  made  from 
title-page  to  index  during  this  one  vacation.  Now  his  brother 
is  able  to  announce  to  Mr.  Hall,  "Addison  has  finished  his 
second  volume,  including  a  large  introduction." 

I  give  below  an  interesting  letter  to  his  mother : 

"83  White  St.,  New  Yoke,  July  27,  1846. 
"  Mx  Deae  Mother  : 

"I  have  just  got  through  the  secoud  Sunday  very  comfortably; 
having  preached  again  twice,  and  dined  agaiu  at  Mr.  Field's,  in 
Chambers  street.  Tliere  was  a  sudden  and  violent  shower  in  the 
afternoon,  just  at  the  hour  of  service,  which,  as  Peter  Taarlsen  says, 
'made  us  tinner.'  I  suppose  he  meant  the  audience,  for  I  grieve  to 
say,  that  no  such  effect  was  produced  upon  the  preacher.  The  time 
passes  here  like  a  dream.  I  write  all  day;  greatly  aided  by  the  noi^e 
and  letting  nobody  into  the  room,  even  when  they  get  into  the  house. 
Except  from  this  account  a  visit  from  John  Hall,  who  came  into  the 
study  just;  as  if  he  had  stepped  out  an  hour  before.  I  must  also  ex- 
cept a  visit  from  our  Hanoverian  friend  who  dined  with  you  last  win 


616  OTHER    OCCUPATIONS.  [1846. 

ter.  He  is  still  more  'imoournged,'  or  rather,  he  is  starring.  Going 
out  in  the  evening  is  deliglitful,  and  refreshes  me  completely.  I  see 
nothing  disagreeable  here,  even  at  this  season,  but  the  stench ;  and  that 
I  do  not  see  but  merely  smell.  I  have  not  suffered  in  the  least  from 
heat.     I  knou^  all  the  children  in  the  neighbourhood  by  sight,  but  am 

not  'personally  acquainted,'  as  old  Mr. snys,  when  he  introduces 

me  to  the  elders  and  deacons.  I  should  like  to  have  my  old  sum- 
mer co:it  brouglit  on  for  me  to  wear  in  the  house,  as  the  Roman  toga 
which  James  lent  me,  trips  up  my  heels  when  I  go  up  and  down  stairs. 
I  have  finished  chapter  fifty-nine,  and  have  but  seven  more  to  do. 
"With,  the  leave  of  Providence,  I  mean  to  see  the  end  of  it  before  I 
leave  New  York.  In  the  meantime,  honoured  madam,  I  remain  as 
ev^er, 

"  Your  loving  Son, 

"J.  A.  Alexander." 

Ouce  more  his  success  was  received  with  expressions  of 
praise  and  satisfaction  from  all  quarters  of  the  camp  of  Israel. 

These  Avere  days  of  enormous  intellectual  production ;  and 
notwithstanding  his  labours  on  Isaiah,  he  did  not  neglect  his 
class  duties,  or  his  sermons,  or  his  new  foreign  languages,  or 
his  excursions  among  the  bookshelves.  He  still  loved  to  open 
the  "  Green  Book "  (but  in  Arabic),  Abeu  Ezra,  and  the 
Targum  of  Onkelos,  or  of  Jonathan  ;  the  histories  of  IMariana 
and  Thiers ;  and  the  great  Latin  and  Greek  authors.  He 
stamped  his  image  and  superscription  upon  his  classes  in  the 
old  imperial  way. 

The  estimate  which  follows  is  from  the  Land  of  one  * 
whose  general  cultivation,  and  whose  competency  as  a  transla- 
tor from  the  German,  were  perceived  and  recognized  by  Mr. 
Alexander.  The  relations  between  them  were  those  merely 
which  subsist  between  teacher  and  pupil.  It  will  be  noticed, 
however,  that  the  writer  testifies  with  great  cordiality  to  his 
preceptor's  companionable  qualities. 

"He  will  always  be  to  me  an  object  of  admiration.     With  his  celi- 

*  The  late  Rev.  Edward  L.  Tcomans,  D.D.  of  Orange,  X.  J.  the  translator 
from  Kurtz  &  ScliafT. 


^T.37.]  PERSONAL   CHARACTEEISTICS.  61? 

bate,  solitary  ways,  he  was  so  communicative  and  social ;  with  his 
independence  and  severity  of  manner,  he  was  so  genial;  with  his  ab- 
horrence of  -uniformity — a  kind  of  perpetual  mental  discontent,  and 
what  his  students  often  felt  as  indecision  in  his  views,  or  non  commit- 
tal ;  he  was  still  so  uniform,  reliable,  and  true ;  and  he  could  keep  the 
routine  of  the  class-room  so  brimful  and  dripping  with  the  current  of 
iufurmation  and  thought,  as  fresh  in  substance  as  it  was  monotonous 
in  manner  and  flow  ;  that  he  will,  I  suspect,  always  be  the  most 
sharply  marked  character  of  all  the  famous  ones  of  his  time,  in  the 
memory  of  Princeton  students  ;  and  he  will  fall  behind  none  in  their 
affection. 

"He  was  a  strange  combination  of  the  solitary  and  the  genial, 
even  in  the  lecture-room.  Often  his  manner,  in  entering  the  room, 
delivering  his  lecture,  and  going  our,  was  automatic;  and  would  not 
suggest  the  presence  of  an  audience.  He  seemed  to  see  no  one.  His 
call  to  prayer,  as  soon  as  he  reached  the  desk,  waited  for  no  one.  He 
lectured  looking  on  a  book  and  turning  the  leaves  without  reading ;  with 
rapid,  monotonous  utterance,  regardless  of  hurrying  pens  and  aching 
fingers  and  half-caught  sentences  below.  And  he  stopped  so  short  at 
the  end  of  the  chapter  or  the  hour,  and  so  unceremoniously  left,  that 
we  sometimes  did  not  know  he  was  done  till  we  raised  our  heads 
from  our  greedy  notes,  and  saw  him  already  out  of  the  door." 

This  picture  is  as  true  as  it  is  grapliic. 

The  impression  made  upon  this  intelligent  hearer,  and  fas- 
tidious critic,  by  his  preaching,  and  which  is  conveyed  to  the 
reader  in  the  paragraph  now  about  to  be  given,  one  should 
say  was  derived  principally  from  his  efforts  in  the  seminary 
chapel ;  which  were  commonly  different  in  almost  every  respect 
from  those  which  so  often  enchanted  intellectual  audiences  in 
the  great  towns.  Sometimes  Dr.  Addison  Alexander  spoke 
exactly  in  the  way  here  described.  At  other  times  there  w^as 
less,  indeed  scarcely  any,  animation  or  visible  unction.  But 
there  were  times  when  the  whole  force  of  his  genius  and  fiery 
emotion  broke  upon  his  selectest  auditories  like  a  whirlwind, 
and  drove  them  before  him  like  chaff  upon  a  threshing  floor. 
His  grandest  exhibitions  of  this  character  were  in  Philadel- 
phia. There  he  often  bound  men  hand  and  foot  and  carriei 
them  whither  they  would  not.     "  Even  in  the  pulpit  the  same 


618  BEILLIANCY   IN   PULPIT.  0846. 

singular  combination  appeared.  His  body  was  stationary,  his 
voice  was  hardly  modulated,  his  gesture  not  much  more  than 
a  see-saw  of  the  right  arm,  his  features  were  without  play ; 
yet  body,  voice,  arm,  and  face  Avere  so  full  of  flowing,  impetu- 
ous life  and  real  unctio7i,  that  he  was  always  as  captivating  and 
eloquent  in  his  manner  of  preaching  as  he  was  fertile,  discern- 
ing, and  brilliant  in  matter  and  style," 

He  made  a  deep  mark  in  Brooklyn  also,  a  city  which  has 
been  famous  for  its  preachers.  Fortunately  I  have  a  witness 
here  whose  word  will  go  far  with  the  reader.  It  shoukl  seem 
from  his  account  that  the  Brooklyn  experiences  of  Mr.  Alex- 
ander were  almost  Philadelphia  over  again. 

"Many  remember,"  says  Prof.  Jficobns,  "how,  la  Brooklyn,  his 
sermons  held  vast  audiences  spell-bound  under  the  magic  of  his  elo- 
quence. Such  a  devout  afHatns,  such  fervour  and  glow  of  expression 
and  intonation  —  with  such  vigour  of  thought  and  mastery  of  appeal  1 
as  in  his  discourses,  '  Kemember  Lot's  wife  ; '  "  The  sacrifices  of 
God  are  a  broken  spirit; '  'It  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be.'  " 

The  Rev.  Dr.  William  H.  Ruffner,  of  Virginia,  writes : 

"I  heard  him  preach  many  times.  Twice  only  I  thought  him  dull. 
His  expositions  at  Queenston  were  wonderfully  rich,  clear,  and  com- 
prehensive. But  generally  the  effect  of  his  preaching  on  me  was  al- 
most overwhelming.  "When  ho  would  begin  to  rise  in  liis  crescendo 
passages,  I  would  feel  as  if  I  had  been  put  in  connection  with  a  galvanic 
battery,  and  that  the  stream  was  getting  heavier  every  moment,  and, 
if  there  was  not  a  speedy  change,  I  should  be  thrown  over  by  the 
power  of  the  charge.  Awe  and  terror,  admiration  and  intellectual 
delight,  a  sense  of  the  beautiful,  the  true,  the  noble,  the  triumphant, 
and  feelings  of  remorse  and  self-abnegation,  were  common  eftects  on 
my  mind  under  his  preaching.  The  sermons  that  I  remember  as  im- 
pressing me  most  were  on  the  texts,  'lie  hath  not  dealt  so  with  any 
nation ; '  '  The  rich  and  the  poor  meet  together,  &c.'  '  Come,  for  all 
things  are  now  ready ; '  '  He  that  is  greatest  among  yon  shall  be  your 
servant;'  'Behold  the  Lamb  of  God.'  The  latter  I  heard  twice. 
The  first  time  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  Princeton  to  a  thin 
audience  on  a  rainy  evening;  and  whilst  I  felt  that  it  was  a  powerful 


^T.S7.j  JEWISH    ADMIKEES.  619 

discourse,  I  did  not  get  the  full  impression  of  it  until  I  heard  it  in 
Lexington,  when  I  ?uw  as  I  Lad  not  seen  before  the  profound  pliiloso 
l)hy  running  through  it;  and  toward  the  last,  when  he  got  to  shouting 
the  words,  'Behold,  behold,'  umong  the  rattling  dice  and  glasses  of 
the  gambling  room,  and  into  the  dull  ears  of  the  dying  reprobate,  I 
felt,  and  I  think  the  whole  audience  felt,  much  as  if  an  angel  had 
souuded  a  blast  from  the  pulpit.  " 

On  the  23d  of  November,  the  elder  brother  writes  of  the 
younger:  "Two  of  the  most  learned  German  Jews  (from  Rot- 
terdam) are  studying  Addison's  Isaiah."  * 

It  would  appear  from  the  following  letter  of  the  commen- 
tator himself,  that  his  brother  had  mentioned  the  thing  to  him 
too,  for  in  the  letter  he  refers  with  a  mixture  of  pleasure  and 
fear  to  the  "  microscopic  criticism  "  of  "  the  Judaic  friends"  of 
his  correspondent. 

It  is  a  letter  of  unusual  learned  interest.  In  it  he  asks  for 
the  best  things  of  Villemain  and  Guizot. 

"  November  28th,  1846. 
"Mr  Deak  Beothee: 

"I  am  glad  you  have  sent  an  article  so  massive,  timely,  and  read- 
able, to  lead  off  the  new  year  with,  I  wish  you  would  do  the  same 
with  Bush,  Woods,  aud  Pond.  I  am  slower  than  ever  to  begin  my 
contributions,  as  I  am  making,  pretty  steadily,  three  lectures  a  week, 
besides  occasional  sermons.  I  am  cnrrying  on  three  parallel  courses — 
one  on  Biblical  history,  one  on  Biblical  criticism,  and  one  on  Biblical 
antiquities.  I  have  now  returned  to  my  historical  vomit,  and  should 
like  to  consult  you  on  the  ways  and  means  of  making  Dogmengeschichte 
a  distinct  part  of  our  course ;  or  rather,  on  the  previous  question, 
whether  it  is  worth  while  to  attempt  it.  I  suspect  that  my  exegetical 
labours  will  be  limited  to  correcting  and  improving  my  Isaiah.  I  am 
flattered  by  the  notice  of  your  Judaic  friends,  but  dread  their  micro- 
scopic criticism.  I  am  acquainted  Avith  Luretto  only  through  hia 
French  notes  on  Isaiah,  prefixed  to  the  abridged  edition  of  Rosenmul- 
ler's  Scholia.  Tliese  are  noticed  in  my  Introduction,  and  repeatedly 
cited  in  tlie  Commentary.  I  am  rather  afraid  than  desirous  of  en- 
larging my  Jesian  apparatus,  and  therefore  gratefully  decline  the  offer 

*  Fam.  Let.  Vol.  II.  p.  59. 


620  AN-ALTTICAL  MLKD. 


[1816. 


of  your  "isa  liXOi .  Turner  has  agreed  to  correct  the  second  volume. 
Can  I  get  the  best  tilings  of  Villemain  and  Guizot,  without  sending  to 
France  ?  I  wish  you  could  find  out  whether  tlie  Danes  and  Swedes  h:ive 
any  standard  national  historians — acknowledged  classic^,  like  Guicciar- 
dini  and  Mariana.  Such  books,  with  a  native  dictionary  of  e;ich 
language,  would  content  me.  I  think  of  confining  myself  very  much  to 
history  in  all  the  languages  I  know. 

"My  evening  recreations  are,  at  jircsent,  Thucydides  (with  Arnold 
and  Blomfleld),  Elchorn's  History  of  Literature  and  Meier's  Doginen- 
geschichte.  I  am  much  ple;ised  Avith  Meier,  who  alone  has  hit  upon 
what  I  consider  a  satisfactory  method,  I  will  let  you  have  it  when 
you  are  done  with  Kleiforth  and  Schleiermacher.  My  private  pupil 
enters,  and  I  find  it  necessary  to  conclude  sans  fa?on. 

"  Yours  ever, 

"J.  A.  A." 

Was  this  great  foe  of  the  rational  and  empirical  criti- 
cism himself  a  mere  critic,  of  a  higher  and  safer  order  ?  or  was 
he  an  intellectual  originator  as  well  ?  It  is  admitted  that  his 
mind  Avas  fitted  for  analysis  and  classification;  was  it  also 
capable  of  generalizing  or  of  inventing  ?  These  questions 
have  been  discussed  by  many  of  his  admirers,  and  commonly 
answered  in  the  afiirmative.  There  are  some,  however,  who 
incline  to  the  negative  of  this  opinion. 

A  pupil  whose  recollections  date  back  to  these  day?,  after 
many  pages  of  discriminating  panegyric,  expresses  himself  as 
follows : 

'•  I  do  not  think  his  mind  was,  strictly  speaking,  of  the  philosoph- 
ical and  speculative  cast,  nor  of  any  unusual  powers  of  combination 
and  construction.  It  was  acquisitive  and  critical,  and  it  was  both 
these  in  an  eminent  degree,  and  in  a  truly  noble  style, 

"  lie  constructed  no  theories  or  system,  even  in  the  departments  of 
instruction  of  which  he  successively  had  charge,  nor  in  the  department 
of  exegesis  in  which  he  published.  But  in  all  thesa  branches  of 
learning,  he  had  at  once  a  complete  knowledge  and  a  genuine  mastery 
of  his  field.  His  faculties  of  acquisition,  retention,  and  utilizing,  were 
of  the  most  remarkable.  They  were  anytliing  but  mechanical.  They 
had  the  nobilitv  of  genius.     Even  such  a  book  as  his  larger  Isaiah, 


^^•37-3  STEADFAST  OETHODOXY.  621 

with  its  massive  aggregation  of  all  extant  esegetical  opinions,  could 
not  be  called  either  a  catena  or  an  eclectic  compilation.  It  has  its 
unity  and  marked  individuality,  and  standard  value  of  the  liighest  rank. 
His  iater  commentaries,  less  learned  in  their  form,  let  the^ndepend- 
ence  and  mastery  of  his  own  mind  stand  out.  And  then,  his  critical 
faculty  was  of  the  very  soundest  kind,  combining  the  strongest  natural 
good  sense  with  the  firmest  Christian  faith.  His  departments  lay 
among  those  in  which  modern  criticism  and  science  have  been  most 
plausible  and  prolific  in  their  attacks  on  the  foundations  of  evangelical 
orthodoxy;  and  his  broad,  rational,  and  appreciative  mind  can  "never 
be  charged  with  insensibility  to  the  force  of  those  assaults.  Yet  he 
never  seemed  for  a  moment  to  feel  loosened  by  them,  at  any  point, 
from  the  established  views  of  orthodox  Christendom.  He  shed,  like 
a  rock,  tlie  deluge  of  rationalistic  criticism ;  and  the  imperviou'sness 
was  not  that  of  obstinacy,  nor  of  ignorance,  nor  of  servility  to  tra- 
ditional opinion,  but  of  sound  sense,  complete  knowledge,  intellectual 
freedom,  and  spiritual  faith.  And  if  he  seemed  to  lack  the  gift  of  con- 
struction and  organization  in  proportion  to  his  learning  and  his  faculty 
for  disposing  of  useless  material,  or  to  his  critical  despatch,  it  was  be- 
cause he  felt  the  prevailing  evangelical  views  themselves  systematic 
enough. 

"His/(?/-fe  was,  I  think,  Biblical  criticism;  and  in  this,  his  qualifica- 
tions as  a  teacher,  as  a  guide  to  students,  both  by  word  and  example 
were  extraordinary."  ' 

This  strikiugly  fair  critique  demands  a  few  words  in  the 
way  of  comment,  wliich  are  accordingly  offered;  and  with 
respectful  diffidence,  though  not  with  hesitation.  The  views 
of  the  amiable  and  accomplished  writer  whose  words  have 
just  been  given  are  confessedly  derived  mostly  from  a  distant 
inspection  of  his  preceptor's  class-labours,  and  his  pulpit  per- 
formances in  the  chapel,  and  from  his  published  works.  A 
closer  acquaintance  with  the  man  in  private  would  undoubt- 
edly have  modiiied  those  views.  The  truth  is,  the  writer 
of  the  analysis  in  question  seems  never  to  have  known  Dr. 
Alexander  as  he  really  was  when  he  liad  cast  off  the  shackles 
of  the  recitation-room  and  the  printing-office.  He  says  in  an- 
other place,  "My  personal  intercourse  with  Dr.  Alexander 
was  so  slight  that  it  yields  nothing  of  special  interest  except 
in  regard  to  my  own  plans  and  labours,  particularly  in  the 


622  CONSTEUCTIVE   POWERS.  [1848. 

matter  of  German  translation."  He  saw  liimin  his  study,  and 
enjoyed  tlie  charm  of  his  society  ;  but  it  was  only  as  a  student 
or  as  a  transient  visitor  at  Princeton.  He  has  seen  but  one 
side  of  the  great  polygon.  He  is  like  the  knight  who  swore 
the  shield  was  of  gold,  and  not  of  silver. 

The  contour  of  Dr.  Alexander's  "Abilities,  so  far  as  this 
acute  thinker  ever  had  an  opportunity  of  knowing  them,  could, 
not  well  have  been  more  accurately  or  beautifully  drawn. 
He,  however,  gives  but  a  moiety  of  the  truth.  In  proof  of  this, 
I  point  with  the  utmost  confidence  to  the  cheerful  testimonies 
of  those  who  were  not  only,  like  the  present  witness,  good 
judges  of  character,  but  also  Dr.  Alexander's  intimate  personal 
companions  and  friends,  and  some  of  them  his  life-long  co- 
evals. It  is  remarkable  that,  while  some  of  these  were  struck 
with  the  predominance  in  his  mind  of  the  intellectual  facul- 
ties, popularly  so  styled,  over  the  fancy,  or  the  gift  of  emo- 
tional eloquence,  others  were  impressed  just  the  other  way. 
But  many  accounts  agree  that  the  most  extraordinary  thing 
about  this  truly  extraordinary  man  was,  the  remarkable  uni- 
form or  equal  development  of  all  his  powers.  Even  his  printed 
sermons  have  seemed  to  other  critics  to  show  constructive 
genius;  high  powers  of  "combination"  and  "organization;" 
call  it  by  what  name  you  will. 

By  construction  I  understand  jyutting  together;  which  is  the 
opposite  of  taking  to  pieces.  In  this  use  of  the  terms.  Dr. 
Alexander  was  as  great  in  construction  as  in  demolition  or 
resolution.  He  not  only  pulled  down,  but  he  built  up. 
His  grandest  sermons  have  been  more  than  once  compared  to 
a  Gothic  cathedral  The  rise  and  foil  of  the  voice  in  delivery 
had  much  to  do  with  this  impression.  His  sermon  on  "  The 
Broken  Heart,"  for  instance,  not  only  shows  the  interior  of  a 
temple,  but  was  the  interior  of  a  temple.  His  sermon  on 
"  The  City  with  Foundations,"  whatever  may  be  its  merits  or 
its  defects,  was  a  gorgeous  piece  of  richly  imaginative  paint- 
ing. 

But  if,  when  it  is  said  he  was  not  so  great  in  construction 
as  in  analysis,  it  is  meant  he  has  constructed  no  theory  or  sys- 


-fflT.87.]  OEIGINAL    GENIUS.  623 

tem^  of  value  commensurate  with  the  results  of  his  merely  ana- 
lytical labours,  this  may  be  granted;  but  it  is  equally  true  that, 
like  Bacon,  he  has  dejected  the  materials  for  many  theories 
and  systems  of  the  highest  value,  and  lavished  on  every 
hand  the  principles  which  have  made  their  construction 
easy.  This  his  critic  would  joyfully  assent  to.  It  must  not 
be  forgotten,  however,  how  many  new  and  important  inter- 
pretations of  Scripture  we  owe  to  him ;  some  of  which  are  of 
the  broadest  sweep,  and  others,  though  of  less  scope,  are  yet 
of  the  most  sterling  value.  He  has,  as  it  seems  to  many  of  us, 
given  us  the  true  theory  of  Matthew,  of  Mark,  and  of  the  Acts. 
This,  it  is  thought,  was  never  thoroughly  accomplished  before. 
He  has,  we  think,  for  the  first  time  brought  out  the  true  mean- 
ing of  the  Sermon  on  the  Mountain.  This  is,  in  the  opinion 
of  some,  his  crowning  Avork  as  an  exegete.  He  is  the  origina- 
tor of  the  complex  theory  of  the  Servant  of  Jehovah  in  Isaiah, 
which  is  now  getting  to  be  the  accepted  view  beyond  the 
Atlantic,  and,  I  am  told,  is  likely  to  prevail  among  all  evan- 
gelical scholars.  He  has,  too,  in  various  places  and  ways  shed 
a  new  charm  and  glory  over  the  whole  Bible. 

But  it  was  in  his  poetry,  his  tales,  his  extravaganzas,  his 
children's  books,  his  magazine  articles,  some  of  his  letters,  and 
much  of  his  tmrestrained  and  hilarious  conversation,  or  rather 
table-talk,  that  Dr.  Addison  Alexander  evinced  that  he 
had  constructive  talents  of  a  high  order  and  of  a  very  unusual 
degree  of  excellence.  If  his  namesake  Addison,  if  Swift,  if 
Goldsmith,  if  Dickens,  if  De  Foe,  coidd  be  said  to  have  con- 
structive genius,  then  it  seems  to  me  that  he  had  it  too.  Not 
in  the  same  measure,  it  may  be,  but  with  as  much  certainty 
and  on  kindred  evidence.  If  to  write  noble  stanzas,  each 
instinct  with  imagination  and  passion  and  full  of  rhythmic 
music,  requires  the  effort  of  a  constructive  artist,  then  it  must 
be  conceded  that  the  subject  of  this  biography  was  a  con- 
structive artist,  and  on  the  same  grounds  that  settle  the  claim 
of  Ariosto  or  Byron. 

It  is  unquestionable,  too,  that  the  name  of  Dr.  Alexander 
is  identified  with  no  new  system  of  divinity,  metaphysics,  or 


624  NOT   AN   INNOVATOE.  [1846 

moral  science.  Men  will  not,  say  in  reference  to  liini,  Alex- 
ander's theology,  or  Alexander's  philosophy;  as  they  speak  of 
Edw-ards's  or  Taylor's  theology,  or  of  Locke's,  of  Hamilton's, 
of  Kant's,  or  of  Hegel's  philosophy.  But  it  does  not  necessarily 
follow  that  he  had  no  ability  to  construct  systems.  The  true 
statement  would  appear  to  be  not  that  Dr.  Addison  Alexander 
had  no  power  to  construct,  but  that  he  had  a  dislike  for  the 
thing  to  be  constructed.  This  would,  of  course,  involve  a  cor- 
responding dislike  for  the  labour  of  construction ;  and  if  be 
w^as  incapable  of  anything,  it  was  of  working  where  his  mind 
was  not  in  a  state  of  highly  pleasurable  excitement.  For 
metaphysics  or  psychology,  except  when  presenting  their 
simplest  outlines,  or  their  most  intelligible  details,  as  in  Reid 
or  Brown,  he  had,  like  one*  of  the  great  systematising 
minds  of  this  century,  a  certain  degree  of  positive  distaste. 
Nor  did  circumstances  ever  force  him  to  conquer  this  feeling. 

The  fact  referred  to  cannot  be  denied  or  explained  away, 
that  he  made  no  new  doctrines,  but  took  the  evangelical 
creeds  and  symbols  as  he  found  them;  but  this  he  did  for  the 
reason  assigned  by  his  able  critic,  viz.  that  the  highest  facul- 
ties for  constructing  creeds,  if  imited  to  sound  judgment, 
would  not  construct  them  where  they  were  not  needed,  and 
wdiere  it  was  obvious  that  the  most  superb  deviations  from 
the  truth  are  at  last  but  superb  error.  I  doubt  not  he  could 
have  filled  the  world  with  bad  systems  of  theology  as  new 
and  ingenious  as  they  were  fixlse,  had  he  so  chosen.  A  con- 
siderable part  of  his  fame  arises  out  of  the  very  fact  that  he 
did  not  do  this.  He  holds  on  the  even  tenour  of  his  way 
amidst  all  the  aberrations  of  German  neology  through  which 
he  moved.     This  is  one  of  his  chief  distinctions. 

It  is  quite  true,  also,  that  his  mind  was  not  of  the  "philo- 
sophic," *.  e.  "  speculative  "  order;  if  by  mind  be  meant  turn  ox 
taste,  and  not  capacity.  There  is  nothing  to  prove  his  mental 
incompetency  to  the  highest  philosophic  tasks,  except  his  re- 

*  Augusto  Comte.  Sec  what  is  said  of  bis  "  avcrsioa  to  metaphysics." 
Mill's  Examiuation  of  Hamilton.     Loudon,  p.  13. 


.et.37.]  distaste  for  metaphysics.  625 

pugnance  to  this  kind  of  mental  labour,  aucl  his  loathino-  of 
the  forms  of  a  y;/wcrts  falsely  so  called.  If  he  had  an  incapacity 
for  the  toils  of  speculative  inquiry,  it  was  rather,  I  should  fan- 
cy, in  the  heart  than  in  the  head ;  or,  to  use  a  figure  borrowed 
from  the  Edwardean  theology,  it  was  a  moral  rather  than  a 
natural  inability.  He  had  no  patience  with  nonsense  and  pal- 
pable absurdity.  He  entertained  a  supreme  disgust  for  what 
was  evidently  and  monstrously  lalse  and  wrong.  He  abhorred 
the  conclusions  of  the  Gnostic  and  kindred  heresies,  and  of 
the  pantheistic  German  psychology ;  and  hence  neglected  and, 
it  may  be,  too  much  despised  their  elaborate  processes  of  mys- 
tical or  transcendental  reasoning.  But  he  took  delio-ht  in 
reading,  and  comprehended  with  ease,  the  writings  of  the 
Scotch  metaphysicians,  and  of  the  philosophic  historians,  and 
never  wearied  of  any  investigation  which  lay  within  the  do- 
main of  what  John  Locke  calls  sound,  roundabout  sense. 

Still  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  cast  of  his  mind  *  was 

*  Disposed  as  it  was  to  variation,  Mr.  Alexander's  judgment  never  fluctuated 
much  on  the  subject  of  German  transcendentalism.  From  the  opinions  ex- 
pressed in  a  letter  to  his  brother,  J.  W.  Alexander,  under  date  of  Geneva, 
Aug.  14,  1833,  d«i-ing  his  first  sojourn  in  Europe,  I  subjoin  a  few  extracts.  It 
will  be  noticed  that  liis  correspondent  was  hardly  prepared  to  accept  such 
sweeping  conclusions : 

"Having  disposed  of  pohtics,  Presbyterianism,  psalmody,  and  sundries,  I 
proceed  to  German  philosophy.  I  am  sorry  that  I  have  no  light  to  throw 
upon  your  path.  I  have  as  yet  '  caught  none  upon  my  wings,'  though  at  the  very 
gate  of  Eden,  unless  I  except  the  sulphureous  glimmerings  of  my  poor  friend 

,  whose  very  light  is  darkness.     I  am  sorry  to  say  that  the  nearer  I  get  to 

the  transcendental  Limbo,  the  stronger  becomes  my  anti-metaphysical  prejudice. 
My  common  sense  is  absolutely  rampant;  and  threatens  my  anschauungsvermo- 
gen  with  extinction.  So  far  as  I  have  yet  learned  this  wisdom,  which  is  not 
from  above,  there  is  nothing  in  it  that  can  satisfy  the  bediirfniss  which  you 
speak  of  The  aliment  provided  to  appease  that  craving  is  the  beautiful  mt/s- 
ticism  of  revealed  religion.  There  is  one  distinction  which  affects  me  strongly. 
The  Bible  shows  us  much  to  make  us  long  for  more.  Beyond  what  is  re- 
vealed there  hangs  a  mystic  veil,  which  recedes  as  we  advance  half  hoping  and 
half  fearing  that  we  shall  never  see  all.  This  keeps  the  mind  in  healthful  ac- 
tion, and  will  probably  continue  so  to  keep  it,  world  without  end.  It  is  pre- 
cisely for  such  progress  that  our  constitution  fits  us ;  and  in  it  lies  our  intellec- 
tual happiness.  How  different  is  the  process  of  transcendental  quackery' 
27 


626  BIBLICAL   MYSTICISM.  [1848. 

not  distinctively  of  the  speculative  or  even  reflective,  but  of  the 
logical  and  suggestive  kind.  In  this  respect  he  differed  no 
little  from  his  venerable  fiither,  and  even  from  his  accomplished 
brothel',  both  of  whom,  at  their  best  moments,  were  never 
better  pleased  than  when  their  minds  were  occupied  in  high 
convei'se  with  some  one  or  other  of  the  great  thinkers  who 
have  gone  down  into  the  deep  and  the  darkness  of  unaided 
human  thought.  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  in  particular  was 
himself  a  patient  and  successful  investigator  of  the  phenomena 
both  of  psychology  and  ethics ;  and  the  very  last  ai-ticle  written 
by  Dr.  James  Alexander  for  the  Repertory  was  an  able  reex- 
amination of  the  philosophy  of  the  great  Arnauld,  with  spe- 
cial reference  to  his  doctrine  of  perception,  which  the  review 
writer  thought  had  been  unjustly  or  inadequately  treated  of 
by  Sir  William  Hamilton. 

The  late  Dr.  Hewitt,  of  Bridgeport,  Connecticut,  on  hear- 
ing the  particulars  of  his  friend's  last  illness,  and  of  his  having 
written  this  article  within  a  week,  remarked  that  no  one  could 
any  longer  marvel  at  his  being  laid  aside,  for  that  the  writing 


S.in  affects  to  rend  the  veil  of  truth,  and  impudently  plants  herself  at  the  ex- 
treme of  knowledge,  pretending  to  uncover  the  foundation-stones  of  science, 
and  to  show  us  all  at  once.     The  man  who  believes  this,  is  no  longer  capable  of 

rational  enjoyment.     The  majestic  stride  of  intellect is  lost 

forever,  and  the  sublime  development  of  truth  in  all  its  symmetry  gives  j^Iace  to 
a  huddle  of  abstractions.  So  far  as  sentiment  and  taste  are  at  all  concerned, 
the  partial  gleams  of  sunshine  through  the  pages  of  the  Bible  are  immeasura- 
bly better  than  the  artificial  lamp-light  of  oblivious  metaphysics.  View  the 
brightest  coruscation  of  the  absolutest  Ich  that  ever  egotizod  in  German,  and 
how  pale  it  looks  beside  this  one  ray  from  the  (pws  a.Trp6cTiTov  which  constitutes 
God's  resfplendent  Avords,]  "In  Thee  is  the  fountain  of  life:  in  Tht  light 
SHALL  WE  SEE  LIGHT."  I  grow  mystical  myself,  and  perhaps  absurd ;  but  I 
trust  you  understand  me.  My  dear  brother,  we  are  alike  in  [many  things]  and 
in  as  many  differ ;  in  order  perhaps  that  we  may  bear  each  other's  burdens.  .  . 
I  have  uttered  the  ahoYC  purana  not  at  all  for  your  instruction  or  conviction  ; 
but  I  am  alone,  and  want  a  vent  for  the  crudest  fancies,  which  would  otherwise 
grow  acid  and  impai"  or  disturb  my  intellectual  digestion.  German  philosophy 
has  served  as  an  emetic." 


^T.87.]  POWEES    OF   GENEEALIZATIOJSr.  627 

of  that  article  in  that  time  was  enough  to  kill  or  craze  more 
than  one  man  in  full  strength  of  body. 

I  am  far  from  being  alone  in  this  estimate  of  Dr.  Alexan- 
der's artistic  as  well  as  scientific  powers.  Several  of  his  old 
students  have  exj)ressed  opinions  as  to  his  splendid  imaginative 
gifts,  and  the  symmetry  of  his  whole  mind,  which  must  be 
taken  as  theii-  testimony,  not  mine.  One  of  them  writes  as 
follows : 

"  His  imaginatioa  was  wonderful ;  and  though  nothing  was  out  of 
proportion  in  his  mind,  if  there  was  any  one  faculty  that  predominated 
over  another,  it  was  this  :  it  was  his  wonderful  imagination ;  using  the 
term  in  its  highest  sense.  What  Hamilton  calls  the  representative 
facidties,  memory  and  imagination,  were  in  him  preeminent.  Yet  all 
llie  other  faculties  were  in  such  due  proportion,  that  his  intellect  was 
the  most  comidete  and  symmetrical  that  I  have  ever  known.  I  doubt 
whether-,  in  this  respect,  the  world  has  ever  seen  his  superior."  * 

With  Dr.  Addison  Alexander,  analysis  was  but  the  bond- 
slave of  synthesis.  He  was,  ex  necessitate  rei,  a  miner  or  quarry- 
worker  rather  than  a  builder,  and  jQt  he  expounded  with 
wonderful  clearness  the  true  principles  of  building,  and  when- 
ever permitted  to  carry  his  plans  to  completion,  himself 
wrought  or  finished  great  structures.  The  old  workman  on 
the  banks  of  the  Nile  was  always  busy  upon  small  surfaces 
of  stone,  hewing,  compacting,  and  polishing;  but  he  thus  be- 
came the  architect  of  the  Pyramids.  The  generalization  of 
the  man  of  science  grows  out  of  a  vast  induction  of  particu- 
lars. The  law  of  gravitation  involves  a  summary  of  the  min- 
utest phenomena  of  the  universe. 

It  was  on  this  principle  that  Dr.  Alexander  conducted  his 
profound  and  searching  investigations  into  the  domain  of 
Biblical  truth,  and  the  bordering  territories  and  kingdoms. 
He  began  with  particulars  j  but  he  never  stopped  with  particu- 
lars, unless  he  was  cut  short  in  his  pi-ocess.  In  his  sermons  on 
texts  Irom  Isaiah,  we  see  the  method  which  is  only  indicated 
in  his  Commentary  carried  out  approximately  to  its  full  ex- 

*  The  Kev.  Dr.  Rice,  of  Mobile. 


628  ANALYSIS   AND   SYNTHESIS.  [1846. 

tent.  The  discourse  on  Isaiah,  Iv.  C,  Y,  Avell  illustrates  what  I 
have  just  said.  Every  branch  of  the  refined  exegetical  and 
analytical  process  enters  into  the  ramifications  of  a  noble,  prac- 
tical, impressive  form  of  synthesis.  The  subject  and  the  mode 
of  treatment  did  not  call  for  flights  of  imaginative  eloquence, 
but  where  these  seemed  to  be  demanded  they  were  not  want- 
ing. 

Sometimes  he  leaves  the  analytical  scaffolding  behmd  him, 
and  mounts  up  as  with  the  wings  of  an  eagle. 

In  the  rough  draught  of  a  sermon,*  as  yet  unpublished,  but 
afterwards  written  out  in  extenso,  on  Matt.  vi.  33,  he  thus 
gives  vent  to  his  vehement  emotions,  and  to  the  thoughts 
which  seem  to  be  bubbling  up  in  his  soul.  The  handwriting, 
usually  so  round  and  plain,  in  this  as  in  all  similar  cases 
becomes  gradually  more  and  more  difficult  to  read,  until  it  is 
almost  undecypherable. 

"To  those  who  have  sought  the  kingdom,  and  still  seek  it,  first, 
i.  e.,  in  preference,  I  apply  this  text  by  way  of  consolation  and  en- 
couragement : 

"Brethren,  we  live  in  troublous  times— we  live  in  troublous  times 
:— in  times  of  tempest  and  of  earthquake.  One  volcano  after  another  is 
extinguished,  only  to  be  followed  by  the  outbreak  of  new  craters.  Fa- 
naticism social  and  religious  has  laid  hold  upon  the  very  corner-stones 
of  church  and  state,  and  shaken  them  till  even  the  ves3els  in  the 
house  of  God  have  felt  the  shock,  and  trembled  at  the  altar.  Political 
changes  are  the  order  of  the  day.  From  beyond  the  water  there  are 
many  hollow  murmurs  of  approaching  change.  The  ocean  of  society 
presages  great  events  by  its  perturbed  heavings.  Old  religions  and  old 
monarchies  begin  to  nod.  Many  a  crescent  wanes,  and  many  a  crown 
grows  dim;  and  many  an  ancient  cedar  in  the  forests  of  the  old  world 
bends  and  groans  in  premonition  of  its  fall.  And  even  we,  who  have 
no  thrones  to  totter  and  uo  sceptres  to  be  broken,  bear  our  part  in  the 
convulsion. 

"  Now,  when  the  foundations  are  thus  out  of  course,  what  shall 
the  righteous  do? 

"To  the  worldling,  the  prospect  is  disconsolate  indeed  ;  because  he 

*  It  was  composed  in  1838.  Part  of  the  conclusion  forms  the  peroration 
to  his  sermon  on  1  John  iii.  2. 


^T.37.]  EXTRACT   FEOM   SEEMOIf.  629 

caa  see  nothing  but  the  ruins  wliich  surround  him.  But  to  the  be- 
liever's eye,  auaidst  these  crutnbUng  ruins  there  arise  new  coluinni 
more  majestic  and  more  beautiful  than  those  of  the  Acropolis.  And 
amidst  arise  to  view  thrones  and  palaces,  and  temples,  gates  and  bat- 
tlements and  towers,  under  whose  shadow  the  strongholds  of  human 
power  shrink  to  nothing,  and  even  their  melancholy  ruins  disappear. 
It  is  the  kingdom  of  God  which  thus  rises  as  by  magic  to  the  view  of 
the  regenerate— for,  '  except,'  etc.  and  above  its  many  thrones  he  sees 
the  throne  of  Him  whose  throne  is  forever  and  ever,  and  the  sceptre  of 
whose  kingdom  is  a  sceptre  of  rigliteousness,  the  Lord  of  lords  and 
the  King  of  kings.'  And  now  do  you  ask  what  shall  the  righteous  do 
when  the  foundations  shall  be  out  of  course?  Do  you  ask  what  you 
yourselves  shall  do  when  the  signs  of  the  times  which  we  behold  shall 
be  fulfilled  ?  Cling  to  these  massive  pillars ;  press  into  yonder  temple ; 
bind  yourselves  with  cords  to  the  horns  of  yonder  altar ;  and  at  every 
fresh  heave  of  the  ocean  or  the  earth,  take  the  faster  hold  of  His  cross 
and  his  throne:  and  you  are  safe  amidst  the  wreck  of  matter  and  the 
crush  of  worlds.  Though  every  throne  should  crumble,  and  our  own 
boasted  system  burst  with  terrible  explosion,  there  is  still  a  kingdom 
which  shall  never  end ;  and  while  the  crash  of  falling  empires  waxes 
louder  and  louder,  and  then  comes  fainter  till  it  dies  away,  the  ear  of 
faith,  from  every  mountain  top  and  valley  of  God's  spiritual  kingdom, 
catches  first  a  murmur,  then  a  shout,  and  then  a  general  burst  of  voices, 
like  the  roll  of  thunder  and  the  rush  of  many  waters—'  Alleluiah !  for 
the  Lord  God  omnipotent  reigneth!  Jehovah  reigneth  ;  let  the  earth 
rejoice! ' " 

The  sketch  of  which  this  passage  forms  a  part  Dr.  Alexander 
copied  and  delivered  at  Newark  in  the  very  form  here  given. 
The  orjguial  manuscript  of  this  draught,  with  all  its  marks  of 
excitement  and  fiery  haste,  its  abbreviations,  its  few  erasures, 
and  its  occasional  changes  and  interlineations,  is  now  in  my 
hands. 

No  one,  from  reading  this  passage  alone,  or  a  hundred. 
others  of  the  same  description,  would  ever  suspect  that  its 
author  was  nothing  but  a  great  analytical  scholar,  and  hardly 
that  he  was  an  analytical  scholar  at  all.  One  would  be  far 
more  likely  to  conjecture  that  its  author  v/as  a  man  character- 
ized by  imagination,  ardent  feeling,  and  a  wonderful  power  of 
strong   writing,  though    perhaps    without   a    corresponding 


630  QUALITIES   AS   A   SEEMOOTZER.  0846. 

faculty  of  judgment  or  patient  analysis.  And  yet  it  is  true, 
as  this  fine  critic  says,  that  his  sermons,  regarded  as  an  entire 
collection,  are  jDreemincntly  distinguished  by  the  unequivocal 
marks  and  results  of  analysis  and  rigid  logic. 

"Referring  to  this  marked  trait  in  his  intellectual  struc- 
ture, one  of  his  most  ingenious  admirers  *  says,  with  admirable 
insight  and  exactness : 

"The  same  character  of  his  mind  di-tinguished  his  sermons;  and 
gave  them  a  peculiar  interest  and  power.  He  rarely,  if  ever,  disL'Ussed 
a  doctrine  or  a  subject  as  such,  or  constructed  a  complex  systematic 
discourse.  He  analyzed  and  applied  the  text.  He  was  a  great  un- 
raveller.t  He  unravelled  the  clauses  of  a  text — as  in  his  sermon  on 
'  The  grace  of  God,  which  bringeth  Salvation,'  etc.  and  on  '  Seek  ye 
the  Lord  while  He  may  he  found,'  etc.  He  unravelled  the  ideas  of  a 
clause,  as  in  the  famous  sermon  on  'Remember  Lot's  wife.'  He  un- 
unravelled  the  applications  of  an  idea,  as  in  the  sermon  on  '  All  tilings 
are  now  ready  ; '  or,  'It  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be.'  And 
often,  again,  his  sermons  were  characterized  rather  by  a  gathering 
together  of  the  manifold  applications  of  a  particular  idea,  and  a  setting 
them  in  powerful  array,  as  in  the  sermon  on  '  The  last  state  of  that 
man  is  worse  than  the  first.' 

"  Hence  his  sermons,  though  not  pretending  to  any  systematic, 
didactic  completeness,  were  in  their  way  most  closely  connected,  and 
singularly  exhaustive.  In  fact,  climax  is  characteristic  of  them  ;  and 
this  not  in  the  way  of  artful  rhetoric  and  superficial  effect,  but  out  of 
an  earnest  adherence  to  the  deep,  inward  connection  of  thouglit,  and 
discernment  of  the  vivid  applications  of  it  in  real  life. 

"With  a  povf-erful  imagination,  great  f^-rtility  of  illustration,  and 
exuberance  of  diction,  he  had  not  the  faintest  leaning  towards  sensa- 
tion and  clap-trap.  His  thought  went  too  deep,  and  his  temper  was 
too  earnest,  to  tolerate  or  be  imposed  on  by  any  sort  of  sham.  As  a 
preacher  he  unquestionably  ranks  with  such  men  as  Henry  Melvill, 
.Archer  Butler,  and  Trench;  while  his  sermons,  thougli  they  remind  one 
in  many  re?pects  of  Archer  Butler's,  have  yet  a  strong  individu.ility  by 
the  side  of  these  or  any  others  with  which  it  would  be  fair  to  a.'^suciate 
them.  They  have  the  specific  power  of  a  continuity,  or  continuous 
application  or  repetition,  of  force  in  the  same  single  line;  as  of  the  pow- 

*  The  Rev.  EJwaid  L.  Yeomans,  D.D. 

t  This  is  one  of  the  best  things  ever  said  aliout  Dr.  Alexander. 


^T.37.j  ESTTELLECTUAL   SYMMETEY.  631 

der  on  the  bullet  along  the  barrel  of  a  gun.  In  this  method  of  impetu' 
ously  driving  home  tlie  one  truth  with  which  he  charged  his  discourse, 
1  know  not  his  like ;  and  in  this,  his  keen  discernment,  prolific  im- 
agination, steadiness  of  purpose,  strength  of  will,  facility  of  conception, 
affluence  of  language,  the  very  style  of  his  person,  and  the  straightfor- 
wardness of  his  manner  and  voice  in  delivery — all  found  their  place. 
He  threw  himself  into  his  sermons,  to  a  remarkable  degree,  and  that 
with  all  the  simplicity  which  characterized  him.  And  his  sermons 
took  possession  of  him,  and  carried  him  along,  and  so  carried  his  hear- 
ers irresistibly  with  him,  and  lodged  themselves  deep  in  the  heart. 
Few  who  heard  him  would  ever  forget  what  he  preached  about,  or 
would  fail  to  associate  vividly  the  person  and  manner  of  the  preacher 
with  the  things  he  preached." 

That  I  may  not  be  suspected  of  undue  bias  in  this  esti- 
mate of  the  symmetrical  character  of  Mr.  Alexander's  genius, 
I  append  here  the  enthusiastic,  but  surely  not  undiscriminating 
words  of  another,*  He  pronounces  it  emphatically  a  mistake 
that  Addison  Alexander  had  this  or  that  faculty  in  high  vigour, 
and  in  an  extraordinary  state  of  cultivation,  but  at  the  ex- 
pense of  certain  other  faculties.  He  compares  the  powers  of 
his  mind  to  fiery  coursers  held  in  just  subjection. 

"A  remarkable  peculiarity  of  this  great  man  was,  not  that  he  had 
some  splendid  powers,  but  that  he  had  the  whole  cluster  of  intellec- 
tual endowments  in  such  fulness  and  perfection,  and  all  under  the  con- 
trol of  strong,  overmastering  common  sense.  Intellectually,  no  man 
was  more  truly  cra3(t)puv,  well-balanced.  There  was  no  crack  in  his 
judgment.  It  had  the  clear,  sound  ring.  His  other  powers,  even 
when  wanton  in  the  fulness  of  their  strength,  never  broke  loose  from 
its  sway.  His  good  judgment  was  never  unsettled  from  its  seat;  and 
with  a  strong  grasp,  he  held  all  the  other  powers  like  spirited,  fiery 
coursers,  ever  under  easy  control.  In  his  commentaries,  not  an  in- 
stance can  be  pointed  out  of  the  least  swaying  towards  those  fan- 
tastic capers  of  the  intellect  so  often  cut  by  learned  and  even  good 
men,  with  such  palpable  want  of  judgment,  in  their  expositions  of  the 
Word  of  God.  Such  a  mind  as  his  could  not  be  free  from  tbe 
temptations  incident  to  probation  in  our  fallen  state;  and  had  it 
once  broken  loose  from  the  control  of  his  sound  judgment  and  sturdy 

*  The  Kev.  Professor  Burrowes,  of  Easton. 


G32  JEEEMY  TAYLOE.  [1S45. 

common  sense,  where  might  it  have  stopped,  and  what  mischief  might 
it  have  caused,  in  its  fiery  aberrations  ?  There  has  been  in  our  churcli 
many  a  heart  of  thankfulness  that  the  Divine  grace  wliich  made  him 
what  he  was  preserved  that  sound  and  sanctified  judgment  (a  star  of 
the  first  magnitude)  secure  against  all  disturbing  influences,  and  free 
from  all  perturbations,  even  to  the  last. 

"•There  were  regfemblances  and  diflerences  between  Mr.  Alexan- 
der's intellectual  traits  and  those  of  Jeremy  Taylor.  In  the  funeral 
sermon  of  Jeremy  Taylor,  the  preacher  said  that  the  bishop  had  '  the 
reason  of  a  philosopher,  the  learning  of  a  scholar,  the  wit  of  a  courtier, 
the  iuiagiuation  of  a  poet,  and  the  piety  of  a  saint.' 

Much  more  than  this,  he  thinlcs,  may  be  said  of  Dr.  Addi- 
son Alexander.  In  the  cluster  of  his  great  endowments,  was 
"  a  splendid  and  exuberant  imagination."  His  fancy, 
the  writer  considers  as  gorgeous  as  that  of  Jeremy  Taylor ; 
"  but  the  different  constitution  of  Dr.  Alexander's  mind  in 
other  respects,  possessing  the  highest  intellectual  powers  of 
a  very  superior  degree  to  those  of  the  bishop,"  made  the  pro- 
ducts of  his  genius  very  different. 

What  follows  is  startling  for  its  strength,  but  is  neatly  ex- 
pressed. 

"Taylor  was  a  'fruitful  bough  by  a  well,  whose  branches  run  over 
the  wall; '  a  vine,  loaded  with  clusters  of  fragrant  blooms  and  richest 
grapes.  But  when  tlie  imagination  of  Dr.  Alexander  is  allowed  to 
burst  into  action  to  aid  and  reinforce  his  mental  efforts,  it  reminds 
me  of  a  cloud  rising  on  a  clear  night  in  the  tropic  seas,  coming 
on  with  flashes  and  coruscations  of  beauty,  in  flre-works  unapproach- 
able by  any  imitation  of  man  ;  grand  in  its  dazzling  lightnings,  and  re- 
freshing as  '  when  Thou,  O  Lord,  didst  send  a  plentiful  rain,  whereby 
Thou  didst  confirm  thine  inheritance  when  it  was  weary.' 

"His  intellect  was  comprehensive.  Like  the  god  who  elaborated 
the  shield  of  Achilles,  he  had  not  only  the  intellectual  strength  of 
muscle  for  forging  out  successive  folds  of  the  most  compact  argu- 
mentation from  thoughts  more  precious  than  metals  and  gold;  but 
also  the  imngination  which  could  cover  these  folds  with  a  beauty 
rich  and  attractive  as  the  sculpture  on  that  heaven-wronglit  sliield ; 
yet,  with  the  wisdom  of  that  divine  artist  of  Olympus,  he  called  in  his 
imagination  only  for  beautifying  and  making  more  attractive  the  under- 


^T.37.]  DE.    CHAMCEES.  633 

lying  masses  of  thought.  I  need  only  mention  the  closing  part  of  hia 
sermon  on  Hebrews,  xi.  10,  and  the  close  of  that  on  Psalm  viii,  1,  9. 
But  why  select  these  ?  The  same  spirit  pervades  the  whole.  I  am  not 
criticising  his  sermons,  or  I  might  show  they  are  among  the  grandest 
literary  productions  in  our  language.  Taking  into  view,  thought, 
style,  and  mastery  of  language,  they  combine  excellences  scarcely  ex- 
hibited by  anytliing  in  Burke,  in  Robert  Hall,  or  in  Macaulay.  No 
beauties  of  this  kind  can  be  found  which  are  superior  to  portions  of  the 
prose-writings  of  Milton,  and  some  of  the  sermons  of  Addison  Alex- 
ander. He  was  'tbe  greatest  of  American  orientalists  and  scholars.' 
Our  country  has  never  produced,  in  church  or  in  state,  a  man  of  supe- 
rior powers  and  attainments.  And  it  is  a  precious  reflection,  that  all 
powers  and  attainments  were  consecrated,  in  defending  and  unfolding 
the  Scriptures,  to  the  glory  of  Redeeming  Love." 

Another  hearer*  was  reminded  by  his  preaching  of  that 
of  Dr.  Thomas  Chalmers;  whose  almost  only  rival  in  the  mod- 
ern British  jmlpit  was  Robert  Hall. 

"I  was  not  so  fortunate  as  to  Lear  him  preach  but  once  after  hia 
piety  and  theological  attainments  were  mellowed  into  pulpit  perform- 
ances. The  only  time  I  heard  him  after  leaving  the  Seminary  was 
once  when  he  preached  for  his  brother  in  Duane  street.  He  then  re- 
minded me  of  a  huge  locomotive  with  steam  up,  and  started  on  the 
track.  He  seemed  to  be  sJiaUng  with  the  weight  of  thought  and  of  ex- 
pression ;  in  which  respect  he  called  to  my  mind  the  late  Dr.  Chalmers 
of  Edinburgh.  Those  who  knew  him  more  intimately  than  I  can  claim 
to  have  done,  have  testified  to  the  excellence  of  his  character,  the  depth 
of  his  piety,  the  greatness  of  his  intellect,  the  wonderful  versatility  and 
profoundness  of  his  studies,  and  to  his  prodigious  memory ;  and  in  their 
estimate  of  him 'I  fully  concur." 

The  concluding  judgment  will  attract  notice : 

"  I  am  free  to  say  that  when  I  had  the  pleasure  of  knowing  him,  I 
then  considered  him  the  most  learned  and  intellectual  man  of  his  years 
that  I  had  ever  met  with  ;  and  the  years  that  have  passed  since  then 
have  not  changed  my  opinion.  I  consider  him  still  as  one  of  the  most 
intellectual  and  learned  men  I  have  ever  known." 

*  The  Rev.  Dr.  Wm.  A.  Scott,  of  New  York. 
27* 


G34  GEEAT  WEN   CLASSIFIED.  [1846. 

A  gentleman*  wlio  was  socially  well  acquainted  witt  him 
testifies  that  the  most  richly  endowed  intellect  he  had  ever 
encountered  was  that  of  Dr.  Addison  Alexander;  that  his 
natural  gifts  were  of  the  highest  order,  and  were  all  cultivated 
and  developed  to  the  highest  degree. 

"  There  are,"  he  says,  "comparatively  few  really  !7rcai5  men.  Of 
those  who  truly  deserve  the  distinction,  some  are  entitled  to  it  from 
the  possession  of  original  jyoiPcrs,  conferred  on  them  by  the  hand  of 
Providence;  others  from  the  thorough  training  and  perfect  develop- 
ment of  strong  and  well  balanced  minds,  though  destitute  of  the  higher 
and  peculiar  gifts  of  genius;  others  again  from  the  vast  attainments 
they  have  made  in  scholarship,  the  soundness  of  their  judgments,  and 
the  application  of  their  stores  of  learning.  It  rarely  happens  that  these 
diifereiit  classes  are  represented  by  one  man;  and  whenever  the  com- 
bination occurs,  Ave  have  the  highest  example  of  intellectual  greatness. 
If  such  powers  are  sanctified  by  grace,  and  devoted  to  the  service  of 
God,  the  character  stands  complete  and  commands  the  admiration  of 
mankind.  For  native  powers,  thorough  discipline,  and  extensive  learn- 
ing—for genius,  culture,  and  erudition,  Addison  Alexander  has  not 
been  excelled,  perhaps  not  equalled  among  American  divines." 

The  next  letter  is  to  his  brother.  It  is  dated  Dec.  24th, 
and  relates  to  various  learned  authors  and  the  right  spelling  of 
the  name  of  an  ancient  town. 

"Peincetojt,  December  24th,  1846. 
"E.  D.  B.t 

The  holidays  will  be  no  holidays  to  me.  I  must  avail  myself  of 
them  to  read  Spencer  de  Legibus,  Michaelis  on  the  Law  of  Moses, 
Bertheau  on  ditto,  and  Bahr's  Symbulik  before  recommencing  my 
lectures  after  New  Year's.  In  the  meantime  I  am  articulating  for 
the  Repertory,  malgre  moi,  and  after  that  must  make  a  serinon  for 
the  chnpel  next  Sunday,  when  it  is  my  turn  to  preach  there.  Your 
Nineveh  arrived  safe  and  is  very  seasonable.  I  was  greatly  mys- 
tified by  your  writing  Niniveh  all  through  your  MS.  You  so  o'ten 
have  your  private  reasons  for  such  innovations  that  I  was  afraid  to 
change  it,  and  should  not  have  done  it  after  all  if  I  had  found  any  au- 
thority for  any  intermediate  form  between  the  French  NiniTe  and  the 
English  NineveTiy 

*  The  Rev.  Dr.  B.  T.  Lacy,  of  Missouri.         f  Rev.  &  Dear  Brother. 


^T.  38.]  APPEAEANCE   OF   LATER   PEOPHECIES.  635 

The  commentary  on  the  later  prophecies  of  Isaiali  appeared 
the  next  year;  and  in  the  interval  between  the  publication 
of  the  Earlier  and  the  Later  Prophecies,  Dr.  Alexander  was 
employed,  as  we  have  seen,  in  the  preparation  of  his  second 
volume ;  which  came  out  as  a  separate  and  independent  work ; 
though  the  two  works  must  of  course  be  taken  together,  .to 
form  a  complete  exposition  of  the  prophet.  In  his  preface  he 
says: 

This  volume  is  a  sequel  to  the  one  which  appeared  about  a  year 
ago,  under  the  title  of  the  Earlier  Prophecies,  the  two  together  forming 
a  continuous  commentary  on  Isaiah.  While  tlie  same  plan  has  been 
here  retained  without  alteration,  I  have  aimed  at  greater  unifonnity 
of  execution,  as  well  as  a  more  critical  selection  of  materials." 

He  aims  most  of  his  ci'itical  shafts  in  this  volume  at  Dr. 
Henderson ;  to  whose  ability  and  learning  he  however  pays  a 
handsome  compliment.  The  point  in  dispute  between  them 
was,  that  the  truth  of  the  "  exceeding  great  and  precious  pro- 
mises "  uttered  by  Isaiah  "  is  not  suspended  on  the  future 
restoration  of  the  Jews  to  Palestine ; "  though  the  Princeton 
commentator  does  not  deny  such  a  restoration  to  be  possible 
or  pi'omised  elsewhere. 

Some  of  his  more  critical  readers  have  taken  him  to  task 
for  the  slavish  literality  of  his  new  version.  Apparently  in 
allusion  to  these  friendly  strictures,  he  says : 

"In  this,  as  well  as  in  the  other  volume,  I  may  possibly  have  pushed 
the  rule  of  rigorous  translation  to  an  extreme ;  but  if  so,  it  is  an  ex- 
treme from  which  recession  is  much  easier  and  safer  than  recovery 
from  that  of  laxity  and  vagueness.  By  the  course  thus  taken,  I  am 
not  without  hope  that  some  light  may  be  thrown  upon  the  darker 
parts  of  Hebrew  grammar,  and  especially  the  doctrine  of  the  tenses, 
which  can  never  be  completely  solved  except  by  a  laborious  induction 
of  particulars." 

Dr.  Alexander  read  only  two  sheets  of  this  volume  during 
its  progress  through  the  press,  and  wisely  committed  the  re- 
mainder to   the  expert  hands  of   Mr.  W.  W.   Turner,  "to 


636  PJGID    TEANSLATIOIT.  [1847. 

whom  SO  many  other  works  in  this  department  arc  indebted 
for  the  accuracy  of  their  execution."  * 

He  continued  to  keep  steadily  in  view  as  his  immediate 
readers,  "clergymen  and  students  of  theology"  considered  as 
the  actual  or  future  teachers  of  the  church.  "  Through  them," 
he  says,  "I  may  perhaps  indulge  the  hope  of  doing  something 
to  promote  correct  opinions,  and  a  taste  for  exegetical  pursuits, 
as  means  of  intellectual  and  spiritual  culture,  even  though 
this  should  prove  to  be  my  last  as  v/ell  as  first  contribution  to 
the  stores  of  sacred  learning." 

The  tone  of  modest  confidence  in  his  own  results  which  is 
here  exhibited,  is  in  the  farthest  degree  removed  from  arro- 
gance on  the  one  hand  or  conscious  weakness  or  timidity  on 
the  other. 

Dr.  Alexander  was  not  altogether  singular  in  believing 
that  there  are  certain  ends  that  can  be  accomplished  only 
by  the  most  rigid  version  of  a  foreign  text,  and  a  version  con- 
fessedly devoid  of  every  merely  literary  merit.  He  once,  in 
my  presence,  expressed  his  astonishment  to  his  brother  James, 
that  any  one  should  fail  to  see  that  he  was  not  trying  to  rival 
the  incomparable  literary  excellence  of  the  common  English 
version,  but  only  translating  provisionally  for  purposes  of 
exegesis  and  with  tenacious  and  wilful  adherence  to  the  mere 
grammatical  form  of  the  original  text. 

He  freely  conceded  the  enormous  disadvantages  of  this 
method  for  all  purposes  but  the  single  one  he  had  in  view. 
This  he  said  years  afterwards,  in  his  brother's  study  in  Nine- 
teenth street,  walking  up  and  down  on  the  carpet  and  gazing 
curiously  betweentimes  at  the  backs  of  the  volumes  on  his 
brother's  shelves.  His  brother  remained  seated ;  and  appeared 
to  concur  with  him.  The  conversation  then  sought  other 
channels  and  was  very  animated.  These  interviews  between 
the  brothers  were  always  seasons  of  delight  to  both  of  them, 
as  well  as  to  any  who  had  the  freedom  of  the  apartment  where 

*  For  a  full  account  of  Mr.  Turner's  abilities  and  labours,  see  Dr.  Alex- 
ander's article  in  the  Repertory  on  Nordhcimer's  Hebrew  Grammar. 


2BT.  38.]  COLLOQmES.  637 

they  were  held.    The  topics  were  infinitely  fluctuating,  but  the 
main  talk  generally  settled  down  upon  books,  recent  debates 
in  the  Assembly,  what  they  had  last  seen  or  heard  that  inter- 
ested them,  prominent  people  in  the  Church  or  out  of  it,  the 
many  little  things  about  which  the  brothers  diftered  but  con- 
sented to  argue,  the  Princeton  ana^  the  smallest  family  news, 
but  above  all  the  opinions  of  living  Eui'opean  writers,  with 
whom  the  brothers  seemed  to  have  been  communing  face  to 
face.     Sometimes  these  colloquies  were  scenes  of  much  inno- 
cent merriment.     On  the  occasion  I  speak  of,  the  younger  of 
the  two  especially  seemed  to  be  in  unusually  good  plight.    His 
face  had  a  glow  upon  it  that  made  it  shine  with  a  species  of 
rosy  pleasure;  his  expressive  mouth  wreathed  itself  into  play- 
ful smiles;  his  glasses  flashed  as  if  there  were  sparks  of  fire 
behind  them  in  those  blue  orbs  which  were  bathed  in  the 
light  of  a  rare  intelligence  and  an  equally  rare  afiection  and 
good  humour.     Everything  betokened  inward  sunshine,  and 
a  sense  of  perfect  ease  and  implicit  confidence.     The  tones  of 
his  voice  were  rapid,  eager,  higher  and  mellower  than  com- 
mon, and  often  interrupted  by  a  shout  of  sudden  irrepressible 
laughter,  at  some  jeic  de  mots  or  funny  description  from  his 
brother.     The  next  minute  they  would  both  be  far  away,  upon 
the  continent;  discussing  with  gravity  the  French  Chambers, 
or  the  British  Parliament,  or  the  latest  English  and  American 
periodicals,  or  the  merits  and  defects  of  the  last  nine  days' 
wonder  of  literature  in  Germany.     Possibly  the  theme  was 
the  Free  Church  ;  Chalmers  ;  the  great  orators.     Or  else  their 
thoughts  took  a  wider  range  still,  and  embraced  the  prospects 
of  Christendom   and  the  aspect  in  which  the  Scriptures  pre- 
sent the  latter-day  glory.     But  throughout,  the  chief  speaker 
was  as  free  and  happy  as  a  bird. 

When  in  New  York  at  the  house  of  his  youngest  brother, 
Dr.  Alexander  had  full  scope  for  his  oral  and  scribbling  tenden- 
cies. Here,  as  in  so  many  other  of  his  resting  places,  he  waa 
kept  busy  telling  stories  and  writing  lives;  to  the  delight  of  the 
children.  He  ai^peared  to  have  a  new  system  of  operations 
for  every  house ;   though  the  old  characters  constantly  reap- 


688  ENGAGEMENT   IN   PHILADELPIHA.  [1847. 

peared  in  his  recitals  of  strange  or  humorous  adventures,  very- 
much  as  Major  Pendennis  and  J.  J.  Ridley  recur  in  the  later 
writings  of  Thackeray.  His  chosen  seat  was  in  the  corner  of 
a  sofa  in  the  hack  part  of  the  house,  and  there  he  would 
laugh  and  talk  and  sing  and  write  by  the  hour,  and  sometimes 
almost  by  the  day. 

There  are  the  usual  touches  of  ironical  playfulness  in  the 
subjoined  letter  to  his  Trenton  correspondent,  in  which  he 
promises  to  be  with  him  by  the  20th  of  June. 

"Pkinoetox,  June  15,  1847  (new  style.) 
"  Rev.  and  Dear  Bkotiier  : 

"  By  a  rare  sagacity  or  happy  accident,  you  have  hit  upon  the  only 
Sunday  Avhicli  will  be  at  my  disposal  for  at  least  sis  weeks.  If  notbing 
happens,  I  propose  to  commence  my  visitation  of  your  arcbdeaconry, 
on  Quasimodo  Sunday,  profanely  called  the  20th  of  June.  I  advise 
you  to  be  passively  expectant  of  my  coming,  as  I  do  not  know  whether 
it  will  be  at  noon,  or  in  the  afternoon,  or  in  the  evening,  or  on  Sunday 
morning;  in  a  private  carringe,  or  in  a  public  conveyance.  You  will 
be  pleased  to  learn  that  your  letter,  having  found  its  Vi-aj  into  the 
hands  of  the  only  'Rev.  Dr.  Alexander  '  *  who  is  recognized  in  these 
parts,  be  was  not  a  little  mystified  by  the  tone  of  the  communication, 
and  still  more  by  the  allegation  of  a  promise  which  he  could  not  recol- 
lect his  having  made.  The  mistake,  however,  it  is  thought,  will  have 
no  permanent  injurious  effect. 

"  Yours  in  the  best  of  bonds, 
«  Rev.  Mr.  Hall." 

*  His  father. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

We  hare  now  come  to  a  point  of  great  interest  in  the  his- 
tory of  tlie  retiring  scholar.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Henry  A,  Board- 
man,  having  taken  a  voyage  to  Em-ope  for  the  benefit  of  his 
health,  had  left  his  pulpit  in  Philadelphia  vacant.  Application 
was  accordingly  made  to  Dr.  Addison  Alexander  to  supply 
his  place;  which  he  consented  to  do  for  a  month,  and,  after 
repeated  solicitations,  during  a  part  of  that  summer  and  the 
whole  of  the  succeeding  winter.*  He  was,  of  course,  not  un- 
known in  that  city;  and  it  soon  came  to  be  noised  abroad  that 
the  famous  Princeton  professor  was  the  regular  "  supply  "  at 
the  Tenth  Church.  The  expectation  thus  awakened  was  not 
in  any  sense  disappointed.  At  the  second  hour  for  preaching, 
many  of  other  denominations  poured  in.  The  pews  were  filled 
early.  The  aisles  were  often  thronged,  and  I  have  heard  it 
said  that  the  passages  were  sometimes  crowded  long  before 
the  hour  for  divine  service.  Sunday  after  Sunday,  true  to  his 
appointment,  the  staid  form  of  the  preacher  was  discerned  in 
the  pulpit,  and  he  was  presently  on  his  feet,  and,  with  an  up- 
ward wave  of  his  hand,  calling  the  multitude  to  prayer.  His 
first  sermon  in  this  series  was  from  the  text,  "  Where  two  or 
three  are  gathered  together  in  my  name,  there  am  I  in  the 
midst  of  them." 

These  were  still  the  days  of  his  intellectual  prime ;  and  un- 
questionably they  were  those  of  his  highest  intellectual  ascen- 
dency. Not  that  I  mean  to  imply  that  he  could  not  preach 
as  well  before  and  afterwards,  but  merely  that  he  had  not  the 
same  stimulus,  and  did  not.  Most  of  his  rich  and  weighty 
sermons  were  prepared,  as  we  have  seen,  at  an  earlier  date ; 

*  I  think  his  second  engagement  covered  a  period  of  six  months ;  and 
probably  included  a  large  part  of  the  autumn. 


640  HIS    POPULAKITY   AS   A   PEEACHEE.  [I&i7. 

but  for  rtie  same  or  a  similar  Philadelpliia  audience.  Whether 
it  was  because  it  was  the  place  of  his  own  birth,  and  of  his 
father's  pastoral  labours,  I  know  not ;  but  it  was  in  Philadel- 
phia only,  that  for  consecutive  weeks  and  months  he  exerted 
his  full  strength  in  the  pulpit.  His  usual  efforts  in  the  chapel 
at  Princeton,  though  often  very  striking,  gave  one  no  concep- 
tion of  the  magnetic  influence  of  which  he  was  capable  under 
high  excitement.  He  Avas  very  unequal ;  but  there  were 
moments  when  mighty  intellects  bowed  under  him  like  the 
pine  before  the  tempest.  His  chief  popularity  was  among  the 
most  intelligent  and  cultivated  classes — the  elite  of  a  society 
of  uncommon  literary  force  and  polish.  But  no  one  was 
sent  empty  away.  The  people  all  loved  to  listen  to  him,  and 
he  exulted  in  the  privilege  of  breaking  to  them  the  bread  of 
life. 

His  brother  James,  who  was  recruiting  at  Long  Branch,  and 
had,  perhaps,  himself  never  heard  "Addison"  to  advantage, 
was  astonished  at  the  reports  that  came  to  him.  Writing  to 
his  Trenton  friend  on  the  28th  of  July,  he  says,  "Addison 
has  engaged  for  another  month  at  Dr.  Boardman's ; "  *  and 
again,  after  his  own  return  home  on  the  23d  of  September, 
after  referring  to  the  Millerites  and  their  great  tent  on  the 
site  of  Niblo's  Garden,  he  says,  "  Addison's  popularity  in  Phil- 
adelphia surprises  me  the  more,  as  his  last  summer's  work  here 
seemed  to  draw  scarcely  anybody.  The  sphere,  I  admit,  is 
very  difterent.  A  people  engaged  solely  in  trade  affords 
small  intellectual  ability."  t  New  York,  it  seems,  was  not 
even  then  the  metropolis  it  is  now.  And  again,  on  the  5th 
of  the  next  month,  in  apparent  allusion  to  the  comparative 
smallness  of  his  brother's  audiences  in  his  own  city,  he  writes, 
"  I  saw  Addison's  big  congregation  in  full  review."  | 

For  whatever  reason,  the  tide  of  applauding  hearers  ran 
after  him  in  the  Quaker  City,  and  did  not  in  the  hurly-burly 
of  New  York. 

There  were,  however,  very  many  in  New  York  who  thor- 

*  Fara.  Let.  Vol.  II.  p.  12.  \  Ibid.  Vol.  II.  p.  14. 

I  Ibid.  Vol.  II.  p.  73. 


-«!t.3P.]  PEEACHIKa   11^   NEW    YORK.  64^ 

oughly  appreciated  him;  and  I  have  no  doubt  the  chief  reason 
wliy  large  numbers  were  not  gathered  there  to  hear  him,  and 
that  all  were  not  deeply  aftected,  was  that  there  really  was  a 
marked  falling-off  in  the  character  of  his  preaching  in  New 
York  as  compared  with  his  efforts  in  some  other  places.    It  may 
be  that  this  was  owing  in  a  measure  to  his  knowledge  that 
in  New  York,  there  would  be  a  disposition  in  certain  quar- 
ters to  pit  him  against  his  popular  brother ;  and  that  this  dis- 
agreeable conviction  chilled  the  ardour  of  his  feelings.     The 
elder  brother  reverts  to  the  same  topic,  November  16.     "  Ad- 
dison's popularity  is  quite  extraordinary.      I  am  pleased  to 
think  that  it  urges  him  to  regard  more  and  more  the  great 
end  of  preaching."*     This   is   important  testimony;  and  it 
is  corroborated  by  the  entire  circle  of  extant  evidence  bear- 
ing  on   this   point.      The   minds    of  men   were   exhilarated, 
as  with  new  wine ;  but  their  hearts  also  were  touched,  and 
touched  as  by  the  finger  of  God.     Among  the  sermons  Avhich 
excited    most    attention,   and    aroused   the   deepest    feeling 
were  the  one  on  "  Lot's  wife,"  the  one  on  "  What  I  do  thou 
knowest  not  now,"  those  on  the  texts,  "We  know  not  what 
we  shall  be,"  "The  sacrifices  of  God  are  a  broken   spirit," 
"  This  is  a  faithful  saying,"  "  Behold,  therefore,  both  the  good- 
ness   and   severity   of    God,"   "When   thou    art    converted, 
strengthen  thy  brethren,"  "  The  word  of  God  is  not  bound," 
"  What  I  say  unto  you  I  say  nnto  all,  watch,"  "  Who  is  this 
that  is  born  king  of  the  Jews  ?  "  and  "  He  looked  for  a  city 
which  had  foundations,  whose  builder  and  maker  is  God." 

Dr.  Hart  says  he  had  good  opportunity  of  judging  of  his 
preaching  at  this  time.  He  often  heard  him;  and  remembers 
well  that  his  sermons  drew  a  large  crowd,  particularly  of  p-en- 
tlemen  of  high  professional  standing,  such  as  Judge  Kane, 
Dr.  Patterson,  and  (he  might  have  added)  Dr.  Chapman—"  the 
very  elite  of  the  city." 

"For  the  first  few  Sundays,  we  had  what  were  evidently  his  Semi- 
nary sermons— discourses  which,  with  all  their  hrilliancy  and  power, 

*  Fam.  Let.  Vol.  II.  p.  7 7. 


642  EFFECTS    UPON    CULTF^ATED    WOMEIS".  [1847 

had  the  unniistakablo  professional  stamp  npnn  them.  But,  as  the 
weeks  passed  by,  tlie  stock  of  this  kind  Avas  probably  getting  low.  At 
all  events,  a  marked  difference  began  to  appear  in  the  character  of  the 
sermons.  They  began  to  be  more  like  those  which  a  pastor  addresses 
to  his  flock.  They  gave  evidence,  in  their  whole  tenour,  of  having 
been  written  for  the  occasion.  There  was  a  certain  freshness,  spon- 
taneousness,  and  reality  about  them,  quite  unlike  his  previous  scholastic 
performances.  lie  was  preaching,  instead  of  sermonizing.  There  was 
a  still  more  marked  change  in  his  manner  of  delivery.  lie  became 
highly  animated,  almost  fiery  in  his  vehemence.  I  have  seen  Jiim  time 
after  time  become  so  excited  as  to  bring  down  his  hand  vehemently 
upon  the  pulpit,  and  to  stamp  with  his  feet,  so  that  you  could  liear  it 
all  over  the  house,  and  this  in  the  staid  old  Tenth  Presbyterian  Church 
of  Philadelphia!  llis  whole  internal  and  external  man  were  swept  by 
the  fervour  of  his  emotions;  and  as  he  threw  himself  without  reserve 
into  the  delivery  of  his  message,  he  swayed  the  whole  assembly  before 
hira  as  if  it  had  been  but  one  man.  There  were  none  of  the  tricks  of 
oratory  about  him.  lie  did  many  things  tliat  were  not  according  to 
the  rules.  Yet  I  have  never  heard  more  effective  preaching  tlian  was 
that  of  Dr.  Addison  Alexander  during  the  latter  part  of  his  engage- 
ment in  the  Tenth  Church.  I  do  believe,  if  he  had  given  himself  to 
the  work  of  the  pastoral  office  he  would  have  been  the  prince  of 
American  preachers — not  even  excepting  his  father.  Dr.  Archibald  Alex- 
ander." 

The  sermons  of  Dr.  Alexander,  especially  those  delivered  in 
Philadelphia,  attracted  the  cultivated  women,  no  less  than  the 
men.  A  lady  now  resident  in  Nashville,  the  daughter  of  a 
distinguished  statesman  of  the  past  era,  once  remarked  to  me 
that,  when  she  heard  Professor  Addison  Alexander,  it  was  a 
new  revelation  to  her  of  intellectual  power.  She  writes  that, 
many  years  ago,  she  was  in  the  habit  of  occasionally  attending 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Boardman's  church,  in  Philadelphia.  One  day, 
she  found  a  stranger  occupying  the  pulpit.  She  soon  discov- 
ered that  she  was  in  the  presence  of  a  great  man : 

"He  seemed  to  speak  with  the  wisdom  of  inspiration  ;  his  profound 
knowledge  found  easy  and  eloquent  expression;  while  his  modest  dig- 
nity betrayed  an  unconsciousness  of  his  own  superiority."  The  effect 
was  indescribable.  "  An  impression  Avas  made  on  my  mind  that  can 
never  be  forgotten." 


^T.8S.]  A  lady's    estimate.  643 

This  lady  was  not  avrare,  till  the  services  were  over,  thai 
she  "  had  been  listening  to  the  truly  good  and  great  Dr.  Ad- 
dison Alexander."  In  a  private  letter,  the  same  lady  adds  : 
"  He  penetrated  my  soul  with  an  influence  which  time  can 
never  efface." 

A  lady  of  Philadelphia,  of  whose  hospitality  he  once  par- 
took during  the  lifetime  of  her  distinguished  husband,  writes 
that  she  well  remembers  that  visit ;  and  adds  that  the  privi- 
lege of  entertaining  him  was  so  coveted,  that  he  was  our  guest 
only  on  one  occasion.  "Dr.  Alexander  was  accompanied  by 
his  venerable  father."  The  imf)ression  which  the  younger  of 
the  two  made  upon  this  lady  w^as,  "that  of  a  man  all  onind^ 
noticing  no  one,  and  desiring  to  be  noticed  by  no  one ;  yet 
quietly  considerate  of  those  who  rendered  him  any  service, 
however  trivial."  Great  simplicity  of  manner,  and^a  very 
quiet  demeanour,  are  among  her  recollections  of  "  this  intel- 
lectually great  and  good  man."  She  has  heard  one  of  her  con- 
nections often  speak  of  Dr.  Alexander's  "remarkable  conversa- 
tional powers  when  at  ease  among  his  intimates,  his  sparkling 
wit,  and  the  rich  entertainment  he  afforded  his  associates  in 
the  freedom  of  old  friendship."  The  same  lady  adds  her  voice 
to  those  who  have  pronounced  as  to  the  character  of  his  dis- 
courses, and  the  reception  they  met  with  from  prominent  men 
of  the  city.  "  His  preaching,  for  the  most  part,  gathered  intel- 
lectual audiences.  There  was  a  simplicity  and  yet  a  sublimity 
about  his  utterances,  that  seemed  to  awe  his  hearers  into 
breathless  attention;  and  often  the  silent  tear  would  course 
down  the  cheek  of  the  strong  man.  (I  have  seen  it.)"  Even 
infidels  were  made  to  bow  their  heads.  "  His  power  over  the 
sceptical  mind,"  this  lady  thinks,  "  was  very  great."  She  re- 
gai'ded  Dr.  Addison  Alexander  "  as  a  preacher  for  cultivated 
and  intellectual  men,  not  for  the  masses ; "  but  says  his 
audiences  were  very  large,  generally  filling  all  the  pews  of  the 
church  where  he  preached. 

As  I  have  before  intimated,  the  extraordinary  impression 
of  his  pi-eaching  in  his   native  city  was  not  limited  to  the 


644  EFFECTS    UPON   PEOMEJTENT    JIEN.  [1847. 

efforts  which  grew  out  of  this  particular  engagement.     A  gen- 
tleman whose  judgment  will  be  valued  *  writes : 

"I  remember  well  tlio  last  time  I  liad  the  pleasure  of  liearing  Dr. 
J.  A.  Alexander  preach.  It  was  in  Philadelphia,  in  the  Sixth  Presby- 
terian Church.  His  subject  was  '  The  Kingdom  of  God.'  Immediately 
in  front  of  me  was  seated  one  of  the  most  brilliant  members  of  the 
Philadelphia  bar,  now  its  senior  member.  My  attention  was  divided 
between  tlie  preachtr  and  the  lawyer.  The  grandeur  and  power  dis- 
played in  the  pulpit  held  in  absorbed  admiration  the  intellect  accus- 
tomed to  win  its  triumphs  at  the  bar.  At  the  close  of  the  service  he  at 
once  started  from  his  seat,  and  reaching  over  two  pews  to  a  friend, 
eagerly  enquired,  'Who  is  that?— Who  is  that? '  " 

Another  friend  says : 

"His  preaching  was  appreciated  by  men  of  the  highest  culture  in 
Pliiladelphia.  I  have  often  known  my  father  to  send  word  to  Dr. 
Chapman,  Dr.  Patterson,  and  otliers  of  like  stamp,  some  of  whom  sel- 
dom went  to  church,  that  Dr.  Alexander  was  to  preach  on  a  certain 
evening,  and  they  were  always  glad  to  avail  themselves  of  the  oppor- 
tunity of  hearing  him."  t 

Some  idea  of  the  estimate  which  was  universally  placed 
upon  his  abilities  as  a  preacher  may  be  had  from  the  following 
statements  of  Dr.  Beach  Jones. 

His  licensure  and  ordination  to  the  ministry  having  taken 
l>lace  after  his  own  graduation,  it  was  not  his  privilege  to  hear 
him  preach  as  one  of  the  Theological  faculty.  Still,  he  occa- 
sionally enjoyed  the  opportunity  of  hearing  him,  both  on 
special  and  ordinary  occasions ;  and  in  the  pulpit,  as  well  as 
everywhere  else,  he  seemed  to  this  friend  to  tower  above  his 
fellows. 

"  The  two  published  volumes  of  his  sermons  convey  some  idea  of 
the  treasures  of  Divine  wisdom  and  knowledge  which  he  was  wont  to 
unfold;  the  endless  variety  of  his  method  of  constructing  his  dis- 

*  The  Kcv.  James  W.  Dale,  D.D.  of  Media,  Penn.  the  author  of  "Classic 
Baptism." 

•j-  The  Rev.  William  Harris,  of  Towanda,  Pcun. ;  son  of  the  late  Dr.  William 
Harris,  of  Philadelphia,  a  distinguished  physician  and  Presbyterian. 


-Bt.SS.]  his   PKES^TED   SEEMONS.  645 

courses;  his  exemption  from  the  fault  of  repeating  himself;  his  logica. 
vigour ;  his  rich  fancy ;  his  faultless  rhetoric ;  his  tender  pathos ;  and 
his  manifest  faith  in  all  he  uttered." 

Extraordinary,  though,  as  are  the  merits  of  most  of  bis 
loublislied  discourses,  none  of  them,  in  the  judgment  of  this 
writer,  equals  one  which  has  never  been  printed,  and  which 
the  Princeton  professor  delivered  at  the  installation  of  the 
Rev.  William  Henry  Green,  as  Pastor  of  the  Central  Church 
of  Philadelphia. 

"The  sermon  was  founded  on  1  Peter  v.  1-i;  and  combined  logical 
power  with  rhetorical  beauty  and  thrilling  appeal,  beyond  any  dis- 
course which  I  ever  heard.  The  first  part  of  the  sermon  was  a  mas- 
sive and,  as  it  seemed  to  me  and  others,  an  irrefutable  argument  for 
ministerial  parity;  while  the  second  was  a  sublime  picture  of  'the 
appearing  of  the  Chief  Shepherd,'  and  of  'the  crown  of  glory'  re- 
served for  faithful  ministers." 

No  competent  judge,  so  this  gentleman  thinks,  can  atten- 
tively read  his  printed  sermons  without  a  conviction  of  the 
colossal  powers  and  the  amazing  attainments  of  the  preacher. 
But  no  adequate  conception  of  these  powers  and  attainments 
can  he  had  until  it  is  known  that  in  all  probability  not  one  of 
these  sermons  was  designed  by  the  author  for  jmblication ; 
that  instead  of  being  painfully  elaborated  for  days  and  weeks, 
they  were  composed  and  written  off  with  more  rapidity  than 
an  ordinary  writer  could  even  copy  them.  Such  was  the  dis- 
cipline of  their  author's  mind,  and  so  complete  his  mastery  of 
his  knowledge,  that  he  could  compose  and  write  off  a  discourse, 
or  a  review  for  a  Quarterly,  in  less  time  than  most  men  would 
devote  to  the  mere  mechanical  work  of  writino-. 

The  power  of  Dr.  Alexander  as  a  preacher,  he  considers, 
lay  mainly  in  the  intrinsic  richness  of  his  matter. 

"  He  availed  himself  scarce  at  all  of  the  ordinary  aids  of  oratory. 
His  voice  was  indeed  musical  and  resonant;  but  its  intonations  were  as 
natural  and  simple  as  ordinary  conversation.  There  was  in  his  persona] 
appearance,  especially  in  his  majestic  head,  an  air  of  imperial  grandeur 
which  reminded  me  and  many  another  of  tlie  great  Napoleon." 


646  HIS  PIETY.  [1847. 

But  the  writer  jurlged  him  to  be  as  free  from  assumed  airs 
of  importance,  or  efforts  for  effect,  as  it  is  possible  for  a 
speaker  to  be.  He  was  sparing  in  the  use  of  gesture,  and 
always  preached  as  he  felt.  If  his  sermon  took  strong  hold 
on  his  own  feelings,  he  soon  showed  it. 

"  Ills  thorongh  sincerity  and  honesty  deterred  him  from  assuming  a 
measure  of  feeling  which  at  the  time  he  did  not  cherish.  I  question 
whether  any  man  ever  knew  him  guilty  of  that  form  of  hypocrisy 
which  lias  been  wittily  described  as  'stale  indignation,  and  fervour  of 
a  week  old.' " 

This  was  one  great  secret  of  his  power  over  men. 

''I  knew  him  to  be  sincere;  I  felt  sure  that  he  would  resort  to  no 
oratorical  tricks.  I  could  not  but  IclI  the  power  of  thoroujj;h  honesty, 
and  of  a  'faith  unfeigned.'  I  know  that  in  expounding  God's  Woid 
he  was  almost  sure  of  communicating  its  right  meaning,  nnd  that  in 
arguing  and  appealing  he  would  employ  no  considerations  but  such  as 
had  carried  conviction  to  his  own  mind." 

Dr.  Jones  then  goes  on  as  follows,  in  reference  to  the 
qualities  of  his  diction  and  his  piety : 

"  The  rhetorical  beauties  of  his  sermons  were  not  artificial  flowers, 
but  the  spontaneous  products  of  a  teeming  fancy.  Not  even  his  most 
masterly  sermons  smell  in  the  least  of  oil.  His  figures  are  evi'lently 
never  '  beaten  on  the  anvil,'  as  was  said  of  another.  Like  Robert 
Hall,  he  never  imported  his  imagery  ;  because  it  .'sprang  up  indigenously 
from  the  exuberant  soil  of  his  own  fertile  imaginaticm. 

"And  the  crowning  excellence  of  his  preaching  was  the  promi- 
nence he  habitually  gave  to  the  peculiar  doctrines  of  the  gosjiel,  the 
glorious  truths  ot'  Grace  and  Redemption,  in  the  me.ssages  lie  delivered. 
When  we  consider  how  multifarious  was  Dr.  Alexander's  knowledge, 
and  how  easy  to  him  had  been  the  task  of  entertaining  his  audiences 
by  discourses  on  curious  and  recondite  themes,  or  of  dazzling  them 
with  mere  displays  of  the  sublime  and  beautiful,  and  then  read  what 
he  actually  choss  to  preach,  we  must  feel  that  he  was  indeed  a  heiald 
of  'the  glorious  go-^pel  of  the  blc'^sed  God,'  and  that  ho  never  in  the 
pulpit  lost  tight  of  Lis  high  aud  holy  calling." 

When  Dr.  Alexander  first  began  to  make  a  noise  in  Phila- 


^1.88.]  HE    ABHOEEED   NOTOEIETT.  647 

delpbia  as  a  learned  and  eloquent  divine,  he  commonly  lodo-ed 
at  hotels.  But  his  many  vvarna  personal  friends  in  the  city 
soon  persuaded  him  out  of  this  remorseless  habit,  and  induced 
him  to  stay  now  and  then  at  private  houses.* 

Yet  it  should  seem  that  he  continued  to  prefer  the  inde- 
pendence and  security  from  recognition  which  he  could  enjoy 
only  at  an  inn.  He  loved  to  be  treated  in  a  carelessly  friendly 
manner;  but  the  hangers-on  and  the  polite  Athenians  of  the 
city  would  make  a  lion  of  him  in  spite  of  all  he  could  do. 
This  he  abhorred,  and  rebelled  against.  On  this  point  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Harris  writes  : 

"One  striking  trait  of  Dr.  Alexander  was  his  utter  detestation  of 
being  lionized.  He  hated  to  be  visited  bv  or  introduced  to  people  who 
came  to  stare  at  him  as  a  literary  curiosity.  I  remember  bearing  my 
mother  bantering  him  once  in  regard  to  this,  and  proposing  to  build  a 
back  stairway  from  the  pulpit,  by  which  be  might  avoid  the  lionizers, 
who  lay  in  wait  for  him  at  the  foot  of  the  pulpit  stairs.  I  have  heard 
many  amusing  anecdotes  of  how  be  sometimes  avoided  and  sometimes 
repelled  these  Leo  Hunters." 

There  are  many  of  these  stories  in  currency,  some  of  which 
are  true  and  others,  no  doubt,  false.  Dr.  Alexander  hated  to 
be  stopped  on  his  Avay  out  of  church,  and  if  the  dreaded  chalice 
of  flattery  were  unwarily  commended  to  his  lips  at  such  mo- 
ments, he  would  dash  it  from  him  as  if  it  had  been  the  poison 
of  asps,  and  sometimes  say  hard  things  to  the  person  who  ad- 
ministered it. 

*  "The  truth  is,"  writes  the  late  Dr.  Joseph  H.  Jones,  one  of  Lis  best  friends, 
"I  cannot  possibly  call  to  mind  much  concerning  that  extraordinary  scholar, 
preacher,  and  critic,  companion  and  friend,  that  reads  well  enough  to  be 
printed.  I  really  saw  less  of  Dr.  Addison  Alexander  and  knew  less  than  is 
commonly  supposed.  He  was  so  retiring  in  his  tastes,  preferring  the  seclusion 
of  a  hotel  to  the  parlour  of  a  private  family,  that  he  would  not  be  my  guest 
very  often,  much  as  I  desired  it.  I  beheve  that  one  of  his  last  letters  was 
written  to  me  requesting  me  to  take  his  place  in  the  chapel  on  Sunday.  I  can- 
not find  it;  much  to  my  regret.  My  brother.  Judge  Jones,  was  then  nt  the 
point  of  death,  and  I  could  not  go.  He  lived  but  two  or  three  d.ys  after  iny 
reply;  to  which  he  responded,  expressing  his  regret  and  sympnthy.  Tlie  spirits 
of  both  were  separated  but  a  short  time  on  their  ascent." 


64B  DE.  EEAD.  [1847. 

Althougli  Philadelphia  was  the  scene  of  most  of  his  high- 
est efforts  in  the  pulpit,  he  occasionally  held  large  audiences 
enchained  in  other  places.  A  very  intelligent  lady  once  asked 
me  about  a  sermon  she  had  heard  him  preach  in  Newark,  and 
which  she  said  affected  her  profoundly  and  in  such  a  way  that 
all  the  attendant  circumstances  were  stamped  upon  her  recol- 
lection. She  remarked  that  it  excited  in  her,  and  in  a  high 
degree,  the  sense  of  the  sublime  and  the  pathetic.  It  was,  I 
think,  the  one  on,  "What  I  do  thou  knowest  not  now;"  or 
perhaps  the  one  on,  "  Clouds  and  darkness ;  "  or  possibly  the 
one  on  "  Lot's  wife."     My  memory  on  this  point  is  not  clear. 

These  effects  were  sometimes  produced  even  upon  a  New 
York  audience.  A  gentleman  of  that  city  has  stated  to  me 
that  he  once  heard  Professor  Addison  Alexander  in  Duane 
street  preach  the  most  eloquent  and  powerful  discourse  he  had 
ever  listened  to  from  any  man.  It  was  from  the  text  which 
marks  one  of  his  most  noted  sermons :  "  The  sacrifices  of  God 
are  a  broken  spirit :  a  broken  and  a  contrite  heart,  O  God, 
thou  wilt  not  despise," 

But  the  most  extraordinary  evidence  on  this  head  is  con- 
tained in  the  subjoined  account,  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  A. 
Read,  of  Richmond,  formerly  of  the  Pearl  Street  Church,  New 
York.  A  man  who  could  thus  bind  the  soul  of  a  sceptical 
newspaper  reporter  must  have  certainly  possessed  the  true 
afflatus  of  the  orator  : 

"Snme  twenty-five  years  ago,  during  my  ministry  in  New  York, 
Dr.  Addison  Alexander  delivered  a  discourse,  by  special  invitation,  at 
the  anniversary  of  the  New  York  Bible  Society,  in  tbe  old  Broadway 
Tabernacle,  near  tbe  corner  of  Broadway  and  Pearl  street.  That  spa- 
cious edifice,  which  bad  been  converted  from  a  theatre  to  a  bouse  of 
worship,  was  densely  filled ;  and  I  well  remember  tbe  peculiar  solem- 
nity of  the  occasion,  from  tbe  commencement  to  tbe  close  of  tbe  exer- 
cises. About  that  time  tbe  custom  of  rejwrtlng  sermons,  in  some  of 
tbe  secular  papers  of  largest  circulation,  was  quite  common  ;  and  in  thai 
edifice  tbe  professional  reporters  were  accommodated  wit'.i  seats  and 
tables  immediately  before  the  pulpit,  on  occasions  of  special  interest. 
Among  these  was  one  whom  I  liad  known  as  an  expert  in  bis  profes- 


^T.88.]  EFFECTS    UPON   A   EEPOETER.  649 

sion,  serving  in  the  interest  of  one  of  the  least  religious  and  most 
widely  circulated  of  the  secular  papers  of  the  land,  himself  makinc  no 
pretension  to  religion. 

_  "Seated  at  his  tahle,  with  paper  and  pencil  before  him,  he  awaited 
his  task,  taking  no  interest  apparently  in  the  introductory  devotional 
services,  which  were  peculiarly  solemn  and  impressive.  My  position 
afforded  a  full  view  of  the  preacher  and  the  reporter.  Dr.  Alexander 
announced  his  test  as  from  2  Tim.  ii.  9,  which  the  reporter  noted  down 
and  paused.  In  clear  tones  of  sweet  simplicity,  the  text  —  '  The  Word 
OF  God  is  not  bound '-reached  every  part  of  the  house,  and  seemed 
to  hill  as  with  a  holy  spell  upon  every  ear.  The  reporter's  vocation 
there  ^^^  forgotten ;  he  was  ^houncV  by  the  preacher,  as  he  unfolded 
the  sentiment  of  the  text;  and  never  a  word  more  did  he  write  save 
the  chapter  and  verse  of  the  text. 

"The  sermon  impressed  the  vast  congregation  profoundly  not 
only  by  its  evangelical  spirit  and  chaste  power  of  thought  and  diction 
but  by  the  unmistakable  profound  conviction  of  the  importance  of  the 
theme  on  the  part  of  the  preacher,  and  the  holy  unction  wliich  was 
upon  him  and  which  was  breathed  through  him  upon  the  assembly  I 
wdl  not  attempt  to  give  a  sketch  of  the  sermon ;  it  is  among  his  pub- 
hshed  discourses:  simple,  earnest,  thorough  in  unpretending  scholar- 
ship, and  true  to  the  high  purposes  of  the  ministry  of  the  gospel,  as  well 
as  fitted  to  the  occasion.  I  am  carried  back  when  I  read  or  hear  that 
sentence— 'The  Woud  of  God  is  not  bound'  — to  that  Sabbath 
evening  in  the  'Broadway  tabernacle; '  the  speaker's  tones  are  repro- 
duced, and  the  spirit  in  which  lie  delivered  that  message  comes  over 
me  with  fresh  power. 

"  At  the  close  of  the  service  the  reporter  came  hurriedly  to  the  place 
where  I  was  standing,  and,  taking  me  by  the  arm,  said,  'Do  you  know 
Dr.  Alexander?-!  wish  an  introduction  — I  came  here  to  report 
his  sermon  for  our  morning  issue,  but  have  been  too  much  ab- 
sorbed to  take  a  single  note  of  it;  if  he  will  entrust  me  with  his 
manuscript  it  shall  be  published  entire.'  The  introduction  followed 
and  the  complimentary  solicitation  was  with  characteristic  modesty 
declined. 

"Dr.  Alexander  was  as  separate  from  the  class  of  '  sensation  preach- 
ers' in  style  and  aim,  as  he  was  superior  to  them  in  spirit  and  qualifica- 
tions; but  his  was  a  power  of  intellect,  an  elevation  of  purpose,  and  a 
simple  holy  charm -as  impressed  upon  my  affectionate  memory  of 
him  — which  was  adapted  to  arrest' and  transfix  the  attention  of  sancti- 
fied and  unsanctified  minds." 
28 


650  AN   ANECDOTE.  [1847. 

Among  the  sermons  preached  by  Mr.  Alexander  were  some 
which  were  considered,  I  am  told,  of  "such  superlative 
merit,"  that  he  Avould  not  unfrcqueutly  be  requested  to  repeat 
them,  for  the  gratification  of  those  who  had  not  heard  them ; 
and  in  more  than  one  instance  the  writer  whose  memoranda  I 
am  now  using,*  lias  known  of  his  refusing  such  requests  ;  es- 
,  pecially  where  they  were  accompanied  by  complimentary  re- 
marks : 

"I  can  recall,"  he  says,  "an  incident  whicli  exemplifies  his  aversion 
to  flattery  and  his  dislike  to  display ;  while  at  the  same  time  it  indi- 
cates his  tenderness  of  conscience  and  his  kindliness  of  feeling. 

"During  a  vacancy  in  the  pastorate  of  an  important  church,  he, 
with  others,  was  occasionally  invited  to  supply  the  pulpit.  On  one  of 
these  occasions  an  officer  of  the  church  waited  upon  him  and  obtained 
a  promise  to  preach  on  a  given  Sunday,  and  at  the  same  time  to  become 
his  guest.  Before  leaving,  the  gentleman  added,  '  Dr.  Alexander,  I 
have  heard  much  of  a  great  sermon  of  yours  on  'Remember  Lot's 
wife ; '  I  want  you  to  preach  it  to  our  people.'  '  I  shall  not  do  it !  sir,' 
was  his  curt  and  only  reply;  and,  somewhat  chop-fallen,  that  his  flat- 
tery had  not  'taken,'  the  gentleman  took  his  leave.  At  the  time  and 
place  appointed  Dr.  A.  made  his  appearance.  Nothing  was  said  during 
the  evening  about  the  sermons  to  be  preached  the  next  day :  but  after 
his  host  had  ushered  him  to  his  bedroom,  and  just  as  he  was  about  to 

bid  him  good-night,  the  Doctor  said  in  a  quiet  way,  '  Mr. ,  yon 

mentioned  a  particular  sermon  which  you  should  like  me  to  preach.  1 
have  brought  it,  sir ; '  and  he  did  preach  it  on  the  following  day.  As 
well  as  if  lie  had  himself  disclosed  the  processes  of  his  mind  can  those 
who  knew  the  man  understand  both  his  refusal  and  his  consent  to 
preach  the  discourse  referred  to.  His  taste  and  finer  feelings  revolted 
at  the  flattery  bestowed  on  his  '  great  sermon.'  He  shrank  from  the 
prospect  of  preaching  before  a  congregation  in  which,  for  days,  it  had 
been  trumpeted  that  he  was  to  preach  a  '  great  sermon.'  And  yet,  after 
reflecting  upon  the  curtncss  of  his  refusal,  he  doubtless  felt  sorry  at 
having  wounded  the  feeling  of  a  well-meaning,  though  not  over-deli- 
cate man,,  and  magnanimously  resolved  to  make  the  best  reparation  in 
his  power." 

He  thus  sometimes  repelled  persons  of  rare  delicacy,  who 

*  Dr.  Jones,  of  Eridgcton. 


^.38.]  DE.    McGILL   HEAES   HIM  PEEACH.  651 

at  subsequent  interviews  won   greatly  upon  his  regards,  as 
well  as  some  who  were  already  his  friends, 

^  The  reminiscences  of  Dr.  McGill  relative  to  this  point  and 
this  very  period  are  exactly  in  place  here.     He  writes : 

"  The  first  time  I  ever  saw  Dr.  J.  Addison  Alexander,  he  was  in  the 
pulpit  of  the  Tenth  Presbyterian  Church  of  Philadelphia  (Dr.  Board- 
man's),  where  he  was  regularly  supplying  the  congregation  Li  the  ab- 
sence of  the  pastor,  who  had  gone  to  Europe  for  the  reinvigoration  of 
his  health. 

"It  was  in  the  afternoon  of  a  warm  summer  Sabbath  [of  184:7]. 
But  the  church  was  crowded  to  overflowing.  I  had  preached  in  the 
morning  for  my  friend  Dr.  Willis  Lord,  of  the  Seventh  Church,  and 
was  languid  and  uncomfortable  in  the  crowd,  so  much  fo  as  to  feel  sure 
tliat  none  but  a  powerful  preacher  could  interest  and  impress  me  in  the 
service." 

The  manner  of  the  speaker  in  beginning  the  services  was 
not  attractive,  and  did  not  altogether  prepossess  one,  on  ac- 
count of  a  rather  hurried  movement  and  the  minister's  appa- 
rent carelessness  in  reading  the  Scriptures. 

"And  the  opening  prayer  itself,  though  rich  and  fluent,  abundantly 
indicating  both  the  gilt  and  the  gnice  of  prnyer,  was  so  condensed  and 
rapid  in  the  transitions,  that  I  was  forcibly  reminded  of  John  Foster's 
criticism  on  Eobert  Hall  in  this  particular  — that  he  had  too  much 
enumeration,  and  advanced  so  rapidly  as  not  to  atFord  time  enough  to 
kindle  the  fervour  of  devotion  at  any  one  confession  or  petition." 

Notwithstanding  this,  the  effect  of  the  preparatory  exer- 
cises was  on  the  whole  good  ;  as  it  left  the  hearer  in  readiness 
"to  appreciate  any  message  God  would  send  by  such  lips, 
ready,  glowing,  and  accustomed,  however  fast  and  impatient 
to  the  ears  of  a  stran^-er." 

The  text  was  Psalm  xcvii.  2 :  "  Clouds  and  darkness  are 
round  about  him  ;  righteousness  and  judgment  are  the  habita- 
tion of  his  throne,"  which  is  one  of  his  great  sermons  that  has 
never  been  printed. 

"  Without  the  slightest  appearance  of  ambition  to  impress  himself 
on  his  audience,  and  with  a  total  absence  pf  the  sensational  in  the 


652  DISDAIN   OF   AET.  £1847, 

structure,  diction,  and  manner  of  delivery,  overyear  was  engrossed  and 
every  mind  carried  captive  by  the  massive  grandeur  of  that  sermon. 
It  was  chavactei-istic  of  the  man ;  perfectly  natural,  earnest,  and  irre- 
sistible in  logic  aad  eloquence." 

The  Avriter  adds  liis  testimony  to  the  fact  that  he  was  then 
probably  at  the  height  of  his  popularity  as  a  preacher ;  and 

"Was  just  opening  his  eyes  to  the  discovery  that  he  was  a  public 
favourite  in  the  pulpit.  This  was  more  than  he  could  bear,  apparently. 
Unlike  many  others,  when  they  begin  to  realize  the  admiration  of  the 
public  gaze,  instead  of  putting  on  the  arts  which  seek  to  sustain  and 
increase  it,  he  seemed  to  renounce  the  art  of  oratory  from  that  time, 
as  much  as  it  could  be  done  consistently  with  the  rights  of  truth  and 
the  ordinary  dictates  of  good  taste." 

The  disdain  of  art  was  manifest,  he  says,  even  at  that  time, 
and  continued  to  the  end  of  his  life.  The  writer  believes  that 
Dr.  Addison  Alexander  resolutely  resigned  what  he  might 
have  reached  and  held,  "the  character  of  the  most  mighty 
preacher  as  well  as  scholar  on  our  continent."  "  I  never  knew 
any  man,"  he  continues,  "so  little  covetous  of  fame  and  favour 
among  men.  If  he  could  have  preached  on  without  being 
madeliware  that  he  was  followed  by  the  admiring  crowd,  he 
would  now  be  written  with  Whitefield,  Davics,  and  Mason, 
among  the  names  which  adorn  the  American  pulpit  with  the 
greatest  achievements  of  Christian  eloquence." 

"Tliis  recoiling  sensibility  descended  from  the  pulpit  with  him,  and 
led  him  to  pass  by  the  multitude  of  his  impressed  and  profited  hearers 
with  indifference  of  manner  which  repelled  them,  exciting  feelings  of 
disappointment  and  even  irritation  at  times.  Standing  at  the  door,  on 
the  occasion  referred  to,  and  awaiting  his  tardy  retirement  from  the 
church,  that  I  might  obtain  an  introduction  to  liiin,  and  an  opportunity 
to  express  the  gratification  and  debt  I  felt  for  his  discourse,  he  received 
me  curtly  and  coldly,  so  as  to  seal  my  lips  effectually  and  render  it 
quite  impossible,  if  I  had  been  so  disposed,  to  offer  him  the  slightest 
incense  of  either  gratitude  or  compliment." 

He  could  not  forget  the  sermon,  however,  and  rarely  has  any 
discourse  he  ever  heard  from  him  faded  from  his  recollection. 


-ET.38.J  AT   THE   HOUSE    OF   DE.    HARRIS.  653 

"Earnest  power,  and  profonnd  sensibility,  the  pertinence  and  di- 
rectness of  every  thought,  and  every  ilhistration,  and  withal  that  per- 
fect mastery  of  tbo  instrument,  language,  in  which  no  man  has  ever 
excelled  him,  made  him  the  most  attractive  to  me  (.fall  preachers,  and 
has  lefr,  upon  me  impressions  never  to  be  effaced.  Perhaps  the  exegetio 
overflow  of  his  mind  and  its  peculiar  fondness  for  running  parallel 
with  the  sacred  text,  to  note  every  sens3  it  bears,  expressed  or  implied, 
abated  the  synthetic  power,  with  which  unity  of  expression  is  made  in 
preaching.  Perhaps,  also,  exegesis  formed  too  large  a  proportion  in 
his  discourses  often  for  the  popular  taste,  especially  in  the  later  period 
of  his  life.  But  he  was  nev^r  insipid  or  prosy  —  never  without  emo- 
tion and  imagination,  enough  to  impress  any  attentive  hearer  with  in- 
struction and  delight." 

This  disposition  to  check  every  approach  of  flattery  or 
even  honest  praise  worked  in  him  to  the  end. 

At  no  house  in  Philadelphia  was  Mr.  Alexander  more  cor- 
dially received  than  at  Dr.  Harris's,  and  there  were  few  places 
be  ever  visited,  where  he  felt  more  delightfully  at  home, 
or  where  there  were  more  persons  for  whom  he  felt  a  special 
kindness. 

"My  mother,"  continues  Mr.  Harris,  "recalled  one  incident,  exhib- 
iting a  trait  cf  Dr.  Addison's  character,  which  I  do  not  think  the  world 
at  large  generally  understood,  viz.,  an  unconquerable  disposition  at  times 
to  icithdraio  into  himself,  during  which  seasons  he  felt  himself  to  be 
uncompanionable.  It  was  from  coming  in  contact  with  him  in  these 
cloister  periods,  that  many  thought  him  unapproachable  and  brusque. 
You  know  it  was  his  habit  to  come  to  my  father's  (during  the  '  Board- 
man  period'),  on  Saturday  to  dinner,  and  to  remain  until  Mondny;  Sat- 
urdiy  afternoon  being  generally  spent  in  some  excursion  with  my  father, 
from  which,  by  the  way,  they  generally  returned  in  high  spirits,  and 
fall  of  anecdote  and  badinage  in  regard  to  their  adventures.  One  Sat- 
urday, he  did  not  make  his  appearance,  and  on  my  mother's  enquiring 
the  cause,  the  next  day  at  church,  he  replied  that  he  had  'felt  cross,' 
and  did  not  think  himself  good  company,  and  therefore  had  gone  to  a 
hotel.  My  mother  told  him  he  must  not  do  so  again ;  that  his  room  was 
always  ready  for  him  ;  and  if  he  did  not  feel  companionable,  he  might 
shut  liimself  up  there  as  in  his  own  study,  and  we  should  understand 
the  reason.  He  always  came  after  that,  but  I  do  not  know  that  he 
ever  made  use  of  the  privilege  of  secluding  himself.    Probably  the  true 


C54  TWO   EVENI]S"GS    WITH   DR.    ALEXANDER.  [1847 

genial  nature  of  tho  man  was  nowhere,  out  of  Lis  own  homc-cifcle, 
more  clearly  manifestel  than  at  our  house.  I  liave  known  him  sit  and 
gcssij) — yes,  gossip — with  my  mother  by  the  hour,  in  regard  to  per- 
sons who  had  been  her  contemporaries,  and  wliora  he  knew  through 
his  father;  wh.le,  as  I  before  remarked,  lie  joked  with  my  father,  in 
almost  boyish  fashion." 

I  give  here  a  graphic  sketch  of  him,  by  the  hand  of  one 
of  his  pupils.* 

"Every  enthusiastic  student,  probably,  has  his  'hero-worship  ; '  and 
during  my  student-life  at  Princeton,  the  object  of  my  most  reverent 
homage  was  Dr.  Addison  Alexander.  To  tliis  hour,  I  love  to  cherish 
even  the  sliglitest  recollection  of  him,  and  he  still  appears  by  far  the 
most  remarkiilile  man  with  whom  I  have  ever  come  into  intimate  con- 
tact. The  world  saw  him  afar  off;  to  those  who  came  tlie  nigliest  he 
seemed  the  greatest.  To  the  churches  of  America,  Addison  Alexander 
was  chiefly  known  as  tlie  profound  Hebraist,  and  the  erudite  commen- 
tator. To  thousands  in  the  Middle  States,  he  was  known  as  one  of  the 
foremost  preachers  of  the  age.  To  the  privileged  few,  who  were  wont 
to  meet  him  at  the  hearthstone,  he  was  one  of  the  most  brilliant  and 
suggestive  of  conversers,  and  one  of  the  most  warm-hearted  of  friends. 
Two  evenings,  in  which  I  listened  to  him  as  a  converser  and  as  a 
preacher,  are  so  vivid  in  my  memory  that  I  cannot  refrain  from 
sketching  tliem. 

"  But  lew  knew  Professor  Alexander  at  the  fireside  ;  for,  from 
early  boyhood,  he  was  a  recluse  from  promiscuous  society.  "NVheJi  a 
lad,  he  preferred  to  stretch  himself  on  the  carpet,  with  his  book,  while 
his  school-fellows  were  busy  with  their  top  or  their  kite.  Tlii-;  modtst 
shyness  rather  grew  than  diminished.  He  is  the  only  man  I  ever  knew 
to  whom  popularity  was  a  positive  annoyance. 

"  One  of  the  first  evenings  I  ever  spent  with  him,  was  during  his 
residence  in  the  '  Breckinridge  House,'  opposite  the  Lenox  Library. 
I  found  him  with  the  notes  of  his  Isaiah  before  him ;  and  as  he  was 
wearied  with  writing  in  a  standing  posture  at  an  upright  desk,  he  was 
ready  for  a  chair  and  a  chat.  At  that  time,  his  full,  rosy  clieeks  be- 
tokened exuberant  henlih.  His  square,  intellectual  head  (which  we 
students,  looking  at  him  from  the  church-galleries,  us jd  to  say  'luoked 
like  NapoleonV),  would  have  arrested  attention  anywhere  ly  its  mas- 

*  "Two  Evenings  with  Professor  Alexander."    By  Rev.  T.  L.  Cuyler,  D.D. 


^T.38.]  HIS   HUMOUK   INEXHAUSTIBLE.  655 

siveness.  The  plaintive,  melodious  voice,  the  occasional  playful  smile, 
and  the  singular  tnoveinent  of  his  eyelid,  all  the  Semiuarj  students  of 
that  day  will  recall  in  a  moment. 

"  Two  hours  of  that  never-to-be-forgotten  winter  evening  rapidly  ran 
away  under  his  brilliant  and  vivacious  talk.     His  reminiscences  of  the 
German  Universities,  of  an  amusing  journey  with  a  Popish  bishop  in 
Italy,  and  of  continental  scholars,  were  mingled  with  the  criticisms  of 
new  books,  and  of  the  latest  caricatures  in  PuncTi.     '  The  charm  to  me, 
in  Punch,''  said  ho,  'is,  that  I  always  feel  that  its  writers  are  all  men 
who  are  equal  to  greater  things.''    No  man  enjoyed  genuine  wit  mora 
than  Professor  Alexander;  for  his  own  humour  was  inexhaustible. 
Sometimes  it  found  vent  through  the  pages  of  the  Princeton  Pveview, 
at  the  expense  of  poor  '  Calvin  Colton,'  and  of  the  Oxford  Tractarians. 
Sometimes  it  spent  itself  in  a  series  of  unique  little  newspapers,  exe- 
cuted with  his  own  pen,  for  the  diversion  of  Dr.  Hodge's  children. 
One  of  these  mirth-moving  papers,  in  the  style  of  Thomas  Hood,  lies 
before  us  this  morning.     It  is  called  '  The  Ridge  Recorder,  printed  at 
Breckin-Ridge,'     It  contains,  among  other  things,  a  ludicrous  account 
a  '  terrible /re  that  broke  out  to-day  in  the  Kisterbock  stove  ; '  and  an 
advertisement  of  a  'Seminary  for  Chickens,'  in  the  back-yard,  where 
'Professor  Chanticleer'  taught  croioing ,  &-aCi   'Peter  Pullet'  was  the 
'  Clerk  of  the  Faculty.'     With  such  pleasant  recreations  did  his  great 
intellect  refresh  itself  while  producing  his  magnificent  work  on  Isaiah. 
"Of  that  work,  he  showed  me  some  of  the  manuscripts.     They 
were  written  in  a  round  '  back-hand,'  with  remarkable  legibility.     Pro- 
fessor Alexander,  with  his  characteristic  dislike  of  self-repetition,  some- 
times relieved  the  drudgery  of  the  pen  by  altering  his  penmanship. 
Some  of  the  rough  drafts  of  his  Commentary  were  even  written  in  a 
circle  over  huge  sheets  of  paper.    He  once  told  me  that,  to  avoid  the 
tedium  of  the  recitation-room,  he  never  taught  two  consecutive  classes 
by  the  same  method  entirely;  nor  did  he  call  the  roll  two  days  in  ex- 
actly the  same  order.     This  love  of  variety  he  carried  into  the  prepara- 
tion of  his  discourses ;  for  we  cannot  now  recall  any  two  that  were 
constructed  on  the  same  model. 

"  We  have  said  that  he  lived  a  life  of  studious  seclusion.  But  when 
he  travelled,  he  had  an  eye  and  an  ear  for  everything.  His  brother 
James  was  not  a  more  observing  and  entertaining  companion.  If  a 
Boswell  had  always  been  within  hearing,  he  might  have  preserved  a 
volume  of  acute  and  racy  observations.  Sitting  once  beside  Professor 
Alexander,  in  the  Senate-Chamber  at  Washington,  he  whispered  to 
me,  '  Just  notice  how  the  presiding  officer  puts  all  the  bills  promptly 


856  THE   SECOISTD    EVENING.  0847. 

to  vote,  on  tho  presumption  that  all  the  speaking  is  to  he  avoided,  if 
possible.  If  he  were  tlio  Moderator  of  our  General  Assembly,  he  would 
say,  '  h;is  any  brother  any  remarks  to  offer? ' 

"  A  more  fertile  mind  was  never  given  to  the  American  pulpit.  No 
man  ever  saw  the  bottom  of  that  profound,  teeming,  inexhaustible  in- 
tellect. His  memory  was  Herculean.  From  a  single  reading,  he  could 
commit  a  whole  discourse;  and  he  has  been  known  to  repeat  a  whole 
class-roll  in  alphabetical  order,  although  the  roll  had  been  called  but 
once  in  his  hearing.  Within  a  few  years,  the  world  has  lost  two  great 
storehouses  of  knowledge  :  one  was  the  memory  of  Lord  Maoaulay, 
the  other  wa^  tho  memory  of  Dr.  Addison  Alexander.  Each  of  these 
extraordinary  men  spent  those  hours  in  acquiring  new  thoughts,  whicli 
men  of  feebler  memories  waste  in  fruitless  attempts  to  recall  those 
things  that  are  wholly  forgotten. 

"  The  second  evening,  which  now  comes  before  me,  was  passed,  not 
beside  Dr.  Alexander  at  the  fireside,  but  before  him  in  the  pulpit.  It 
was  during  that  winter  of  1847  when  he  supplied  the  pulpit  of  the  Eev. 
Dr.  Boardman,  then  travelling  in  Europe.  All  Philadelphia  flocked  to 
hear  him.  The  most  distinguished  lawyers  of  that  city  were  glad  to  find 
seats  in  the  aisles,  or  a  standing-place  in  the  crowded  vestibule.  It 
was  during  that  season  that  he  delivered  nearly  all  of  his  most  celebrated 
and  powerful  discourses.  Among  them  were  his  sermons  on  'The 
Faithful  Saying,'  'the  Broken  and  Contrite  Heart,'  'Awake,  thou  that 
Sleepest,'  '  It  doth  not  yet  appear  what  we  shall  be,'  and 'Pvemember 
Lot's  wife.'   The  first-mentioned  of  these  was  the  most  perfect ;  *  but  the 

*  This  sermon,  as  delivered  the  following  year  in  New  York,  made  a  deep 
impression  on  the  mind  of  a  son  of  his  old  preceptor,  Dr.  Baird.  Prof.  Henry 
M.  Baird,  of  the  University  of  the  City  of  New  York,  writes  as  follows : 

"Dr.  Alexander's  name  was  one  I  often  heard  in  the  home  of  my  child- 
hood :  for  he  was  a  favourite  pupil  of  my  father  tn  the  Academy  which,  for 
several  years  after  his  graduation  from  the  Seminary,  he  taught  in  Princeton ; 
and  he  frequently  referred  with  warm  interest  to  the  early  indications  of  that 
remarkable  grasp  of  intellect  which  afterwards  made  him  eminent  both  as  a 
philologist  and  as  a  theologian. 

"My  earliest  recollections  of  Dr.  Addison  Alexander  are  connected  with  a 
sermon  he  preached  in  the  Mercer  Street  Presbyterian  Church  in  the  City  of 
New  York,  on  the  6th  of  February,  1848.  It  was  one  of  a  scries  of  discourses 
by  ministers  of  promise  in  several  religious  denominations.  Bishop  Janes  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  the  Rev.  Drs.  Adams,  Cox,  and  Tyng, 
being  among  the  number.  The  text  was  one  of  those  salient  passages  of  the 
New  Testament,  on  which,  if  I  am  not  mistaken.  Dr.  Alexander  was  fond  of 


^T.38.]  ADDISONIAiq-   INFLECTIOiq-.  657 

last  one  was  the  most  popular.    The  impressions  produced  by  the  match- 
less discourses  of  that  series  can  never  be  effaced.     Finer  displays  of 
ooncinnate  exegesis,  of  bold  imaginative  flights,  of  soul-moving  appeal 
of  ricli,  strong,  arousing  presentation  of  Calvary  and  Christ,  the  Pres- 
byterian pulpit  of  our  day  has  not  lieard.     His  manner,  at  that  period 
of  Ins  life,  was  exceedingly  animated.     He  was  in  his  splendid  prime. 
His  voice  often  su-elled  into  a  volume  that  rolled  through  the  lobbies 
of  the  church,  and  reached  to  the  passers-by  i»  the  sfreet.     In  pathetic 
passages,  that  same  voice  had  the  plaintive  melody  of  a  lute      The 
nsmg  inflection  with  which  he  was  wont  to  close  his  sentences  will  at 
once  occur  to  many  of  my  readers.     This  peculiarity  was  sometimes 
insensibly  imitated  by  the  Seminary  students,  who  betrayed  thus  their 
Princeton  origin  by  this  rising  Addiso7iian  inflection.     Well  would  it 
be,  if  all  the  superb  attributes  of  Professor  Alexander's  ministrations 
could  be  transferred  to  every  pulpit  in  the  land !      On  the  evening  of 
which  we  write,  his  theme  was   'The  Broken  Heart.'     That  wliole 
marvellous  discourse,  with  its  pictures  of  the  scenes  'behind  the  veil ' 
where  the  sacrifices  were  being  oflered ;  with  its  wailing  outcry  of  con- 
trite spirits;  with  its  melting  exhibitions  of  the  soul's  penitence  and 
the  Saviour's  love;  all  moved  before  us  like  one  of  the  inspired  pano- 
ramas of  the  Apocalypse.     When  the  sermon  was  over,  a  clergyman 
whispered  to  me,  '  j^o  such  preaching  as  that  has  been  heard  since  the 
days  of  Dr.  Mason.' 

"It  is  a  thought-oh,  how  sorrowful  to  me  now  !— that  the  voice 
which  aa  melted  into  the  hearts  of  dying  men,  and  rose  so  lovingly  into 
the  ear  of  Jesus,  has  been  stilled  forever  on  our  earth.  As  I  take  down 
the  volumes  of  his  printed  discourses,  and  read  them  over,  I  can  hear 
that  bewitching  voice  again,  and  see  him  once  more,  as  he  stood  in  his 
fullest  inspiration  before  the  hushed  and  listening  assemblies.     I  hear 

taking  his  stand,  rather  than  upon  others  of  inferior  importance  or  of  disputed 
interpretation.  It  was  that  epitome  of  the  Gospel,  1  Tim.  i  15-  'This  is  a 
faithful  saying,  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation,  that  Christ  Jesus  came  into  the 
world  to  save  sinners,  of  whom  I  am  chief.'  It  made  a  deep  impression  on  my 
mmd;  so  simple  was  its  arrangement,  so  exhaustive  its  elucidation  of  the  im- 
port  of  every  word,  so  rich  and  appropriate  the  imagery  that  was  introduced 
to  lUustrate  it.  I  have  often  wished  to  hear  or  to  read  it  again,  and  I  re-ret 
that  It  could  not  have  found  a  place  among  the  collected  sermons  pubhshed 
a  few  years  ago.' 

The  history  of  this  sermon,  from  its  inception  in  the  mind  of  its  author  to 
the  partial  disintegration  in  the  MS.  would  be  a  remarkable  one.     It  was  not 
inserted  among  the  printed  discourses  merely  because  it  was  in  tatters 
28* 


^58  UNFINISHED    WORK.  [1847- 

ao-ain  those  vehement  appeals,  those  frequent  reiterations  of  the  text, 
and  those  long-sustained  passage^  that  swept  onward  so  sup.rbly  to 
their  climax.     All  this  is  now  but  a  fond  unfading  memory. 

''  The  en-raving  of  his  face,  as  it  looked  in  ruddy  and  stnkmg  beauty, 
hangs  before^  me.  His  books  stand  beside  me.  As  I  write  these  pom- 
words  of  affectionate  tribute  to  my  spiritual  benefactor,  I  look  towards 
my  little  library,  and  see  two  fatal  gaps.  And  I  ask  myself  who  will 
finish  yonder  magnificent  History,  since  Macaulay's  hand  has 'forgot  its 
cunnino-  ? '  Who  will  complete  yonder  afliuent  and  suggestive  Commen- 
tnries,  lince  Addison  Alexander  has  passed  from  the  studies  of  earth, 
into  the  clearer  light  and  loftier  knowledge  of  the  heavenly  world? 


CHAPTEE    XXIII. 

De.  Alexander  was  now  on  one  of  his  summer  excursions. 
The  only  trace  of  him  I  have,  outside  of  his  own  correspon- 
dence, is  in  a  letter  of  his  brother,  of  the  2Sth  of  July ;  he 
writes  thus  from  New  York :  "  Addison  is  here,  on  his  way 
to  orate  at  East  Windsor."  *  The  journeys  he  took  to  New 
England  always  pleased  him;  as  the  neatness  and  enterprise  of 
the  inhabitants,  and  the  beauty  of  the  country,  like  the  same 
phenomena  beyond  the  seas,  were  a  refreshing  change  to  him 
after  hard  study.  His  pleasure  when  at  the  South,  was  in  the 
mountain  scenery  of  certain  latitudes,  and  the  frank  and  en- 
gaging manners  of  the  people.  He  was  preeminently  a  citizen 
of  the  world  in  these  matters,  and  not  wedded  to  any  geogra- 
phical zone,  or  any  particular  degree  of  temperature.  He 
loved  agreeable  towns,  fine  landscapes,  and  intellectual,  cor- 
dial friends  wherever  he  found  them. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  William  Henry  Ruffner  writes  that  in  1848 
he  went  to  Princeton  to  be  licensed,  and  during  that  visit  saw 
"Dr.  Addison"  at  his  father's,  in  company  with  several  minis- 
ters of  Presbytery,  «  with  whom,"  he  says,  "  as  well  as  with 
myself,  he  conversed  with  genial  piquancy."  This  surprised  , 
and  charmed  him,  as  he  had  never  before  approached  him  in 
one  of  these  bright  moods,  and  he  says,  "I  felt  nearer  to  him 
afterwards." 

There  are  many  whose  impressions  of  Dr.  Addison  Alexan- 
der have  been  derived  from  momentary  or  occasional  glimpses, 
and  who  have  thus  totally  misconceived  his  large  and  fervent 
nature.     Tyndall  says,  there  were  times  when  the  «  silken  ad- 

*  Pam.  Let.,  Vol.  IL,  p.  86. 


660  A   SOLACE    FOE   ANI^OYANCES.  [1818. 

JGctives,"  delicate  and  tender,  could  not  be  applied  to  Fara- 
day ;  that  he  had  a  fiery  heart,  as  well  as  a  humble  mind. 
This,  with  his  true  nobleness  and  simj)licity,  showed,  he  thinks, 
his  greatness,  and  was  one  cause  of  his  fascination.  All  this 
is  true  as  regards  the  Princeton  commentator.* 

The  following  letter  to  his  brother  is  one  of  singular  interest. 
In  it  he  urges  him  to  carry  out  the  idea  of  "  a  popular  theology," 
which  the  elder  brotlier  had  confessed  to  be  needed.  "  Only 
think,"  he  says,  "of  being  the  popular  and  juvenile  Turretin  !  " 
If  he  will  not  do  this,  he  must  do  something.  He  may  elect 
between  a  popular  Church  History  and  a  Life  of  Christ.  The 
younger  brother  bad  too  many  irons  in  the  fire  already,  and 
wanted  to  get  rid  of  some  of  them,  and  was  perplexed  with 
doubts  about  certain  points  connected  with  the  Gospel  story, 
and  would  be  rejoiced  if  his  brother  would  take  the  thing  off 
his  hands.  He  had  found  the  writing  of  his  Isaiah,  on  the 
other  hand,  "  a  real  solace  for  annoyances."  The  reader  will 
be  likely  to  consider  this  a  strange  anodyne. 

"Peixcetox,  October  4th,  1848. 

"Dear  James: 

"Ever  since  you  spoke  of  a  popular  theology,  I  have  felt  convinced 
that  yon  ought  to  undertake  it.  The  plea  of  incompetency,  strikes  mo 
only  as  a  reflection  on  myself  and  others  for  attempting  anything. 
Only  think  of  being  the  popular  and  juvenile  Turretin !  If  you  will  not 
do  this,  do  something  else.     I  have  an  idea  to  suggest.     My  recent 

*  "  You  cannot  resolve  a  powerful  nature  into  these  elements  [sn-eetness  and 
gentleness],  and  Faraday's  character  would  have  been  less  admirable  than  it 
was,  had  it  not  embraced  forces  and  tendencies  to  which  the  silken  adjectives, 
'gentle' and 'tender' would  by  no  means  apply.  Underneath  his  sweetness 
and  gentleness,  was  the  heat  of  a  volcano.  He  was  a  man  of  excitable  and  fiery 
nature ;  but  through  high  self-discipline  he  had  converted  the  fire  into  a  cen- 
tral glow  and  motive-power  of  life,  instead  of  permitting  it  to  waste  itself  in 
useless  passion.  'He  that  is  slow  to  anger,'  saith  the  sage,  'is  greater  than 
the  mighty,  and  he  that  ruleth  his  own  spirit  than  he  that  takes  a  city.'  Fara- 
iay  was  not  slow  to  anger,  but  he  completely  ruled  his  own  spirit,  and  thus, 
though  he  took  no  cities,  he  captivated  all  hearts,"— Faraday  as  a  Discoverer. 
By  John  Tyndall.     Appleton  &  Co.,  1868,  p.  37. 


jEt.39.]  new   WOEKS    suggested.  661 

studies  have  suggested  several  plans  of  books,  wliich  I  should  like  to 
execute.  Some  of  these  lie  chiefly  in  my  own  peculiar  line  of  oriental- 
isin,  etc.  others  are  equally,  if  not  more,  in  yours.  Any  one  of  these 
projects  would  be  occupation  enough.  Tlieir  number  and  variety  dis- 
tracts me.  If  I  could  be  forestalled  in  some  of  them,  I  could  execute 
the  others  all  the  better.  From  this  perplexity,  you  can  relieve 
me.  You  may  choose  between  the  Life  of  Christ  and  the  popular 
Church  History,  If  you  will  take  both  oS  my  hands,  tant  mieux. 
But  what  I  want  is,  a  definite  release  from  one  or  more  of  my  literary 
vows.  I  have  no  misgiving  as  to  the  demand  or  the  success.  The 
Church  History  would  require  more  laborious  preparation.  If  you  will 
take  the  Life  of  Christ,  I  will  place  all  my  collections  and  notes  at  your 
disposal,  i.  c.  after  finishing  my  present  course.  This  ofifer  is  not  a 
generous  one,  because  I  find  my  views  as  to  the  Life  of  Christ  still 
vague  antl  problematical.  I  do  not  feel  a  drawing  to  its  execution  as  I  do 
to  that  of  other  plans.  I  sincerely  think  that  you  are  peculiarly  qual- 
ified for  this  specific  task.  There  is  one  advantage  for  a  heavy  job  like 
this,  which  I  think  you  would  appreciate :  I  found  Isaiah,  heavy  bur- 
den as  it  was,  a  real  solace  for  annoyances.  Please  to  receive  this  as  a 
practical  and  lond-fide  proposition.  Your  acceptance  of  it  may  ma- 
terially modify  my  course  of  study." 

Another  letter  to  tlie  same  brother  refers  to  an  article  in 
the  Repertory,  the  quarterly  list  in  the  same,  Dr.  Green's  call 
to  the  Central  Church,  the  History  Professorship,  Hegel,  and 
his  own  book  on  the  Acts  : 

"Peinoetojt, 14th,  1848. 

"  R.  D.  B. :  * 

"  Finding  that  you  had  not  corrected  the  last  part  of  your  article,  I 
was  obliged  to  exercise  my  own  discretion  as  to  the  questionable  pas- 
sage by  leaving  out  the  Gei*man  words.  Dr.  Hodge  has  consented  to 
abolish  the  short  notices,  provided  we  will  publish  a  quarterly  list  of 
new  publications.  My  idea  of  the  quarterly  list  is  to  give  the  complete 
title,  place  of  publication,  publisher,  form,  size,  &c.  as  we  do  at  the 
beginning  of  an  article;  and  to  make  it  so  far  select  that  it  may  be 
something  of  an  honour  to  appear  there.  As  to  classification,  I  am 
doubtful.    I  wish  you  would  begin  to  take  notes  for  this  purpose.     I 

*  R.  D.  B,,  in  the  Addisonian  dialect,  stands  for  Reverend  and  dear  Brother 


662  SECOND    CHURCH,  PHILADELPIHA.  nm. 

see  no  need  of  confining  it  to  American  books.  "W.  H.  Green  is  called 
to  the  Central  Ohnrcli  [of  Philadelphia] ;  if  ho  goes,  I  sliall  immedi- 
ately resume  the  Hebrew,  and  tlius  have  everything  in  statu  quo  when 
the  Assembly  meets.  If,  without  recommendation  or  solicitation,  they 
appoint  me  History  Professor,  I  shall  be  satisfied  of  ray  vocation.  If 
they  do  not,  I  shall  be  more  content  than  ever  with  my  old  employment. 
"  I  have  not  had  time  to  begin  Hegel  till  within  a  few  days.  What 
snrprises  me  is  that  the  metaphysical  parts  do  not  strike  me  as  absurd 
or  unintelligible,  but  rather  as  the  presentation  of  old  thoughts  imder 
new  and  strange  names.  His  whole  idea  of  Freedom  is  to  me  aston- 
ishing. The  word  alwnys  looks  to  me  like  a  typographical  error. 
"What  I  have  read  of  the  historical  matter  pleases  me  much.  I  am  now 
in  the  fifth  chapter  of  the  book  upon  the  Acts." 

In  the  autumn  of  1848,  the  failing  health  of  the  venerable 
Dr.  Cuyler,  pastor  of  the  Second  Presbyterian  Church,  Phila- 
delphia, admonished  his  people  that  he  must  have  assistance, 
and  they  applied  to  Dr.  Addison  Alexander;  who  after  some 
hesitation  consented  to  supply  the  pulpit  a  part  of  each  Sab- 
bath. He  commenced  his  labours  early  in  November  and 
preached  every  Sabbath  morning  for  about  six  months,  with 
great  acceptance,  although  not  to  the  same  crowds  that 
greeted  him  the  year  before  in  the  Tenth  Church. 

In  the  beginning  of  this  year,  he  commenced  the  Commen- 
tary upon  the  Book  of  Psalms,  as  suggested  in  the  preceding 
letter;  but  the  -work  did  not  appear  until  the  year  following. 
In  the  subjoined  letter  to  his  brother  James,  he  predicts  that 
event,  and  eulogizes  Plengstenberg,  whose  line  of  exposition 
he  strictly  adhei'ed  to  in  the  main  : 

"Feb.  23d,  1849. 
"My  deae  Brothee: 

"Baker  &  Scribner  have  sent  me  specimens  of  type,  paper,  &c.,  for 
my  Book  of  Psalms.  Having  yielded  my  own  preference  for  the  octavo 
form  to  the  judgment  of  the  trade,  I  find  it  hard  to  choose  between 
the  different  duodecimos ;  if  you  will  do  it  for  me  it  will  be  a  real 
service.  I  have  therefore  directed  them  to  let  you  see  the  samples, 
and  be  governed  by  your  judgment.  I  shall  not  have  room  for  much 
quotation.  My  plan  is  to  convey  to  the  English  reader,  in  the  shortest 
space,  the  true  sense,  as  determined  by  the  best  and  latest  exegesis. 


^T.  39.]  CHAIE    OF    CHURCH   HISTOEY.  663 

This  I  do,  wlien  it  is  possible,  by  mere  translation  ;  if  not,  by  para- 
phrase; if  more  is  wanted,  by  brief  comment.  If  I  merely  brought  the 
substance  and  results  of  Hengstenberg's  book  within  the  English  read- 
er's reach,  I  should  think  it  an  invaluable  gift.  After  much  tliought 
I  have  again  resolved  to  leave  the  'practique  part'  to  other  hands.  I 
would  rather  do  one  thing  well  tban  two  things  badly. 

"Ever  yours, 

J.  A.  A." 

Id  tbe  foIloAving  letter  lie  reveals  more  fully  his  views  and 
feelings  respecting  the  proposed  step  of  transferring  him  to  the 
chair  of  Church  History,  made  vacant  by  the  resignation  of 
Dr.  Miller : 

"Pkixcetox,  April  10th,  1849. 
"Dear  James: 

"I  have  hitherto  abstained  from  boring  you  with  letters  on  the 
Seminary  qnestiim,  and  I  break  my  silence  now  only  because  the  affair 
has  reached  a  point  at  which  your  assistance  may  be  necessary.  When 
my  transfer  was  first  thought  of,  four  years  ago,  I  was  employed  al- 
most entirely  in  teaching  Hebrew  and  writing  on  Isaiah.  The  former 
has  become,  from  constant  repetition,  a  mechanical  employment;  and 
the  other,  having  been  prescribed  to  me,  was  still  more  distasteful. 
The  prospect  of  any  change  was  therefore  pleasant;  and  the  proposition 
had  the  good  effect  of  forcing  me  to  finish  a  task  which  I  now  look 
back  upon  with  more  astonishment  than  admiration.  But  in  doing 
this,  a  new  field  opened  to  my  view ;  and  I  acquired  some  skill,  as  I 
supposed,  in  tilling  it.  The  consequence  was,  tliat  I  never  felt  more 
inclination  to  Biblical  studies  than  I  did  whea  I  got  through  this  tre- 
mendous job.  Another  effect  of  the  new  project  was,  that  I  acquired 
the  habit  of  lecturing,  and  making  my  instructions  more  intellectual. 
They  were  still,  however,  purely  Biblical;  and  as  I  found  that  this  de- 
partment would  affoi'd  ample  scope  for  my  highest  powers  and  my  best 
resources,  I  naturally  felt  less  and  less  desire  to  undertake  a  new  work 
which,  in  order  to  be  well  done,  should  have  been  begun  much  earlier, 
and  which  would  require  me  to  leave  the  terra  firma  of  inspired  truth 
for  the  mud  and  sand  of  patristical  learning,  as  well  as  to  exchange 
direct  original  investigation  for  the  study  of  second-hand  authorities 
and  diluted  compilations.  This  change  of  feeling  was  confirmed  by 
Dr.  Spring's  protestation,  in  the  spring  of  1846 ;  and  has  been  growing 
stronger  ever  since.  Dr.  Hodge's  views  of  the  relative  importance  of 
Church  History  I  think  exaggerated ;  and  I  doubt  very  much  whether 


664  A    CHATs'GE    C0NTE3IPLATED. 


08491 


it  has  been  as  heartily  assented  to  as  he  imagines.  Still,  I  cannot  draw 
back  if  the  Church  insists  upon  my  going  forward ;  and  I  have,  this 
day,  come  to  this  conclusion  with  the  Doctor.  He  consents  that  I 
shall  state  officially  to  the  Directors,  when  they  meet  in  May,  and 
through  them  to  the  Assembly,  that  I  not  only  do  not  wish  the  change, 
but,  as  a  matter  of  personal  choice,  should  greatly  prefer  to  remain 
where  I  am ;  and  that  if  this  statement  puts  an  end  to  the  affair,  it 
shall  be  finally  abandoned.  I  consent,  on  my  part,  to  make  no  resist- 
ance, if  the  Board,  notwithstanding  this  disclosure  of  my  wishes,  still 
persists  in  recommending  my  translation,  and  the  General  Assembly 
acts  accordingly.  Indeed,  I  should  regard  this  as  a  clear  Providential 
call  to  the  new  station  ;  but  only  in  the  case  of  its  being  given  with  a 
full  knowledge  of  my  private  inclinations.  Now,  in  order  to  secure 
this  indispensable  condition,  it  is  highly  important  that  the  Directors 
should,  as  far  as  possible,  be  made  to  see  the  true  state  of  the  case  be- 
fore they  meet  in  May ;  and  as  you  seem  to  be  placed  in  a  focus  of  ru- 
mours and  negotiations  on  the  subject,  you  can  materially  aid  me  by 
letting  others  know  this  fact  —  that  I  have  no  wish  for  a  change,  and 
would  unhesitatingly  choose  to  remain  in  statu,  quo.  This  I  should  like 
to  be  understood,  not  as  a  nolo  episcopari,  but  as  an  expression  of  my 
real  sentiments.  At  the  same  time,  I  consider  myself  bound  to  let  it 
be  known  that  I  shall  not  refuse  the  place,  if  forced  upon  me  after  all. 
With  this  accompanying  qualification  I  have  no  objection  to  the  strong- 
est and  most  explicit  statement  of  my  preference  for  my  present  place. 
To  whom,  when,  and  how  this  communication  shall  be  made,  I  leave 
to  your  discretion ;  only  expressing  my  deliberate  preference  of  oral  to 
graphic  promulgation.  I  am  the  more  disposed  to  let  all  this  be  known, 
because  I  have  strong  reasons  for  believing  that  some  of  your  best 
friends  have  come  into  this  project  on  the  supposition  that  I  am  not 
satisfied  with  my  position  and  desire  to  change  it.  I  do  not  wish  you 
to  step  out  of  your  way  an  inch  to  make  this  publication  ;  but  only  to 
remove  any  injunction  of  reserve  or  secrecy  to  which  you  may  feel 
yourself  subjected  in  this  matter.* 

"  Yours, 

"J.  A.  A." 

*  Under  the  date  of  April  13tb,  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  writes  to  his  son 
James:  "The  removal  of  Addison  from  his  professorship  to  another,  never 
struck  me  favourably.  To  be  sure,  he  had  spent  tune  enough  in  teaching  the 
elements  of  Hebrew;  but  he  has  it  in  his  power  to  comprehend  in  his  course 
whatever  relates  to  the  Bible,  and  he  is  now  convinced  that  he  had  better  stay 
where  he  is,  and  let  Dr.  Miller  have  an  adjunct."     lie  gives  it  as  his  judgment 


-«!t.39.J  a   l^W   PROFESSOE.  665 

The  transfer  -which  he  feared  was  not  made  at  this  time, 
as  his  brother,  the  Rev.  James  W.  Alexander,  D.  D.  was  ap- 
pointed to  the  chair. 

During  the  winter  of  1849-1850,  he  was  closely  occupied  in 
lecturing  to  his  classes  on  the  Psalms,  the  Gospels,  the  Acts, 
Biblical  Criticism,  and  the  Prophecies.  In  the  month  of  June 
he  went  to  New  York:  where  he  remained  during  the  vacation 
writing  his  Commentary  on  the  Psalms. 

On  the  26th  of  May,  a  telegraphic  dispatch  informed  Dr. 
James  Alexander  that  he  was  that  day  elected  by  the  General 
Assembly  at  Pittsburg  to  succeed  Dr.  Miller.  And  on  Sunday, 
June  the  lOth,  at  the  close  of  service  in  the  morning,  he  an- 
nounced to  his  congregation  that  he  must  leave  them.  There 
was  much  weeping.  Pastor  and  people  were  both  greatly 
overcome.  Soon  after,  he  removed  to  Princeton,  On  the  20th 
of  June,  I  find  that  the  younger  brother  was  moving  into  his 
chambers  in  the  Seminary  building.  His  restlessness  as  re- 
garded his  rooms  could  not  be  quieted. 

Dr.  James  Alexander  refers  to  this  change  in  a  letter  to 
Dr.  Hall.  He  could  not  comprehend  his  brother's  feelings 
that  urged  him  to  these  ceaseless  revolutions  :  "  Addison  (jyro 
more)  has  moved  again,  and  has  chambers  in  the  Seminary, 
lowest  floor,  front,  next  to  Dr.  Hodge's."  *  He  was  himself 
'moving  in'  from  N"ew  York.  He  went  first  to  his  father's, 
whore  he  remained  for  six  weeks,  during  the  time  the  house 
was  undergoing  repairs.  It  was  in  tlie  room  at  the  northwest 
corner  of  the  Seminary  that  the  younger  brother  was  now 
piling  up  the  sheets  of  his  book  on  the  Psalms.  His  window 
looked  out  on  the  green  lawn  or  campus,  and  beyond  the  trees 
and  fence  upon  the  street,  and  beyond  that  the  secluded  but 
exquisitely  lovely  grounds  of  Mr.  Thomson.     During  a  part 

that  the  comparative  importance  of  the  chair  of  Ecclesiastical  History  had  been 
mngnified  beyond  reason,  and  expresses  a  willingness  to  acquiesce  in  any  ap- 
pointment the  General  Assembly  should  make.  "We  cannot  tell,"  he  says, 
"beforehand,  who  would  be  a  pleasant  colleague." 

*  Fam.  Let.,  Vol.  II.  p.  100. 


666  PERSONAL   EECOLLECTIONS.  [1849. 

of  this  time  I  was  his  private  pnpil.  He  was  punctual,  em- 
phatic, perhaps  a  little  impatient  {b^lt  always  for  good  cause) ; 
but  not  hard  to  please.  If  a  paradigm  was  missed,  he  would 
take  ujD  the  book  ab  initio.  He  made  his  private  pupils  get  a 
small  Latin  i)rimer  of  the  Greek  language  by  heart.  He  in- 
sisted much  on  the  essential  importance  of  writing  as  well  as 
reading  a  dead  language.  He  looked  upon  all  efforts  on  the 
part  of  American  boys  to  speah  Latin,  for  instance,  as  nearly 
hopeless.  A  mistake  in  an  exercise  seemed  to  grieve  him.  He 
would  mourn  over  it  as  an  indication  of  mental  infirmity,  A 
perfect  lesson  seemed  to  exhilarate  him  like  champagne.  He 
loved  to  recount  the  little  exploits  of  former  pupils.  It  may 
seem  incredible,  but  it  is  literally  true  that  while  hearing 
these  recitations,  and  carrying  on  these  lively  dialogues',  he 
was  commonly  writing  on  his  Psalms.  He  had  few  hook  be- 
fore him,  and  I  do  not  remember  that  I  ever  saw  him  rise  to 
consult  a  lexicon.  That  stage  in  his  progress  had  been  passed. 
He  was  writing  as  fast  as  if  he  were  writing  a  paragraph  for 
a  newspaper.  I  never  saw  him  coj^y  anything,  either  from 
himself  or  others.  Once  he  stopped  short  in  his  work,  and 
showed  me  a  letter  which  he  had  just  received  fi-om  a  friend 
in  Philadelphia ;  and  remarked  upon  its  difficult  but  elegant 
abbreviations.  He  discouraged  everything  like  looking  off  the 
book;  but  mixed  a  great  deal  of  pleasantry  with  such  sti'ictures. 
He  used  to  point,  when  in  New  York,  to  a  girl  getting  her 
lesson  at  a  window,  and  descant  upon  the  folly  of  getting  it 
in  that  way  ;  i.  e.  by  a  succession  of  ocular  voyages  over  every- 
thing but  the  page  that  was  lying  open  in  her  hands  or  lap. 
Yet  sometimes  he  forgot  himself,  and  would  talk  facetiously 
and  charmingly  about  the  odd  or  pleasing  characters  of  the 
place.  He  suffered  me  to  talk  to  him  as  much  as  I  pleased 
when  he  Avas  writing,  and  when  I  was  not  under  obligation  to 
con  ray  own  task.  It  often  occurred  to  me  that  his  forthcoming 
volume  would  necessarily  be  worthless ;  and  that  I  should  be 
in  some  sort  to  blame  for  the  unexpected  failure.  The  greater 
portion  of  the  writing,  however,  was  done  in  New  York,  in 
the  midst  of  the  street  cars  and  omnibuses,  which  stimulated 


^T.89.]  COMMENTAEY   ON   THE   PSALMS.  667 

liim  as  the  sight  of  a  lake  ov  mountain  has  often  stimulated  a 
poet. 

His  brother  James,  of  course,  was  deeply  interested  in  his 
undertaking,  though  with  others  he  would  probably  have  pre- 
ferred a  jDurely  original  exposition.  The  author  changed  his 
plan  after  getting  through  the  first  few  Psalms,  and.  his  re- 
marks on  the  verses,  which  had  been  somewhat  copious,  became 
severely  concise.  As  he  advanced,  he  receded  more  and.  more 
from  the  guidance  of  his  friend  and  whilom  master,  Dr.  Heng- 
stenberg. 

The  first  intimations  of  the  book  that  were  given  to  his 
life-long  correspondent  by  the  New  York  pastor  are  the  fol- 
lowing, of  March  19th:  "Addison  is  certainly  printing  on 
Psalms.  I  am  glad  of  it,  as  no  book  is  more  needed."  *  The 
New  York  writer  afterwards  expresses  himself  in  this  fashion. 
The  allusions  to  Foster,  Hall,  and  his  own  brother,  Adlison, 
are  of  a  striking  character:  "My  taste  increases  for  books 
which  flow  straight  on,  as  from  an  inner  source;  little  erudi- 
tion, no  quotation,  no  heads  or  divisions,  growing,  swelling, 
&c. :  not  the  less  because  I  am  individually  of  the  opposite 
sort,  and  tend  to  mince  things  up,  and  put  them  into  patty- 
pans, with  numbers.  I  got  a  shove  for  weeks  from  reading 
*  Foster's  Estimate  of  Robert  Hall  as  a  Preacher.'  Don't  fail  to 
read  it,  especially  what  he  says  about  Hall's  faults.  John  Howe 
is  the  only  Puritan  writer  of  the  sort  I  mean.  Addison,  in 
one  or  two  of  his  best  sermons,  exemplifies  my  meaning."  f 

In  another  letter  he  says:  "Addison  has  saddled  himself 
with  a  tremendous  job  in  his  book  of  Psalms,  but  his  working 
power  exceeds  anything  I  ever  dreamt  of"  This  was  written 
in  AugustjJ  and  I  take  for  granted  the  energetic  scribe  was 
now  at  work  in  the  city.  When  his  toils  were  over,  he  would 
stroll  about  at  random,  sometimes  in  the  fine  streets  and  some- 
times in  the  queer  and  strange  ones.  He  appeared  to  be  in  a 
high  state  of  enjoyment,  and  took  his  usual  pleasure  in  scan- 

*  Fam.  Let.  II.  p.  94.         f  Fam.  Let.  IL  p.  95. 
X  Fam.  Letters,  Vol.  II.  p.  102.     August  28,  1849. 


668  AVEESE   TO    PUBLIC   DISPLAY.  [1849. 

ning  the  features  and  gestures  of  men,  Tt^omen,  and  children, 
and  in  vainly  trying  to  solve  the  problem  of  their  past  and 
future  story.  He  loved  to  classify  the  people  of  a  nation,  or 
a  town,  by  their  looks  and  manners  ;  and  to  fix  them  still  more 
accurately  by  noting  their  resemblance  to  others  definitely 
known  and  vividly  remembered. 

In  the  midst  of  these  labours,  he  was  invited  to  address  the 
young  men  of  the  University  of  Virginia. 

"In  1849  and  1850,"  writes  a  friend,*  "  I  tried  by  correspondence  to 
induce  him  to  deliver  one  of  tlie  lectures  in  the  University  course  on 
the  '  Evidences,'  but  he  declined ;  on  the  ground  tbat  when  he  attempted 
'anniversary  eloquence'  or  other  oratorical  specialties,  he  always  made 
'  egregious  failures ; '  and  wlien  I  persisted  in  my  importunities,  he  made 
me  sorry  that  I  had  not  accepted  his  first  declinature !  " 

He  did  not  like  to  be  importuned,  and  still  less  to  ascend 
the  platform ;  or  even  to  preach  on  a  preannounced  subject. 
I  do  not  remember  that  he  ever  delivered  a  "  popular  lecture  " 
in  his  life.  He  was  really  modest  in  his  judgment  as  to  his 
own  fitness  for  such  tasks,  and  had  a  fixed  avei'sion  to  every- 
thing like  self-obtrusion.  It  is  not  always  easy  to  remove 
preconceptions,  but  there  is  certainly  a  tendency  in  what  fol- 
lows, from  the  pen  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Leyburn,t  towards  the 
obliteration  of  certain  false  ideas  many  continue  to  have  of 
Dr.  Alexander's  usual  ways  and  manners  when  in  the  society 
of  gentlemen  for  whom  he  had  a  liking.     Dr.  Leyburn  writes : 

"After  my  leaving  college,  years  passed  before  I  again  met  the  pro- 
fessor. Meanwhile  he  had  not  only  gained  wide  renown  as  a  teacher 
in  the  Theological  Seminary  and  as  an  unsurpassed  Biblical  scholar, 
but  also  as  a  preacher.  On  my  removal  to  Philadelphia,  I  found  his 
praises  as  a  preacher  on  everybody's  lips;  and  to  my  great  gratifica- 
tion, he  soon  after  came  down  to  the  city  to  supply  the  puliut  of  the 
North  Church  one  Sabbath.  He  was  domiciled  during  this  visit  Avith 
our  common  friend,  the  late  Dr.  A.  W.  Mitchell,  and  the  Doctor  kindly 
invited  me  to  spend  an  evening  with  him." 

*  The  Rev.  Dr.W.  H.  Ruifner,  then  Chaplain  of  the  University  of  Virginia. 
f  The  Rev.  Dr.  John  Leyburn,  of  Baltimore,  formerly  of  Philadelphia. 


^T.40.]  NOT  MISANTHEOPICAL.  669 

He  had  lieard  so  mucli,  however,  as  to  his  shyness  and  un- 
willingness to  see  company,  that  it  was  Avith  some  apprehen- 
sion that  he  accepted  the  invitation.  But  all  doubt  was  dissi- 
pated when  he  met  him. 

"He  was  cordial,  friendly,  and  most  companionable;  full  of  con- 
versation, exceedingly  cheerful,  and  enjoying  a  good  laugh  with  a  zest. 
I  went  home  delighted  with  the  evening,  and  feeling  how  little  he  was' 
understood  by  tlioss  who  only  saw  him  in  public  and  at  a  distance. 
One  thing  which  struck  me  on  this  occasion  ,  and  which  I  observed  in 
subsequent  intercourse,  was  that,  notwithstanding  his  comparatively 
recluse  life,  he  was  apparently  familiar  with  all  that  was  going  on  in 
the  church,  in  particular  congregations,  and  in  society  generally.  He 
seemed  to  know  men  and  things  as  well  as  if  he  had  been  personally 
associated  with  them." 

He  was  by  no  means  misanthi'opicah 

"  Far  from  being  out  of  sympathy  with  the  living  world,  he  evi- 
dently felt  a  keen  interest  in  it.  Subsequently,  whenever  I  met  him  I 
found  him  ready  for  a  talk,  and  ean  truly  say  that  never  on  any  occa- 
sion did  he  show  himself  to  me  in  any  other  light  than  that  of  a  most 
companionable  friend.  Overflowing  as  he  was  with  learning,  and  in- 
structive as  was  his  conversation  on  all  topics,  he  was  always  ready  to 
enter  into  cui'rent  events,  and  seemed  even  anxious  to  hear  all  that  was 
going  on." 

Dr.  James  Alexander  delivered  his  introductoiy  lecture  at 
the  Seminary  on  the  4th  of  September.  It  was  to  the  second 
or  middle  class.  He  also  attended  his  first  preaching  cvercise, 
which  was  with  the  seniors ;  and  chatted  with  them  about  the 
Chironomian  Society  of  former  days,  and  its  champions,  "Kirk, 
Bethune,  Vermilye,  Collins,  Benedict,  Lansing,  Christmas, 
Waterbury,  and  Alexander."  He  strongly  urged  the  young 
men  not  to  use  notes. 

The  wind  was  in  the  east ;  the  air  was  raw  and  irritating. 
Good  old  Dr.  Miller  was  now  looking  very  feeble.  Prof. 
James  Alexander  preached  his  first  sermon  in  the  chaiDel  on 
the  IGth.  After  it  was  over  his  father  told  him  that  he  spoke 
too  loud. 


670  INAUGUEATION.  C184». 

Of  course  there  was  much  to  please  the  youn^^er  brother 
in  the  thought  of  "James's"  return  to  his  old  haunts  in  Stead- 
man  street.  They  were  as  unlike  in  many  things,  and  yet  as 
necessary  to  each  other,  as  two  complementary  colours.  The 
younger  leaned  on  the  intellect  and  good  taste  of  the  elder 
brother,  while  the  latter  felt  himself  supported  by  the  strong 
sense  and  resolute  temper  of  Addison.  The  mutual  admira- 
tion and  love  was  truly  extraordinary. 

The  new  professor's  reading  lay  much  in  the  Augustinian 
field,  and  especially  the  part  pertaining  to  the  controversy 
with  Pelagius.  Early  in  October,  he  received  a  letter  from 
Dr.  Engles  of  Philadelphia,  i-equesting  him  and  his  brother 
Addison,  in  conjunction  with  Dr.  Hodge,  to  set  about  a  com- 
mentary on  the  New  Testament,  for  the  benefit  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church.  "Dirigat  Dominus,"  is  the  entry  in  the 
older  brother's  diary,  "  in  suam  gloriam  !  " 

On  Sunday,  the  18th  of  November,  the  venerable  Dr. 
Alexander,  who  was  himself  not  long  for  this  world,  preached 
in  the  Seminary  Chapel  an  extemporaneous  sermon  from  Luke 
xii.  40,  "  Be  ye  therefore  ready  also."  He  was  calmer  than  in 
the  old  days,  but  hi§  sons  were  delightfully  reminded  of  sermons 
he  used  to  preach  many  years  before,  when  he  was  in  his  prime. 

On  Tuesday,  the  20th,  the  new  pi'ofessor  was  inaugurated. 
There  was  a  large  gathering  of  ministers  and  friends  of  the 
Seminary.  Dr.  Miller  continued  to  grow  weaker  and  weaker, 
though  he  was  still  able  to  sit  up  in  his  chair.  The  state  of 
his  soul  is  described  as  being  "very  tender  and  happy;  he  is 
waiting  till  his  change  comes."  *  His  colleague  and  successor 
in  the  Seminary  called  upon  him  about  this  time,  and  found 
him  in  his  study,  a  room  which  he  seemed  greatly  to  love. 
He  was  reclining  on  an  easy  chair,  with  his  person  half  ex- 
tended. His  visitor  could  not  perceive  the  slightest  decay  of 
feeling  and  intellect,  or  even  of  hearing  and  sight.  "  If  this 
continues,"  he  records,  (quod  concedat  Deus !)  "  is  it  not  Eu- 
thanasia ?  "     The  aged  Christian  talked  some  time  about  the 

*  Private  Journals  of  the  Rev.  J.  W.  Alexander,  D.  D. 


iET.40.]  DE.    miller's    DECLINE.  671 

state  of  the  church,  and  deplored  the  absence  of  religious  re* 
vival  in  the  country.  When  his  friend  arose,  the  old  man 
asked  him  to  lead  in  prayer;  and,  as  he  closed,  said,  "Remain 
on  your  knees,  my  dear  friend  !  "  "  He  then  offered  a  most 
touching-  i^rayer,  thanking  God  for  giving  him  a  colleague,  or 
'more  properly  a  successor;'  sjooke  of  himself  as  God's  'depart- 
ing servant ;' prayed  that  God  would  not  forsake  him  in  his 
old  age;  and  made  earnest  request  for  blessings  on  me.  I  re- 
garded it  as  in  some  sort  his  parting  benediction.  He  said, 
'  Lord,  now  lettest  thou  thy  servant  depart  in  peace,  for  mine 
eyes  have  seen  thy  salvation ! '  The  prayer  was  deliberate, 
and  the  words  v/ ell  chosen;  in  two  instances  he  seemed  to 
hesitate  about  an  expression."  '" 

But  the  time  was  now  approaching  when  this  great  light 
of  the  intellectual  firmament  of  Princeton  was  to  be  extin- 
guished, or  rather,  let  us  say,  hidden  from  the  view  of  mortal 
sin  and  ignorance.  It  was  evident  to  all  that  Dr.  Miller  was 
at  last  sinking.  He  was  very  lethargic ;  and  the  whole  of  one 
side  was  numb.  To  a  near  relative  who  had  come  in  after  a 
few  weeks'  absence,  he  roused  himself  sufficiently  to  utter  the 
words  "Almost  home."  He  was  visited  for  the  last  time  on 
Monday,  December  the  31st,  by  his  new  colleague,  Dr.  James 
Alexander.  He  was  greatly  enfeebled  and  attenuated.  The 
princely  carriage  had  been  broken  by  a  slight  paralysis.  The 
power  of  articulation  had  also  been  much  impaired.  The 
younger  minister  had  been  called  in  suddenly,  and  was  sensible 
of  having  a  cold  hand  at  the  time  he  greeted  the  dying  saint, 
and  apologised  for  it.  "  Dr.  Miller  said,  'how  do  you  do  ?  how 
is  your  family  ? '  Then,  alluding  to  my  momentary  apology  for 
my  hand,  '  Christ's  hand  is  never  cold  !  He  has  propped  me 
up  and  led  me  and  comforted  me,  more  than  I  am  able  to  ex- 
press, and  I  wish  you  affectionately  to  thank  Him  for  it  in  my 
name.' "  His  visitor  knelt  down  and  prayed  with  him  ;  on 
which  the  feelings  of  the  courtly  gentleman,  by  Avhich  he  had 
always  been  distinguished  among  his  contemporaries,  seemed 

'  Private  Journals  of  the  Rev.  J.  W  Alexauder,  D.  D. 


672  EEVIVAL   IN  PEESTCETON.  [1850. 

to  work  strongly  Avithin  him,  and  he  said,  as  if  ho  feared  he 
might  have  been  misunderstood  in  what  he  had  uttered  re- 
specting the  cold  hand,  "  Your  hand  has  never  been  inconve- 
niently cold  to  me ;  but  the  hand  of  Christ  is  always  warm." 
Thereupon  his  visitor  withdrew. 

He  lay  very  low  for  some  days,  but  happy,  intelligent, 
pleasant,  and  at  times  almost  Ihcetious.  He  breathed  his  last 
on  the  7th  of  January,  at  about  eleven  o'clock  at  night.  His 
aged  colleague  had  been  with  him  a  few  hours  previous. 
Stupor  had  come  on,  but  he  recognized  his  venerated  friend, 
spoke  intelligibly  of  his  condition,  and  joined  in  the  prayer  tliat 
was  offered  at  his  bedside.  The  weather  was  cold.  The  day 
before,  which  was  Sunday,  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander,  though 
nearly  seventy-eight,  preached  in  his  turn  at  the  chapel: 
Haggai  i.  7,  "  Consider  your  w^ays."  His  voice,  matter,  and 
language,  were  all  Avorthy  of  his  better  years.  He  was  fresh 
and  alert,  with  a  beaming  fac3,  and,  as  one  said  of  this  effort, 
had  "  the  greatness  of  simplicity." 

There  v/as  much  seriousness  in  the  village  before  the  day 
of  prayer  for  colleges;  which  was  the  28th.  The  services 
of  this  day  strengthened  and  deepened  the  impression,  and 
greatly  widened  its  area.  Dr.  Hodge  and  Dr.  Hope  spoke 
wnth  effect  in  the  new  chapel.  The  College  was  much  stirred. 
The  interest  at  the  First  Church  seemed  to  be  spreading.  By 
the  second  of  March  there  were  thirty  or  forty  inquirers. 
Prayer-meetings  were  kept  up  in  the  Sophomore  recitation- 
room,  and  in  East  and  West  College,  as  well  as  in  the  lecture- 
room  of  the  First  Church.  Sometimes  much  feeling  was  mani- 
fested. On  the  Saturday  preparatory  to  the  Commvmion, 
thirteen  persons  were  baptized,  and  the  names  of  forty  were 
read  out  who  had  been  already  received  by  the  session.  The 
whole  college  now  became  aroused.  From  one  hundred  and 
twenty  to  two  hundred  attended  the  public  meetings.  Pious 
students  met  in  their  rooms  for  intercessory  prayer.  There 
had  been  no  such  time  since  1815.  Some  of  the  worst  men  on 
the  roll  appeared  to  be  converted. 

Dr.  Addison  Alexander  took  no  active  part  in  these  ser- 


^T.40.]  ADDEESSES   DUEHfG    THE   EEVIVAL.  673 

vices,  but  rejoiced  to  hear  of  them,  and  contributed  indirectly 
towards  them  ;  and  afterwards,  on  another  occasion  of  rclio-ious 
awakening,  his  addresses  to  the  young  men  were  greatly 
j)rized,  and  very  useful 


29 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

The  following  extract  from  a  very  readable  letter  to  Lis 
mother,  will  give  an  idea  of  his  occupation  at  this  time  as  a 
writer  of  comraentaries.  It  is  hard  to  believe  that  they  were 
made  so  fast. 

ISTew  York,  Juno  10,  1S50. 

"  Honoured  Madam  (as  men  used  to  say  a  hundred  years  ago  when 
•writing  to  their  mothers) : 
"I  did  not  write  again  last  week,  hecause  they  meant  to  write  from 
27th  Street,  and  also  because  William  was  just  coming  home.  Nor 
would  I  have  had  many  interesting  incidents  to  state.  My  life  here, 
though  agreeable,  is  uniform.  The  last  week  passed  away  like  a  dream. 
I  spent  the  whole  of  every  day  in  writing,  from  breakfast  till  late  din- 
ner-time, besides  correcting  proofs  at  night.  I  never  ran  a  race  with 
the  printer  so  before.  What  I  gave  them  in  manuscript  in  the  morning, 
they  returned  to  me  in  proof  at  night.  This  w^as  the  next  thing  to  '  com- 
posing,' inbi)th  senses  at  the  same  time;  as  Dr.  Franklin  sometimes  did. 
The  experiment  last  week  was  higlily  satisfactory.  When  Saturday 
night  came,  I  found  that  we  had  printed  about  fifty  pages ;  every  word 
of  which  was  written  here.  Thus  far  I  find  it  very  wholesome. 
Notwithstanding  my  hard  work  I  take  a  great  deal  of  exercise,  and  see 
and  hear  a  great  deal  to  amuse  me.  I  know,  indeed,  of  no  situation 
that  would  suit  my  health  and  inclination  better  than  to  live  liere  and 
make  books  all  the  week,  and  preach  as  I  had  opportunity  on  Sunday." 

Here  is  an  extract  from  another  letter  of  the  same  period : 

"  New  York,  Jane  15,  1850. 
"Mt  Dear  Mother: 

"  I  have  just  finished  the  twenty-first  Psalm,  written  sines  I  cams 
here,  and  the  whole  will  be  in  typo  this  evening.  I  never  worked 
harder,  or  enjoyed  more  recreation.  From  breakfast  to  dinner  (never 
earlier  tlian  four),  I  write  incessantly.     After  dinnei-,  I  do  nothing  but 


Mt.41.]  mothers   MAGAZESTE.  675 

amuse  myself;  chiefly  l.y  wnlking,  and  riding  in  the  omnibuses;  alvvnys 
in  a  new  direction.  I  meet  with  many  amusing  incidents  which  I  re- 
relate  to  Sue  on  my  return.  She  is  very  kind  and  cheery.  I  never 
spent  so  pleasant  a  vacation." 

I  know  not  how  to  insist  enough  on  his  deep  and  childlike 
affection  for  his  mother.  When  he  thought  she  was  drooping, 
he  was  sad  ;  when  he  saw  her  happy,  he  was  gay  and  frolic- 
some. I  will  illustrate  this  hy  a  few  extracts  from  a  little 
hrochitre  which  he  wrote  and  stitched  together  expressly  for 
her  entertainment.     It  is  intituled, 

THE 

MOTHER'S    MAGAZINE, 

AND 

MATERNAL  ASSOCIATION'S   MONTHLY   ADVERTISER. 

No.  1.     July,  1850. 

"  July  2.  *     *      I  wrote  from  half-past  nine  till  half-past  two,  and 
an  hour  or  more  after  dinner,  finishing  the  97th  and  98th  Psalms.     In 
the  evening  I  went  up  to  New  York.     The  omnibus  was  very  full 
of  merchants  homeward  bound.     A  tall  mulatto,  as  I  thought,  got  in, 
and  fell  back  on  a  little  Jew,  to  whom  he  apologized  with  great  grace. 
I  afterwards  heard  him  talking  Spanish,  and  found  out  that  Jie  was  not 
a  man  of  colour.     It  rained  fast  as  I  came  down. in  the  omnibus,  in 
which,  however,  there  were  several  ladies.    Somewhere  near  Peteler's 
an  elderly  man  and  woman,  with  a  younger  woman  and  her  child,  got 
in.     It  is  curious  to  see  what  small  children  are  dressed  up  and  carried 
about  here,  even  at  nii^ht.     This  one  was  scarcely  bigger  than  a  lar"-e 
doll,  but  sat  on  the  bench  by  me,  with  her  little  legs  stretched  out 
straight  before  her,  and  her  shining   little    boots,   and  snow-white 
stockings,  and  visite,  and  long,  white  sun-bonnet.     She  never  smiled, 
except  when  I  tried  to  make  her  laugh,  but  looked  wiih  solemn  awe 
at  every  bright  light  that  we  passed.     The  last  passenger  who  got  out 
before  me  told  the  driver  to  move  on  a  little  further,  to  the  door  of  the 
"otel'  (Delmonico's);  then  turned  to  me  and  said  he  liked  to  get  as 
much  for  his  money  as  he  could,  and  bade  me  as  afiectionate  a  good- 
night as  if  we  had  been  old  friends. 

"July  3.  •*=    *    I  was  working  away  at  the  99th  Psalm,  when  the 


676  ENJOYING    HtMSELF.  0850. 

waiter  broiiglit  me  Dr.  Krebs's  card.  IIo  was  very  friendly,  and 
invited  me  to  'cull,  dine,  drink  tea,  loaf,  and  preach  next  SunJay- 
week.'  This  interrupted  me  somewhat,  and  compelled  me  to  work 
longer  after  dinner  than  I  usually  do;  as  I  was  anxious  to  finish  the 
Hundredth  Psalm,  which  I  accomplished  before  dark.  I  am  amused 
with  the  curiosity  excited  by  my  writing  all  day  at  the  window.  The 
marble  house  next  door  is  occupied  by  foreigners,  who  watch  me  a 
good  deal,  and  then  there  are  babiculars,*  both  great  and  small,  in 
Greenwich  street,  who  know  not  what  to  make  of  it.  As  I  came  in 
this  evening,  the  book-keeper  gave  me  a  small  parcel  which  liad  been 
left  for  me,  and  which,  he  said,  they  called  a  proof.  Ellen  was  just  be- 
ginning to  distinguish  ^?-o<?/ from  copy  when  I  moved  down  town. 

"July  4.  I  was  roused  by  the  usual  noises  of  the  glorious  Fourth. 

As  I  sat  in  the  parlour, came  and  sat  by  me,  and  asked  if  I  was 

not  impatient  for  the  noi^e  to  be  over.  lie  seemed  quite  disconcerted 
when  I  told  him  no,  but  said  he  supposed  I  liked  to  see  the  people  en- 
joy them=elvts.  He  seemed  to  have  no  idea  that  I  was  enjoying  my- 
self. I  made  a  calculation  this  morning  of  the  space  required  for  the  re- 
mainder of  the  Psalms,  and  found,  to  my  surprise,  that  unless  I  make  the 
third  volume  still  smaller,  I  must  close  the  second  with  the  Hundredth 
Psalm,  which  I  completed  yesterday,     I  received  a  letter  to-day  from 

,  again  inviting  me  to  preach  a  week  for  him.     He  still  harps  upon 

the  old  string,  about  staying  at  hotels,  and  in  private  houses,  in  reply  to 
wliich  I  say :  '  You  will  find  it,  I  trust,  much  less  difficult  to  provide 
for  my  accommodation,  than  you  seem  to  think  it  necessary  to  antici- 
pate. I  have  had  no  '  pastoral  experience,'  but  I  have  preached  a  good 
deal  in  strange  places,  and  have  even  lodged  at  private  houses.' 

"July  5.  *  *  I  have  suflE'ered  more  than  usual  from  the  heat,  be- 
cause I  have  been  doing  nothing.  Work  is  one  of  the  best  antidotes  to 
heat  I  know.  Sir  Samuel  Romilly's  Parliamentary  Diary  interests  me 
very  much.  Every  other  night,  I  hear  the  most  exquisite  music  al- 
most under  my  window,  for  nothing.  Instead  of  the  common  marches, 
etc.  they  play  the  finest  operatic  music,  overtures,  etc.  After  sunset, 
the  most  delicious  breeze  blows  from  the  bay.     Good-night. 

"July  10.  *  *  I  finished  the  103d  Psalm,  and  began  the  lOlth. 
These  are  delightful  Psalms.  I  am  glad  that  the  last  part  of  my  labour 
is  so  pleasant.  I  corrected  the  last  proof-sheet  of  the  second  volume. 
As  I  was  coming  down  Broadway,  there  was  a  very  little  man  before 
me,  dressed  in  the  height  of  the  fashion,  walking  with  another  of  ordi- 

*  A  jesting  word  of  his  own  invention. 


^T.41.]  NOTING   COINCIDENCES.  6VV 

nary  size.  In  crossing  Canal  street,  a  high  wind  carried  away  a  black 
lace  veil  from  somebody  in  front.  The  little  man  ran,  'fit  to  break  his 
neck,'  snatched  it  from  under  the  feet  of  an  omnibus-horse,  and  pre- 
sented it  gracefully  to  the  owner,  who,  turning  round  to  thank  him, 
proved  to  be  a  splendidly-dressed  black  woman.  I  pitied  the  generous 
little  fellow  when  the  people  laughed.  As  to  health  and  spirits,  I  was 
never  better.  I  am  quite  exhilarated  by  the  prospect  of  soon  finishing 
my  work.  How  pleasant  it  is  to  have  something,  and  especially  some- 
thing rather  hard  to  do.  That  reminds  me  of  a  sermon  I  heard  Edward 
Smith  *  preach  yesterday  in  his  own  church,  from  2  Thess.  iii.  10,  on 
labour,  considered  first  as  a  curse,  and  second  as  a  blessing ;  on  the  true 
dignity  of  workingraen,  when  pious,  well-informed,  etc. ;  and  the  sin  and 
folly  of  excessive  toil  merely  for  gain,  and  without  these  attendant  ad- 
vantages. His  style  is  clear,  strong,  and  accurate,  without  excess  of 
ornament.  His  voice  is  not  so  pleasant  as  it  was  when  I  heard  him 
speak  the  valedictory,  two  years  before  I  entered  college.  I  have  never 
heard  him  speak  in  public  since." 

Sir  Robert  Peel  was  dead ;  and  the  event  was  a  topic  of 
frequent  conversation  with  Dr.  Alexander.  He  often  wondered 
who  would  be  his  successor,  and  pitched  alternately  upon  this 
man  and  that  man  as  the  probable  recipient  of  the  dead  man's 
place,  if  not  of  his  honours.  He  Avas  excessively  fond  of  noting 
coincidences ;  and  he  had  a  remarkable  one  now  in  the  deaths 
of  Sir  Robert  Peel  and  President  Zachary  Taylor.  He  was  fond 
of  dwelling  upon  the  fact  that  so  many  of  the  British  states- 
men of  rank  and  abilities  are  University-bred  men,  and  some 
of  them  (as  were  Macaulay  and  Cornwall  Lewis)  very  distin- 
guished scholars.  He  often  spoke  of  the  classical  knowledge 
and  tastes  of  such  men  as  Pitt,  Fox,  Burke,  Windham, 
Brougham,  Gladstone,  and  the  Stanleys,  father  and  son.  He^ 
delighted,  also,  to  recall  the  fact  that  Henry  Martyn  was  a 
Senior  Wrangler,  and  that  some  of  the  best  of  the  old  practical 
writers,  English  and  Scotch,  were  accomplished  Hebraists.  I 
remember  his  mentioning  Flavel  and  Boston  as  examples.  He 
thought  well  of  college  distinctions,  and  believed   it   to  be 

*  The  Rev.  Edward  D.  ^mitli,  D.D.,  of  Xew  York. 


678  TEEATMENT   OF  BOOKS.  [1850. 

a  mistake,  even  in  this  country,  that  the  men  thus  honoured 
did  not  afterwards  fulfil  their  early  promise. 

His  habits  about  books  dilfered  much  from  his  brother's ; 
^Yho  was  exquisitely  careful  of  his  volumes,  and  never  touched 
a  margin  but  to  adorn  it.     Dr.  Addison  Alexander,  on  the 
other  hand,  though  neat  in  all  things  was  yet  indiflferent  about 
the  preservation  of  his  books ;  and  he  sometimes  disfigured  the 
page  Avith  his  bold  erasures  and  rapid  markings.    He  was  very 
cruel  in  some  of  these  marginalia;  and  very  comical  in  others. 
He  marked  equally  where  he  liked  and  where  he  disliked. 
Sometimes  one  cannot  tell  why  he  uses  the  pencil.     His  eye 
was  ruthlessly  turned  to  the  construction  of  sentences,  and  he 
never  spared  the  offender.     He  is  very  hard  in  this  way  upon 
some  famous  writers.     He  was  too  clean  and  sensible  in  his 
tastes  to  cut  the  leaves  of  a  new  book  with  the  butter  knife, 
as  De  Quincey  avers  that  Wordsworth  did  at  Windermere, 
but  he  thought  nothing  of  tearing  the  leaves  out  altogether. 
I  have  been  reminded,  when  considering  this  trait,  of  Alison's 
description  of  Napoleon  in  the  coach  reading  the  new  books 
as  they  came  out,  and  flinging  them  in  whole  or  in  parcels  out 
of  the  window.     I  have  an  English  copy  of  Alexander  on 
Isaiah,  a  beautiful  specimen  of  foreign  presswork,  which  he 
has  interlarded  everywhere  with  large  pencil  marks,  and  liter- 
ally torn  to  pieces  for  coinj !    I  presume  that  at  least  fifty 
pages  at  the  beginning  are  clean  gone,  and  the  edges  of  the 
mutilated  pages  show  signs  of  haste  and  violence.     This  was 
when  he  was  getting  out  his  abridged  edition.     He  was  made 
up  of  pleasant  contradictions :  the  covers  of  his  books  were 
very  precious  to  him,  and  he  was  very  partial  to  a  sumptuous 
and,  strange  to  say,  a  uniform  binding.     The  same  fiery  im- 
petuosity and  recklessness  which  governed  Bonaparte  must  at 
times  have  actuated  him. 

A'propos  of  his  criticisms  along  the  margin, he  seldom  let  a 
book  go  through  his  hands  and  come  out  of  them  unscathed. 
He  could  never  make  much  in  this  way  out  of  Macaulay  and 
Edward  Everett.  Of  the  last  he  said  that  he  showed  the 
scholar  in  every  line  he  had  ever  printed  ;  and  that  if  he  had 


iET.41.]  MAEKING   BOOKS.  67& 

devoted  himself  to  the  more  permanent  forms  of  literature, 
he  Avould  have  achieved  a  more  enviable  reputation  as  a 
writer.  I  am  informed  by  a  friend  that  a  volume  might  easily 
be  made  out  of  these  marginal  annotations ;  most  of  which 
may  be  read  by  any  one  visiting  the  Lenox  Library  at  Prince- 
ton, where  Dr.  Alexander's  books  are  now  permanently 
shelved.  He  tells  us  that  his  Bengel  is  especially  rich  in  these 
treasures.* 

Another  hint  of  his  movements  occurs  in  the  Forty  Years' 
Correspondence.  The  elder  brother  watched  the  younger  one 
very  scrupulously  when  he  was  rounding  oiF  a  volume. 
"Addison's  present  duties  keep  him  reading  the  text  of  the 
Bible,  with  versions,  &e.  from  morning  till  night."  This  was 
a  delightful  occupation  to  him.  These  Avere  regions  where 
his  own  half-forgotten  foot-prints  were  abundant.  The  quaint 
old  English  writers  had  the  charm  for  him  that  Scott's  ro- 
mances had  for  the  generation  of  young  people  that  was  co- 

*  The  Rev.  Wm.  Harris  of  Towanda.  One  of  the  books  he  most  admired 
and  loved  to  read,  Boston's  Fourfold  State,  is  almost  slashed  to  pieces  with 
pencil  strokes.  Nearly  all  the  characteristic  and  deeply  spiritual  parts,  the 
original  ideas,  the  laughable  oddities,  and  the  frequent  mistakes,  are  thus 
pointed  out.  I  have  before  me  the  first  volume  of  his  copy  of  Dr.  Abel 
Stevens's  History  of  Methodism  ;  which  was  another  book  he  greatly  liked,  but 
has  treated  in  much  the  same  fashion.  The  index  is  copiously  annotated  in 
this  way.  The  body  of  the  work  is  fairly  sprinkled  over  with  heavy  pencillings ; 
some  of  them  designed  to  indicate  something  wrong  or  unusual  in  the  style ; 
others  to  denote  approval,  astonishment,  admiration,  or  even  denial;  others 
again  simply  to  call  his  attention  to  something  that  had  struck  him  as  note- 
worthy. Here  and  there  occurs  a  sentence,  or  merely  a  syllable,  in  the  way  of 
running  commentary.  Sometimes  he  erases  a  letter:  and  in  various  ways  he 
corrects  what  are  obvious  misprints  or  lapsus  calami.  Nothing  of  this  sort, 
not  even  the  smallest,  seems  to  have  escaped  him.  Marks  of  interrogation  and 
exclamation  are  frequent.  He  invariably  marks  the  Websterian  spelhng  in 
words  like  "  theater."  Some  things  he  marks  evidently  because  they  are  re- 
peated often.  Many  of  his  scratches  seem  to  be  merely  mnemonic  or  referen- 
tial. Sometimes  nearly  the  whole  of  a  page  is  enclosed  in  a  sweeping  bracket. 
Occasionally  a  whole  page  is  thus  enclosed.  Sometimes  he  adds  a  hand  in  the 
margin.  Once  he  writes,  "Don't  skip  any  of  this."  He  often  italicises  mere 
dates  or  statements  of  local  interest.  It  would  be  impossible  to  give  examples 
without  leaving  erroneous  impressions  as  to  his  system. 


680  UNIVERSITY    OF   VIRGINIA.  [186a 

eval  with  his  boyhood.  I  have  seen  him  laugh  till  the  tears 
came  in  liis  eyes  over  their  odd  turns;  and  the  rose  of  pleasure 
would  bloom  again  in  his  cheek  as  he  went  from  his  desk  to 
his  friend  to  make  him  a  jjartner  in  his  joy.  Need  I  say  tliat 
that  friend  was  often  his  new  colleague  ?  And  there  was  no 
difference  in  their  feelings  here.  Professor  James  Alexander 
once  more  records  among  his  reasons  for  not  leaving  Princeton 
again,  his  "  delightful  house,  and  the  company  of  his  brother 
Addison." 

At  the  beginning  of  the  session  Dr.  Addison  Alexander  re- 
turned to  Princeton,  and  lectured  during  the  winter  upon  Bibli- 
cal History,  the  Messianic  Prophecies,  and  Gospel  History. 
An  extract  from  his  journal  will  exhibit  the  nature  of  his 
studies  at  this  time : 

"Nov.  2Tth.  Lectured  to  the  Second  Class  on  Luke.  Kead  Zech. 
ii.  in  Hebrew  and  English,  Ohaldee  and  Syrlac,  Greek  and  Latin  ;  the 
German  versions  of  Luther  and  De  Wette,  and  the  exposition  of  the 
same  by  Lowth,  Schulten,  Michaelis,  Gill,  Rosenmiiller,  Hitzig,  Maurer, 
Hengstenberg.  Eead  Guizot's  Ilistoire  de  la  Civilization  Frangaise. 
"Wrote  additions  to  my  paper  on  the  Odyssey.*  Corrected  proofs  of  my 
paper  in  the  Magazine.     Eead  Edinburgh  Review  for  1807." 

In  December  the  elder  brother  proceeded  to  the  University 
of  Virginia,  and  delivered  his  discourse  in  the  series  of  lectures 
on  the  Evidences  of  Christianity,  before  the  young  men  and 
the  maturer  minds  of  that  institution.  His  subject  was  the 
Character  of  Christ,  and  it  was  handled  with  the  utmost  deli- 
cacy and  tenderness.  It  has  been  pronounced  a  gem  in  this 
respect.  The  argument  preceded  those  of  Young  and  Bushnell. 
When  he  came  back  he  plunged  once  more  into  the  sea  of  pro- 
fessional laboui'S  and  vicissitudes.  He  knew  care  and  sorrow 
and  perplexity,  and  has  covered  the  pages  of  his  diaries  for 
this  period  with  confessions,  thanksgivings,  and  supplications, 
written  partly  in  English,  partly  in  Latin,  and  partly  in  ste- 
nography.   It  was  a  struggle  for  him  to  leave  Princeton  in  the 

*  In  the  Princeton  Magazine. 


-et.«.]  -peifceton  magazine.  681 

first  instance.  It  was  a  greater  struggle  to  return  to  it  He 
was  soon  to  be  called  to  make  up  his  mind  to  leave  it.  This 
last  step  was  not  taken  without  a  violent  shock  to  all  his 
newly  rooted  affections;  but  was  no  doubt  ordered  in  mercy 
and  wisdom. 

It  was  in  1850  that  the  thoughts  of  the  three  brothers 
Alexander  were  turned  to  the  project  of  a  new  literary  mao-a- 
zme  to  be  edited  by  one  of  themselves  and  to  be  largely 
failed  with  their  own  ephemeral  productions.* 

_  There  was  no  lack  of  material  already  waiting  for  the 
printer.  Their  portfolios  were  overstocked  with  essays,  dia- 
logues, satirical  squibs,  bits  of  Latin  criticism,  popular  philoso- 
phy, and  indescribable  burlesques  of  every  quality  The 
editor  and  main  projector,  the  Hon.  William  C.  Alexander 
wrote  an  article  for  it  styled  "A  Trip  to  the  Levant,"  describ' 
•ng  with  rare  minuteness  a  real  voyage  of  a  real  man-of-war, 
and  with  a  technical  precision  that  afterwards  greatly  aston- 
ished his  friend  Commodore  Kearney,  whose  log  he  had  been 

*  On  March  2,  1850,  the  elder  brother  writes  to  Dr.  Hall:  "My  brother 

Wm.am  as  about  to  set  up  the  Princeton  Magazine,  pp.  48,  monthly.     Of 

curse  we  shall  al   help.     It  will  not  exclude  scientific,  classical   erudite,  sport- 

'  MT/  T"^'"-  ^"''''^^  ^  '^"'°'^^'-  «"*  tl^^««  ^eeks  hence.  '  Prince- 
ton in  1801    will  open  it,  a  reminiscence  of  my  father."     Fam.  L  11  n   no 

Refernng  to  this  venture,  the  editor  of  the  Familiar  Letters,  in  a  foot  note' 
makes  the  statements  which  are  here  subjoined  • 

"Twelve  numbers  of  this  magazine  appeared  in  1850,  after  which  it  wa. 

mroHh  ••  /  ',  '"^'r  '^""  ^"'  ^^^'^^^  ^^'^  '^  *'-  repository  of 
many  of  their  desultory  efi-usions.  The  hand  of  the  former  is  seen  in  such 
subjects  as  'Educafon  among  Merchants,'  'The  Prospects  of  the  Mechani    ' 

nZZ  rf  fu  '7''''^'''''  '^'^  ^^^'  ^^«'^''  '^-'^'^  -d  Busi- 
'?h;PhvT  '     !T      ":'^  of  Dr.  Johnson,'  'Machinery  and  Labour,' 

The  Phyiognomy  of  Houses,"  Letters  on  the  Early  Latin  Writers  "  Road 
side  Architecture  '  The  sportive  and  ironical  wit  of  [he  younger  b^thert 
seen  m  most  of  the  humorous  pieces  with  which  the  magazine  abou  d 
Among  these  is  the  satirical  poem  which  soon  attracted  extensL  notice  '  The 
Reconstruction  of  Society.'  In  a  letter  to  the  editor  of  these  letters,  from  t  e 
late  Mr.  Wash  (Paris,  No..  io,b,  ^^60),  that  eminent  scholar  wrote-  'The 
prom.se  of_  the  youth  of  the  brothers  Alexander  seems  to  have  been  fulfilled 
The  magazme  abounds  with  matter  which  I  read  with  keen  relish.' »  Fam.  L.  IL 

29* 


682  PEmCETON   MAGAZINE.  tl850. 

using.  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  wrote  about  Patrick  Henry 
and  the  olden  times.  Dr.  James  Alexander  contributed  some 
of  his  most  delightful  literary  recreations  in  the  way  of  gos- 
siping criticism,  and  one  or  two  fine  pieces  of  dignified  hu- 
mour.* The  pieces  on  classical  subjects  are  mostly  from  his 
J  en,  though  the  one  on  the  Odyssey  is  by  his  brother  Addi- 


*  Among  these  I  may  mention  the  lively  pieces  entitled  Merry  Men  and 
Visit  to  The  Somerset  Farmer. 

The  following  is  the  list  of  Dr.  Addison  Alexander's  contributions : 
A  Private  Letter  from  a  Public  Letter-Writer. 
Reconstruction  of  Society. 
Freedom  of  Speech.     Nos.  1  and  2. 
Utilitarian  Poetry. 
Monosyllables. 

South  Smithfield  Correspondence.     Nos.  1  and  2. 
The  Complaint. 
Economy  of  Thought. 
School  of  Legislation. 
Some  People. 
Economy  of  Words. 
Dialogue. 

The  Tailor's  Strike. 
Persian  Proverbs. 
Discoveries  at  Dinner. 
Ham  and  Eggs. 

Mother-Country  and  Father-Land. 
Nil  Admirari. 
Seeing  the  World. 
Old  Commencement. 
Something  New. 
The  Persian  Language. 
Counsellor  Phillips. 
Pedagogics.     Nos.  1  and  2. 
The  Odyssey.     Nos.  1  and  2. 
Gentlemanly. 
The  Magazine  was  written  by  members  of  the  family  (principally  by  J.  W. 
A.)  with  occasional  articles  by  an  outsider.     The  volume  contained  one  hun- 
dred  and  twelve  articles.     Eighty-three  articles  were  written  in  the  family. 
To  these  may  be  added  sixty-one  notices  of  new  books.     These  notices  were 
almost  exclusively  from  the  pen  of  the  editor. 


^T.41.3  PEIMITIVE    CHUECH    OFFICES.  683 

son.     Dr.  Addison  Alexander  wrote  in  every  style,  but  com 
monly  in  the  broadest  irony. 

The  work  made  its  appearance  in  the  autumn  of  this  year, 
was  issued  monthly,  and  continued  just  a  year.  It  had  a  poor 
sale,  and  its  worth  was  never  recognized  till  it  was  out  of 
print.  There  is  now  a  demand  for  old  files  of  the  periodical 
on  the  part  of  literary  connoisseurs  and  antiquaries,  and  the 
friends  of  its  chief  contributors.  The  editor  also  had  regular 
and  efiicient  aid  from  other  quarters;  and  now  and  then  some 
friend  would  rally  to  its  assistance  with  a  pleasant  article.  I 
believe  the  general  opinion  is  that  its  flag  was  struck  without 
dishonour. 

In  the  month  of  December  Dr.  James  Alexander  was 
unanimously  recalled  to  Duane  Street  Church  in  New  York. 
After  setting  apart  the  24th  for  prayer  and  fasting,  I  find  him 
on  the  29th  decided  to  go,  provided  the  new  church  which 
they  proposed  building  should  be  out  of  debt.  Here  the  re- 
joicing, anxious,  fearing,  troubled,  jaded,  broken  pastor  spent 
the  remainder  of  his  life.  The  Directors  of  the  Seminary  met 
in  February  following,  and  passed  eulogistic  and  very  cordial 
resolutions.  The  attendance  was  large,  and  there  was  great 
unanimity  of  action. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  year  1851,  Dr.  Addison  Alexander 
projected  his  book  on  Primitive  Church  Ofiices ;  and  during 
that  winter  he  lectured  in  the  Seminary  one  hundred  and  fifty- 
five  times,  viz. :  seventy  lectures  on  the  Acts,  fifty-seven  on 
New  Testament  History,  and  twenty-eight  on  Old  Testament 
History. 

The  following  note  to  Dr.  Hall  is  largely  made  up  of  in- 
correct or  current  phrases.  It  however  contains  an  afiection- 
ate  reference  to  the  retiring  professor,  and  in  a  playful  way 
assumes  that  his  correspondent  is  applying  for  the  place  : 

"Princeton,  May  3d,  1851. 
"Eeveeexd  Dear  Brother: 

"Your  esteemed  favour  of  yesterday  came  to  hand  and  its  contents 
are  duly  noted.     In  reply  I  beg  leave  to  state  that  the  second  Sunday 


684  SICKNESS    OF   HIS    FATHEE.  n851. 

(or  eleventh  day)  of  May  falls  in  onr  .iniuial  examination;  wliich  is  al- 
ways a  season  of  special  interest  and  efloit  in  our  niid>t,  so  that  none 
of  us  can  usually  leave  home ;  but  in  this  case,  our  beloved  brother, 
the  outgoing  Professor  of  Ecclesiastical  History  and  Oliurch  Govern- 
ment, and  Sacred  Khetoric,  wishing  to  be  with  his  past  and  future 
flock,  the  quondam  Cedar  Street  and  ex-Duane  Street  Church,  Kew 
York,  N.  Y.,  I  arranged  tiie  order  of  examination  so  as  to  relieve  him 
of  all  service  on  the  Saturday  and  Monday,  by  taking  his  share  of  tliese 
days  to  myself;  from  which  you  will  at  once  perceive  that  I  cannot 
be  expected  to  supply  your  sacred  desk  on  the  ensuing  Sabbatii,  the 
promise  of  remuneration  and  the  prospect  of  your  cumptiny  at  tea  to 
the  contrary  notwithstanding.  If  this  explanation  should  be  deemed 
insufficient,  I  beg  leave  to  inform  you  that  I  have  others  still  more  co- 
gent, but  too  tedious  to  mention. 

"As  to  the  Professorship,  I  regret  that  I  have  nothing  encournging 

to  say;  and  I  feel  a  delicacy  in  .suggesting  tliat  pastoral  experience  alone 

is  hardly  a  sufficient  qualification  for  the  vacant  office.     I  will  certaii  ly 

do  what  I  can  to  promote  your  wishes,  but  alas!  I  fear  it  will  be  little. 

I  remain,  dear  Brother, 

In  the  best  of  bond?, 

fraternally  yours, 

J.  A.  Alexandek." 

Professor  James  Alexander  was  now  fixed  in  Lis  determi- 
nation, with  God's  blessing,  to  cross  the  Atlantic  and  visit 
Europe  in  the  spring.  The  time  soon  slipped  by,  and  on  the 
22d  of  May  he  sailed  in  one  of  the  mail  steamers  for  Liverpool. 
He  was  gone  about  six  months. 

The  time  now  drew  near  that  the  venerable  Dr.  Archibald 
Alexander  should  die  and  return  to  his  dust.  He  had  enjoyed 
better  health  in  the  last  few  years  than  ever  before;  but  now 
the  strength  that  had  for  nearly  eighty  years  supported  him 
was  rapidly  failing.  A  great  change  had  lately  taken  place 
in  his  appearance.  He  had  grown  thin  and  weak ;  and  talked 
with  increasing  solemnity  of  his  declining  age  and  tlie  pros- 
pect of  his  speedy  removal  from  this  world.  The  first  person 
I  heard  speak  very  despondingly  of  his  situation  was  his  son 
Addison,  who  in  the  most  feehng  manner  and  with  a  moving 
tone  that  reminded  me  of  some  of  his  pathetic  bursts  in  the 


^T.  42.]  APPEOACHESTG   HIS   EKD.  685 

pulpit,  said  one  day  to  a  near  relative  not  living  at  tY.e  house, 
that  he  did  not  think  persons  were  generally  aware  how  grave 
his  father's  seizure  was,  and  how  little  hope  there  was  of  his 
recovery.  The  thought  seemed  to  pierce  his  heart  with  an- 
guish ;  though  there  was  no  sign  of  dismay  or  querulousness. 
He  spoke  like  a  strong  man  who  had  made  up  his  mind  to  take 
up  a  burden  which  might  prove  greater  than  he  could  bear. 

Dr.  James  Alexander  arrived  at  New  York,  in  the  U.  S. 
mail  steamer  Atlantic,  on  the  15th  of  October;  and  after  a 
day's  rest  in  the  city,  took  a  seat  in  the  railway  carriage  for 
Princeton,  where  he  found  his  aged  father  lying  ill,  and  very 
near  his  end.  During  his  absence,  a  member  of  his  own  family 
had  been  removed  by  death.  He  records,  "  What  a  dream  of 
pleasure  in  being  in  the  bosom  of  my  family  !  One  is  not ;  but 
Jessie  is  with  the  Lord."  On  Thursday,  the  16th,  he  saw  his 
father;  who  was  reclining  on  a  sofa  in  the  study.  He  was 
much  thinner  and  weaker  than  his  son  expected  to  see  him, 
and  yet  put  him  strangely  in  mind  of  his  younger  days.  He 
took  the  hand  of  the  returned  traveller,  and  gave  thanks  to 
God  for  preserving  him,  and  bringing  him  back  to  see  him.* 

There  was  an  air  of  unearthly  authority  about  his  face  and 
manner,  which  was  remarked  upon  by  all  who  conversed  with 
him.  A  private  interview  with  him  in  his  bedroom,  made  an 
indelible  impression  upon  one  in  particular,  whose  course  in 
life  he  accurately  marked  out,  and  to  whom  he  spoke  in  a  strain 
of  wonderful  eloquence.  Yet  he  made  all  the  needful  pro- 
vision for  the  future  comfort  of  his  family,  with  even  more 
than  his  accustomed  sagacity  and  business-like  attention  to 
little  things.  After  settling  his  own  worldly  affairs,  he  talked 
freely  with  his  son,  and  with  all  his  usual  acumen,  of  God's 
work  and  people  abroad  ;  after  which,  finding  his  strength  was 
exhausted,  he  took  his  hand  and  dismissed  him.  He  was  clear, 
distinct,  and  decided,  and  spoke  with  an  air  of  unusual  com- 
mand.    His  visitor  "  still  could  not  believe  he  was  dying."   On 

*  See  Life  of  Dr.  Alexander,  p.  604,  for  particulars  which  need  not  to  be 
repeated  here. 


680  THE    BUEIAL.  [186L 

Friday,  the  iVth,  Dr,  Alexander  As^alkcd  down  stairs  to  his  sofa 
in  the  study,  where  he  was  seen  by  his  son  at  intervals  during 
the  day,  and  gave  him  a  message  lor  Dr.  Smyth.  But  his  de- 
bility became  so  great  that,  finding  he  could  no  longer  walk,  he 
insisted  on  being  cai'ried  up  to  his  chamber.  This  was  done  by 
Mr.  Cleghorn,  of  the  Seminary,  and  one  or  two  others,  "  who 
placed  his  dear,  shrunken  form  on  a  raattrass."  He  said  he 
should  never  come  down  ;  and  he  never  did.  He  was  greatly 
refreshed  with  ice-water,  but  refused  to  take  much  nourish- 
ment. A  distressing  hiccough  had  supervened  on  other  bad 
symptoms.  He  expressed  his  undoubting  confidence  of  his 
acceptance  through  the  Redeemer.  His  last  hours  were  a 
season  of  tranquillity  and  peace.  The  balance  of  his  reason 
was  never  once  affected.  On  the  22d,  about  six  o'clock  in  the 
morning,  he  breathed  his  last,  so  gently  that  the  precise  mo- 
ment of  his  departure  was  not  ascertained.  As  in  the  case  of 
his  colleague,  Dr.  Miller,  his  son  records :  "  This  is  the  Eu- 
thanasia. Blessed  be  God  for  Jesus  Christ ! "  As  death 
approached,  the  countenance  became  more  and  more  like  what 
it  was  in  former  days.  To  the  last,  there  continued  to  be  a 
kind  of  marble  comeliness  about  the  features. 

The  Synod  of  New  Jersey  was  assembled  at  Princeton,  at 
the  time  of  Dr.  Alexander's  decease,  and  adopted  a  respectful 
and  affectionate  minute  approi^riate  to  the  occasion.  The 
funeral  took  place  on  Friday  the  24th.  It  was  fine  autumn 
weather ;  and  an  immense  throng  moved  towards  the  old 
grave-yard  on  Witherspoon  street.  Such  a  concourse  was 
seldom  known  in  Princeton.  Three  synods  were  sitting  near 
enough  to  get  the  tidings.  The  Avhole  Synod  of  New  Jersey 
walked.  The  Presbytery  of  New  Brunswick  acted  as  pall- 
bearers. A  large  body  of  his  students  and  other  friends  were 
present.  A  number  of  ministers  filled  the  spaces  about  and 
in  the  pulpit,  and  some  sat  on  the  floor.  The  prayers  were  by 
Dr.  Murray  and  Dr.  Plumer.  The  sermon  was  preached  by 
Dr.  John  McDowell,  from  Rev.  xiv.  13.  Dr.  Magie  made  a 
brief  address  at  the  grave,  and  pronounced  the  benediction. 
The  autumnal  sun  was  just  going  down  in  the  rich  West, 


^T.  42.3  DEEP   GELEF.  68V 

when  the  remains  were  lowered  into  the  earth,  and  little 
Jessie's  (the  only  daughter  of  Dr.  James  Alexander)  grave 
was  still  fresh  in  the  same  portion  of  tbe  New  Cemetery. 
It  was,  as  was  stated  at  the  time,  "  a  funeral  without  gloom, 
which  bore  the  thoughts  quite  to  the  verge  of  heaven.  The 
light  of  the  resurrection  and  of  immortality  seemed  to  dispel 
the  shadows  of  death  and  the  grave,  and  the  sjiectators  of  the 
scene  could  say,  and  no  doubt  did  say,  'Let  me  die  the 
death  of  the  righteous,  and  let  my  last  end  be  like  his  ! '  "  * 
But  there  was  one  present  whose  grief  seemed  inconsolable. 
It  was  Dr.  Addison  Alexander;  the  giant  of  intellectual 
prowess,  the  terror  and  admiration  of  the  classrooms.  He 
stood  weeping  like  a  child. 

"  I  observed  him,"  says  one,f  "  in  the  funeral  j^rocession, 
and  during  the  exercises  in  the  church.  He  sat  motionless ; 
his  countenance  expressive  of  the  deepest  grief;  until  the 
singing  of  the  hymn 

"Unveil  thy  bosom,  faithful  tomb." 

At  the  close  of  the  second  stanza,  his  whole  frame  became 
violently  agitated,  and  several  convulsive  sobs  were  heard 
over  the  whole  house.  With  a  mighty  eflfort  he  controlled  the 
emotion,  and  in  a  few  moments  he  was  calm  and  motionless. 

"  My  stay  in  Princeton  on  that  occasion  was  brief,  and  I 
did  not  presume  to  intrude  upon  the  sacredness  of  his  grief." 

It  was  not  long  after  that  he  composed  the  beautiful  lines 
which  are  given  below,  and  which  were  labelled  on  the  out- 
side of  the  envelope  that  contained  them,  "Medicine  for 
Lucy ; "  and  within — 

"LINES   'TO   A  FATHEELESS   GIRL.' 

"  Tou  asked  me,  Lucy,  to  express 
My  feelings  towards  the  fatherless. 
And  I  consented  so  to  do  ; 

*  See  a  contemporary  account  quoted  in  the  life  of  Dr.  Alexander,  p.  625. 
f  Rev.  B.  T.  Lacy. 


TO   A   FATHEELESS   CHILD.  n8BI. 

But  ere  I  could  redeem  my  word — 
The  solemn  tidings  you  had  heard — 
I  was  without  a  father,  too. 

Believe  not  the  calumnious  tongue, 
Which  says  that  none  except  the  young 

Are  sensible  of  such  distress. 
Though  many  years  have  o'er  me  passed. 
And  though  the  next  may  be  the  last, 

I  feel  that  I  am  fatherless. 

The  breaking  of  that  '  golden  bowl ' 
Has  caused  to  gush  within  my  soul 

A  spring  of  sympathy  with  you. 
I  know,  with  all  my  mind  and  heart, 
What  once  I  only  knew  in  part ; 

For  I  have  lost  a  father  too. 

Though  you  are  young,  and  I  am  old, 
Your  feelings  warm,  and  mine  too  cold, 

I  need  a  comforter  no  less. 
But  while  I  now  with  you  can  grieve, 
With  you  I  likewise  can  believe 

That  God  will  help  the  fatherless. 

And  if  his  care  extends  to  me. 
How  strong  must  his  compassions  be 

Towards  gentler  natures  in  distress. 
The  mercy  that  will  not  neglect 
The  strong  man,  surely  will  protect 

The  child,  and  that  child  fatherless. 

Woe  to  the  sinner  that  'offends' 
The  'little  ones'  whom  God  befriends. 

And  whom  the  Saviour  will  '  confess  1' 
Woe  to  the  wretch  who  can  deceive, 
Or  would  intentionally  grieve. 

The  orphans  and  the  fatherless  ! 

But  no  !  thou  hast  a  Father  still. 
Who  can  defend  his  child,  and  will 

Her  rights  maintain,  her  wrongs  redress. 


^'■•42.]  HEAD    OF    THE    HOFSE.  680 

The  '  witness  of  the  spirit '  gives 

Assurance  that  thy  Father  lives. 

Lucy,  thou  art  not  fatherless ! 

What  is  this  life  of  cares  and  tears, 
If  He  in  smiles  to  thee  appears. 

Through  Christ's  dear  passion  reconciled? 
Each  pang  and  shock  while  here  we  roam, 
la  but  a  gentle  summons  home — 

The  Father  calling  for  his  child. 

Sooner  or  later,  on  his  breast, 
Thou  shalt  enjoy  unbroken  rest, 

Beyond  the  reach  of  earth's  alarms; 
Sooner  or  later,  thou  shalt  win 
The  prize  of  perfect  peace  within 
Thy  Father's  'everlasting  arms.' 

Meantime,  be  cheerful  and  be  bold, 
Dear  lamb  of  the  Good  Shepherd's  fold. 

He  loves  his  '  little  ones  '  to  bless. 
Though  all  forsake  thee,  He  will  not ; 
Though  desolation  be  thy  lot, 
He  will  not  leave  thee  fatherless." 
Princeton,  November  10,  1S51. 

A  friend  from  Virginia  refers  very  kindly  to  an  interview 
he  had^with  Dr.  Addison  Alexander  a  few  months  after  his 
father's  death;  in  the  "Seminary  House,"  of  which  he  had  now 
become  the  occujDant. 

"He  was  then  head  of  the  house.  He  received  me  cordially  at  the 
door;  took  me  into  his  study,  wliich  he  had  now  removed  into  the 
house;  invited  me  to  remain  to  dinner,  which  I  did;  and  during  the 
hours  I  remained,  was  kind,  social,  and  attentive.  I  saw  unmistakable 
evidences  of  deep  sorrow  for  the  loss  of  his  father." 

His  hospitality  was  sincere  and  gratifying  to  his  many 
guests.  He  seemed  to  feel  that  he  was  called  upon  to  take  his 
father's  place  in  these  matters,  so  far  as  he  or  any  one  was 
able  to  take  the  place  of  such  a  man,  even  in  what  may  seem 
so  small  a  thing;  for  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  was  one  of  the 
most  charming  hosts  in  the  land,  and  his  death  made  a  void  in 


6flOi  A   STUDY   TABLE.  ,  tl86a 

the  social  circle,  no  less  than  in  the  councils  and  business  of  the 
Church,  which  it  would  be  hard  to  iill.  But  his  son  did  his 
part  manlully,  and  with  becoming  grace  and  cheerfulness ; 
and  many  left  his  door,  from  this  time  impressed  with  the 
fact  that  the  mantle  of  the  father  had  fallen  upon  the  shoulders 
of  the  son,  who  stood  ready,  like  the  prophet  who  had  seen 
the  chariot  of  fire,  to  cleave  the  waters  of  American  prejudice 
and  intolerance,  and  to  pour  salt  into  the  fountains  of  German 
error  and  skepticism.  He  was  now  reading  as  much  and 
writing  as  much  as  was  customary  with  him  in  former  years 
when  not  actually  working  on  a  commentary. 


CHAPTER    XXY. 

All  was  again  turmoil  with  the  kind  people  of  Duane 
street.  The  new  pastor  was  installed  on  the  12th  of  Novem- 
ber. The  congregation  Avere  worshipping  in  the  Chapel  of  the 
University,  but  were  contemplating  a  building  higher  up- 
town. They  afterwards  constructed  and  entered  the  building 
at  the  corner  of  Fifth  Avenue  and  Nineteenth  street,  which 
still  stands  there,  and  has  latterly  enjoyed  the  ministrations  of 
N.  L.  Rice,  D.D.  and  afterwards  of  John  Hall,  D.D.  of 
Dublin,  who  is  now  their  beloved  and  honoured  pastor. 

The  following  letter  to  Dr.  Hall  of  Trenton  speaks  of  an 

extraordinary  structure  which  Dr.  Addison  Alexander  had 

set  up  in  his  study  : 

"Peixcetox,  1852. 
"My  Deae  Sir: 

"  Having  been  providentially  deprived  of  the  enjoyment  which  I  an- 
ticipated from  a  visit  to  your  interesting  little  place,  I  do  not  feel  at 
liberty  to  name  another  day  at  once.  When  '  the  way  is  clear,'  I  will 
put  myself  in  communication  with  you.  If  I  should  not  be  able  to 
come  down  this  winter,  I  will  try  to  do  so  in  the  spring  or  summer. 
As  to  the  table,  I  will  see  what  can  be  done  for  you.  I  am  sorry  that 
it  made  such  an  impression,  as  you  may  be  disappointed.  The  inven- 
tion is  designed  for  a  limited  class.  James  hopes  to  have  one,  and  the 
railroad  office  has  already  secured  several.  Besides  its  other  merits, 
it  has  a  deep  symbolical  and  mystical  import ;  as  I  use  it  for  a  standing-' 
desk  in  the  morning,  a  sitting-desk  in  the  afternoon,  and  a  flat  table  at 
night.  It  constantly  reminds  me  of  the  sphinx  and  Oedipus.  Vcr- 
hiim  sat. 

"  You  may  find  me  in  the  room  which  I  occupied  ten  years  ago  :  the 
north-west  room  on  the  ground-floor  of  my  father's  house. 

"  With  strong  faith  in  the  solidarity  of  the  peoples, 
"  I  am,  etc. 

"  Joseph  Addison  Alexandee." 


692  A   BOOKISH   LETTEE.  [1852. 

The  next  is  one  of  his  hooklsh  and  scholar-like  letters  to 

his  brother  James : 

"March  17th,  1852. 

"  My  Dear  Brother  : 

"I  have  this  day  finislied  an  attentive,  but  not  critical,  perusal  of 
the  Pentateuch  iii  the  Septuagint  version,  constantly  conipiiring  the 
original.  This  course  of  reading,  which  I  began  January  27,  1851,  I 
think  of  continuing,  not  so  much  with  a  view  to  the  investigation  of 
the  Old  Testament,  in  reference  to  which  I  think  the  value  of  the  Sev- 
enty but  small,  as  to  the  study  of  the  New  Testament,  the  style  and 
religious  phraseology  of  which  were  formed  upon  this  model.  In  the 
hope  of  being  suffered  to  devote  myself  hereafter  to  New-Testament 
studies,  I  have  also  recommenced  tlie  cursory  hut  careful  reading  of 
the  classics;  to  note  coincidences  with  Scripture  and  other  sources 
of  illustration.  I  take  the  autliors  in  the  alphabetical  order  of  my 
Tauchnitz  collection.  I  have  lately  read  every  word  of  iEschines  and 
^schylus.  I  always  thouglit  the  former  a  delightful  writer.  Long 
represents  Cicero  and  Quiutilian  as  making  him  equal,  if  not  superior, 
to  Demosthenes.  Wliy  is  one  so  easy  to  a  modern  reader,  and  the  other 
so  hard  ?  iEschylus  pleases  me  no  more  than  formerly ;  perhaps  be- 
cause I  understand  so  little.  The  best  things  I  retain  are  some  mag- 
nificent descriptive  phrases.  One  advantage  of  the  Tauchnitz  volumes 
is  that  I  can  carry  them  about  with  me,  and  read  them  even  in  travel- 
ling, without  exciting  suspicion. 

^"  Eichard  Armstrong  of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  has  written  to  my 
mother  to  share  his  private  property  with  her,  if  in  want." 

The  following,  to  liis  brother,  touches  upon  the  proposed 
changes  in  the  Seminary,  an  article  of  his  father's,  and  its  simi- 
larity to  something  in  the  Noctes  Ambrosiana3,  the  Sanscrit 
and  Tttrkish  languages,  the  Septuagint,  Targums,  &c.,  Mari- 
ana, the  Baptist  controversy,  Biblical  History,  a  suggested 
plan  of  lectures,  etc.  etc.  etc. 

"April  22d,  1852. 
"My  Dear  Brother: 

"My  mind  is  now  at  ease  as  to  ray  proressorship.  I  am  quite  wil- 
ling to  remain  for  tlie  present  as  I  am.  I  observe  a  reinarlv.ible  coin- 
cidence between  lib.  VI.  c.ip.  1  of  the  Noctes,  and  one  of  my  father's 
latest  papers  on  moral  philosophy.  See  if  a  word  should  not  be  added 
there  to  forestall  the  objection  from  the  happiness  of  heaven,  which 


^'^•^1         SUDDEN-  CALL  TO  PEEACH.  693 

has  no   pain   mixel   with   it.       Another   coincidence.       In    Sanscrit 
nineteen,     twenty-nine,    tliirty-nine,    &c.    may    be   expressed,    as    in 
Latin,  by  una,  twenty,  &c. ;    but  the   tma  has  nothing  to   do  with 
one  but  means   less.     I    am    renewing   my  youth   as  to   study,   and 
especially  of  languages.     Sanscrit  and  Turkish,  which  I  have  repeat- 
edly failed  to  learn   since   I   returned  from  Europe,   are  becoming 
quite  familiar.      I  have  all  the  old  irons  in  the  fire— Septuagint— 
Targum  —  Peshito  —Vulgate  -  Classics  —  Guericke  —  Mariana  —  Bu- 
chanan  —  Eapiu  — Schiller  — Abulfeda  — and     Draper's    Chemistry! 
I  have  hit  upon  a  grand  plan  for  unifying  Biblical  History  and  Antiqui- 
ties next  year.     This  is  one  thing  that  reconciles  me  to  the  status  quo. 
The  Greek  lalas  is  not  the  text  but  the  pretext.     Halley  reminds  me 
of  the  '  Baptist  article.'     His  wit  exceeds  his  other  powers,  which  are 
high.     I  am  struck  with  a  scholarlike  accuracy  not  common  in  English 
Independents.     One  is  almost  sorry  Carson  did  not  live  to  get  his  due. 
I  like  what  he  says  about  /3a77r/ta>,  but  dissent,  in  toto,  from  his  syna- 
gogue theory.     I  have  a  book  in  petto  on  this  subject,  but  nobody 
would  read  it.     My  new  plan  of  lectures  will  carry  me  over  the  whole 
ground  again.     Suppose  we  get  up  a  course  of  lectures  like  Halley  & 
Co.'s!  they  might  be  delivered  in  your  church  or  chapel,  and  then 
published." 

The  reports  of  Dr.  Addison  Alexander's  memory  Lave  xmi 
been  much  exaggerated.  As  has  been  said  elsewhere  in  this 
book,  his  occasional  «  memoriter  "  efforts  in  the  pulpit  were  apt 
to  be  mistaken  for  extemporaneous.  I  think  it  was  so  in  the 
case  referred  to  below  by  Prof.  Cameron ;  and  that  I  remem- 
ber the  discourse.  It  was  delivered  during  this  year,  and 
soon  after  his  great  affliction  : 

"The  first  sermon  that  Dr.  'Addison'  preached  after  his  father's 
death  was  extempore,  or  rather  without  the  manuscript.  It  happened 
in  th.s  way.  The  evening  was  not  very  favourable,  the  audience  was 
small,  and  the  minister  who  was  to  preach  in  the  First  Church  did  not 
come  After  waiting  for  some  time  one  of  the  elders  arose,  approached 
Dr.  A.  and  requested  him  to  preach,  but  he  declined.  Several  others 
were  asked  and  in  like  manner  begged  to  be  excused.  Presently  Prof 
Duffield  and  I  observed  Dr.  Addison  changing  his  position,  &c.  and  look- 
ing round  as  if  intimating  that  he  would  preach  if  again  called  upon  We 
intimated  this  to  the  elder,  and  upon  a  renewal  of  the  request  he  ascend- 
ed the  pulpit  and  preached  with  an  earnestness,  an  unction,  and  a  power 


694  LOOAI,  NOVELTY.  [1852. 

that  I  never  heard  him  surpass.  It  Fccmed  as  if  his  recent  affliction 
in  the  deatli  of  his  fatlier,  that  great  and  good  man,  had  stirred  his 
nature  to  its  utmost  depths,  or  liad  brought  him  into  closer  contact  with 
that  other  and  unseen  world.     This  occurred  in  November,  1851." 

Much  has  been  said,  during  the  course  of  this  narrative,  of 
Dr.  Alexander's  love  of  what  I  may  style  local  novelty.  On 
this  subject  he  was  probably  more  amusinccly  whimsical  and 
capricious  than  any  one  that  ever  lived.  A  2^ropos  of  this,  a 
friend  *  writes  : 

"Mrs.  Alexander  will  tell  you  how  upon  one  occasion  of  house 
cleaning  she  proposed  to  clean  and  arrange  his  study.  He  consenteJ, 
and  disappeared  from  the  scene  as  gentlemen  are  too  happy  to  do  upon 
such  occasions.  She  took  note  of  everything,  its  position,  &c.  and 
carefully  superintending  the  Avhole  matter^  restored  everything  to  the 
precise  f;?ace  that  it  had  previously  oc'cupied.  She  thought  he  would 
he  very  much  pleased  with  the  arrangement;  hut  when  he  returned 
home  and  was  ushered  into  his  study,  he  exclaimed  in  the  most  plaint- 
ive manner  and  with  a  tone  of  disappointment,  '  Why,  you  have  every- 
thing just  as  it  was ! '  " 

His  brother  Henry  says  he  rejoiced  to  let  him  make  plans 
for  new  arrangements  of  the  books. 

His  library,  which  to  many  would  have  been  a  desert,  was 
Dr.  Alexander's  pai-adisc.  He  loved  to  sit  near  a  window  and 
look  out  upon  the  foliage  and  soft  turf  of  Avhat  was  once  his 
father's  yard;  and  when  the  weather  was  warm  to  throw  np 
the  sash,  and  smell  the  flowers,  and  drink  in  the  cool  breeze 
which  was  almost  always  shivering  in  the  aspen  at  the  side 
gate  near  the  Seminary,  and  which  often  shook  the  branches 
of  the  great  larch  that  shadowed  the  front  walk.  This  Avalk 
was  of  brick  and  was  bordered  with  beautiful  and  fragrant 
plants.  In  the  spring  the  grass  was  full  of  Avhite  and  blue 
violets,  and  a  little  later  of  yellow  buttercups.  The  air  was 
full  of  the  melody  of  birds.  The  swallows,  in  the  early  spring, 
never  seemed  to  tire  of  circling  about  the  chimneys  and  caves. 
The  blue-bird  and  robin  were  annual  visitants.     A  wren  built 

*  The  Rev.  H.  C.  Camcrou,  Professor  of  Greek  in  the  College  of  New  Jersey. 


^T.43.]  SCEKES   TEOM  HIS   WIISTDOW.  695 

its  nest  year  aftei*  year,  in  a  cavity  caused  by  the  displacement 
of  a  brick  in  the  red  wall  over  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander's 
study  door:  the  sash-door  which  opened  upon  the  path  leadino- 
to  the  Seminary.  The  summer  thrush  yearly  made  its  home  in 
the  thick  coverts,  and  the  turtle-dove  mourned  upon  the 
branches  in  the  opposite  grounds  of  Mi-.  Thomson.  It  may 
be  the  Princeton  air  and  Princeton  sunsets  are  not  as  fine  as  I 
have  elsewhere  painted  them.  However  this  may  be,  he 
thought  so. 

But  these  odours,  sights,  and  sounds  seldom  allured  the 
sedentary  scholar  from  his  favourite  employments ;  they  but 
served  to  refresh  his  senses,  and  to  lend  a  new  charm  to  the 
romantic  pages  of  some  Persian  or  Italian  poet,  and  to  invio-- 
orate  his  intellectual  powers  for  the  grapple  with  some  Briare- 
an  language  which  he  had  never  before  encountered,  but 
which  he  was  now  resolved  to  master. 

He  was  exceedingly  fond  of  taking  notice  of  the  various 
groups  and  couples  of  pedestrians  that  passed  by  the  gate, 
and  the  school  children  and  especially  the  school   girls   as 
they  went  to  and  from  school.      He  knew  them  all :   knew 
their    names,    ages,    individual    peculiarities ;    indeed   every 
thing    that   could    be    known    about   them.       He   loved   to 
look    too    at    the   lazy   carts   and   market  wagons,  as   well 
as   the  men  on  horseback,   and  the   rumbling    pleasure  car- 
riages,  as    they   swept    by   his   door;     and    in    the    winter 
he  was  a  delighted  spectator  of  the    sleighs   and  loved  to 
hear  the  merry  jingle  of  the  bells.     The  servants  on  the  road 
with  their  baskets  and  parcels,  the  crier  ringing  his  bell  for 
the  vendue^  the  young  people  of  the  town  or  strangers  from 
the  country,  strolling  through  the  village  on  a  holiday,  the 
veriest  beggars  and  trampers,  afforded  him  endless  diversion. 
But  all  this  was  the  merest  pastime.    It  did  not  tempt  him  from 
his  toil.     And  his  toil  was  after  all  his  highest  satisfaction. 
His  books,  his  pens  and  inkstand,  the  journal,  the  black  port- 
folio with  its  treasures  of  Vvdiite  unruled  paper,  the  hours  of 
deep  intellectual  repose  among  his  volumes,  the  days  of  labour, 
the  nights  of  ease  and  meditation :  these  were  his  chief  enter- 


696  AMONG   MEN.  11888. 

tainment.  He  was  a  man  of  the  closet.  There  was  a 
fountain  of  hope  and  cheerfuhiess  with  hi  him  that  never  ran 
dry.  He  was  constitutionally  an  optimist.  His  morbid  feel- 
ings were  the  exception,  and  did  not  usually  arise  until  he 
came  in  contact  with  some  one  between  whom  and  himself 
there  was  at  the  moment  no  congeniality  of  tastes  and  sym- 
pathies. He  was  as  sensitive  as  the  steel  filings  to  the  touch 
of  the  magnet.  Some  people  greatly  attracted  him,  and  others 
violently  and  suddenly  repelled  him,  and  often  unaccountably. 
He  was  said  to  repel  them ;  but  the  repulsion  was  often  just  as 
much  or  even  more  the  other  way.  When  he  repelled  it  was 
often  when  he  could  not  help  it,  and  exerted  no  conscious 
much  less  malicious  force.  It  was  a  kind  of  diamagnetism. 
He  shrank  from  some  men  instinctively.  They  were  often 
o-ood  men,  excellent  men,  men  of  talents  and  attainments. 
This  made  no  difference.     It  was  the  old  story  about  Dr.  Fell : 

"I  do  not  love  thee,  Dr.  Fell; 
Tou  ask  me  why,  I  cannot  tell."' 

No  one  was  more  ready  to  acknowledge  and  admire  the 
virtues  of  some  of  these  very  persons.  What  most  affected 
him  in  this  way  was  a  sort  of  cringing  humiliation  of  manner 
which  some  people  put  on  when  they  saw  him.  He  was  also 
driven  within  his  inmost  castle  of  reserve,  and  sometimes  of 
curt  disdain,  by  the  foolish  persistence  of  conceit,  pretension, 
and  upstart  sauciness.  There  are  brazen,  impudent  people  in  the 
world  who  like  nothing  better  than  to  impose  themselves  upon 
men  of  soft,  yielding  dispositions.  Dr.  Alexander  was  not  to 
be  so  easily  daunted.  When  attacked  in  this  way  he  swiftly- 
opened  every  loop-hole  and  poured  upon  the  assailant  a  merci- 
less and  deadly  fire  of  small  arms.  The  drums  of  the  enemy 
were  instantly  silenced,  or  were  only  heard  in  the  distance 
beating  a  retreat.  The  enemy  was  at  last  fain  to  acknowledge 
his  overwhehning  superiority.  It  was  useless  to  contend  with 
forked  lightnings.  Sometimes  he  cut  people  up  most  dreadful- 
ly and  often  without  really  intending  it.  He  was  quick  and 
sudden  in  his  anger,  but  he  relented  immediately.     Sometimes 


^T.43.]  DEATH   OF   niS    MOTHER. 


697 


he  was  sorry  by  the  time  the  Avords  were  out  of  his  mouth 

and  the  very  tones  of  his  voice  became  subdued  and  mollified' 

The  gentleman*  whose  words  I  quoted  a  while  ao-o   o-oes 

on  to  sny  of  the  younger  brother  and  the  subject  of  this'me- 


mou 


"During  my  pastorate  in  Pliiladelphia  [1851-1853],  I  sa^y  Dr  Addi 
son  Alexander  several  times.  A  visit  I  paid  to  him  in  Lis  study  was 
one  of  the  most  delightful  I  ever  enjoyed.  TJu-oughout  tlie  interview 
he  treated  me  as  an  equal  and  almost  as  a  confidential  friend.  I  then 
for  the  first  time  saw  into  the  deptlis  of  bis  Christian  feeling  felt  the 
power  of  his  conversational  abilities,  and  saw  that  be  bad  a  heart  full 
Alexander ''^°^  ^''°'"'  ^jmpathy.    For  the  first  time,  I  lo.ed  Addison 

Ah,  how  many  could  have  said  the  same  if  they  had  only 
known  him  a  little  more  closely,  and  been  a  little  more  for- 
beanng  as  regards  his  infirmities!  He  was  as  gentle  as  he 
was  strong,  and  yearned  more  and  more  as  he  grew  older  for 
human  sympathy. 

During  the  month  of  July,  Dr.  Alexander  was  travellin<. 
through  New  England  and  Ne^v  York;  a  tour  undertaken  and 
gone  through  wholly  for  the  benefit  and  comfort  of  his  sorrow- 
mg  mother,  who  accompanied  him.     Wherever  she  wished  to 
go,  he  went.     Whatever  she  wished  to  have,  if  it  was  possible 
to  procure  it,  he  provided.     Never  was  tender  devotion  to  a 
mother  more  conspicuously  shown  than  by  Addison  Alexander 
On  the  6th,  Dr.  James  Alexander  was  called  to  Princeton 
httle  knowmg,"  as  he  says  himself,  "what  he  was  sent  for."' 
On  getting  out  of  the  carriage  he  found  the  house  still,  and 
entering  the  study  he  was  shocked  to  see  his  mother  lying  in 
a  state  of  alarming  weakness  on  the  same  sofa  from  whiciriiis 
fother  had  been  carried  the  previous  October.     She  looked 
pale  and  haggard,  but  rose  on  her  son's  entrance,  and  durino- 
the  afternoon  sat  with  the  family,  drank  tea,  and  engaged  in 
conversation.     That  evening  she  was  forced  to  go  to  bed      In 
the  morning  she  dressed  herself  and  walked  across  the  passa-e 


*  Dr.  W.  II.  Ruffner. 
30 


698  STUDyiI!.^Cr    CHUKCII   HISTOBY.  [1853 

up  stairs  to  the  room  over  her  son  Addison's  study.  This  was 
her  last  effort.  She  sank  rapidly  during  the  day,  and  at  noon 
fell  into  a  gentle  sleep  from  which  she  was  never  aroused. 
She  breatlied  away  her  spirit  at  five  minutes  before  nuie 
P  u  Several  members  of  her  family  were  standmg  by,  and 
one  of  her  sons  was  kneeling  in  prayer.  There  was  no  con- 
vulsion of  her  person,  and  there  has  seldom  been  an  mstance 
of  a  more  tranquil  or  painless  death. 

Durino-  the  winter  of  1852  Dr.  Alexander  was  absorbed 
in  the  study  of  Ecclesiastical  History;  having  been  appomted 
to  the  chair  vacated  by  his  brother;  his  journals  contam 
nothino-  but  first  drafts  of  lectures  on  this  subject. 

Am°ong  all  his  vacillations  of  feeling  he  remained  fixed  m 
his  aversfon  to  this  chair,  though  after  entering  upon  his 
duties  he  tried,  and  not  without  success,  to  throw  into  his  in- 
structions something  of  the  old  fire  and  enthusiasm.  But  his 
exultation  was  high  and  refreshing,  when  he  was  permitted  to 
return  to  his  Biblical  lectures,  and  could  apply  all  his  powers 
to  the  art  and  science  of  interpretation. 

Such  a  December  for  mildness  was  never  known  in  the 
latitude  of  Princeton.  Hardly  any  cold  weather  had  yet  been 
felt  Dr  James  Alexander's  work  entitled  "Consolation," 
was  published  on  the  15th.  The  next  day  he  preached  at 
Newtown  before  the  Long  Island  Bible  Society.  On  the  1 9th 
the  new  church  was  dedicated  at  the  corner  of  Fifth  avenue 
and  Nineteenth  street.  Dr.  Plumer  preached.  At  night  the 
pews  were  sold,  and  the  church  was  oftioially  pronounced  free 
trom  debt.  On  the  21st  the  first  service  was  held  in  the  new 
lecture  room,  and  the  beloved  pastor  resumed  a  coarse  of  lec- 
tures on  the  life  of  Christ. 

The  following  letter  to  his  brother  James  opens  the  year 

i853:  ^  ^,    ^^^., 

"Peinoetox,  January  oth,  ibod. 

"My  Dear  Brothee: 

"  Is  there  any  book  besides  the  great  costly  collections  that  gives  a 
good  idea  of  the  ancient  liturgies?  I  do  not  mean  in  the  way  of  his- 
tory  or  description  merely,  but  in  that  of  actual  exemplification.     11 


^■f-^S]  EEADING  DAIflSH.  699 

you  shoiiia  ever  have  the  means  of  purchasing  any  of  the  great  collec- 
tions for  us,  I  hope  you  will  begin  witli  the  councils  and  liturgies. 

"I  thiiilv  of  beginning  h>  execute  a  plan,  formed  many  years  ago,  of 
making  a  collection  of  the  Fa;  hejs  for  my  own  use.  If  at  all  complete, 
it  would  always  be  valuable  property,  and  might  enrich  some  public 
l.brary.  What  I  should  want  would  be  serviceable  editions,  whether 
fine  or  not.  I  hardly  know  how  to  choose  between  the  old  standard 
editions  and  the  more  convenient  modern  ones. 

'•I  am  reading  Allen's  History  of  Denmark  (Paa  Dansk),  which  I 
imported  several  years  ago,  but  could  then  make  nothing  of  it.  Having, 
in  ihe  meantime,  followed  Locke's  rule,  by  reading  the  four  Gospels^ 
Acts  and  Revelation;  also  Eask's  Grammar;  I  find,  to  my  surprise' 
that  I  can  read  Allen  very  fluently  with  a  dictionary.  The  book  is  a 
prize-composition,  very  highly  prais.d.  Prefixed,  is  a  very  copious 
apparatus  of  historical  and  arclucDlogical  bibliography.  It  is  like  get- 
ting into  a  new  world,  to  read  the  names  of  scholars  and  immense 
works  of  which  I  had  never  heard  before.  The  Danes  appear  to  have 
kept  pace  w  ith  all  the  German  movements  in  advance.  I  am  suff"ering 
for  want  of  a  book  to  write,  being  paralyzed  by  infirmity  of  choice.  I 
am  not  at  all  ambitious  in  the  matter,  being  only  anxious  tu  discover  how 
my  gifts  and  ma:erials  could  be  employed  most  uselully.  I  am  more 
and  more  sati-fied,  that  a  man  must  make  Church  History  either  every- 
thing or  nothing;  he  must  either  be  a  whaler  or  angler  of  the  pettie.^t 
and  i.itiiiillest  kind. 

"IIa^t  read  the  ISTestorian  girls'  anniversary  speech  in  one  of  the 
Mi-^sionary  papers?  How  different  from  the  Smdwich  Islanders  on 
the  same  page!  The  Sandwich  Islanders  are  officially  struck  oft'  the 
roll  of  heathen  lands  and  foreign  missions.  How  well  I  remember  the 
first  colony,  and  the  news  of  Tamahamalia's  iconoclasra  !  Tiiere  seems 
to  be  a  new  turn  in  the  mission  to  the  Jews  in  Northern  Europe.  I 
hope  it  will  s  on  be  understood  that  the  stu  ly  of  the  Talmud  by  our 
own  uiissionaries  is  sheer  loss  of  time.  The  be=t  view  of  prophecy  and 
Old  Testament  History  I  know  is  in  Owen's  Exercitations." 

The  extract  below  is  from  a  letter  to  tlie  same,  dated 
January,  1853  : 

"  Have  you  ssen  the  coriespondence  between  Gladstone  and 
McCaul?  I  never  saw  the  supercilious  better  done.  The  English 
universities  seem  likely  to  be  overhauled.'  Disraeli's  speech  on  Wel- 
lington is  probably  the  most  un-English  ever  spoken  in  St.  Stephen's, 


700  IN   NEW   HAVEN.  [1853. 

M-ithont  counting  the  plagiarism  from  Thiers.  The  Jew  is  unmistatablo 
in  nil  he  does.  We  have  just  heard  the  d-eadful  news  about  poor 
Pierce's  only  child.  What  a  avyKvplai  There  seems  to  he  little 
danger  now  of  his  being  exalted  above  measure.  How  can  I  get  a 
com'plete  Roman  Liturgy  as  used  in  this  country?  I  mean  the  sacer- 
dotal part— Missal,  Eitual,  Breviary,  and  what  not.     We  are   all  as 

well  as  usual. 

"  Yours, 

"J.  A.  Alexandee." 

The  next  is  to  his  brother  Samuel,  and  describes  several  of 
the  New  Haven  preachers : 

JNew  IIaven,  March  28,  1853. 

"  Eev.  and  Dear  Brother  : 

I  left  home  on  Saturday  at  half-past  ten,  and  reached  this  place  at 
half-past  six.    I  am  staying,  vs  you  will  see  by  the  envelope,  at  the 
New  Haven  Hotel,  a  capital  house  of  the  best  New  England  kind;  new, 
clean  quiet,  and  genteel,  with  an  excellent  table,  and  excellent  ser- 
vants'.    I  attended  the  Oollege-chapel  yesterday  morning,  and  heard  a 
strancrer  preach  a  verv  striking  sermon  (with  more  law  than  Gospel  m 
it)  from  the  last  clause  of  Jer.  iii. :  5.     Doctrine  :  every  sinner  acts  as 
badly  as  he  can.     In  the  afternoon  I  heard  another  striking  sermon 
from  Dr    Bacon,  on  Heb.   ix  :    27.      I   intended  to  hear    Cleveland, 
but  he  did  not  preach  himself.     Although  he  is  old-school.  Dr.  Taylor 
says  he  is  the  best  preacher  in  New  Haven.    At  night,  I  found  the 
Avhole  population  streaming  to  one  of  the  churches  in  the  public  square, 
and  in  a  short  time  it  was  jammed  like  commencement.     At  the  door 
I  heard  that  Gough  was  to  speak,  and  went  in,  but  afterwards  learned 
that  he  was  not  present.     So  I  had  to  sit  (on  a  bench  in  the  aisle) 
throuo-h  a  'statement  of  facts'  and  two  or  three  temperance  addresses, 
before  I  could  get  out  in  the  wake  of  some  fainting  females.     I  hope  to 
be  at  home  to-night.     You  owe  the  unexpected  pleasure  of  this  letter 
partly  to  my  vivid  recollections  of  our  visit  to  New  Haven,  and  the 
Park  House,  which  was  denounced  last  night  as  one  of  the  worst  rum- 
holes;  and  partly  to  my  wish  to  know  where  you  got  that  wide-ruled 
paper  in  Philadelphia,  as  I  want  some  more  of  the  same  kind.     It  was 
^ery  warm  when  I  arrived  here,  but  it  afterwards  turned  very  cold. 
At  your  next  visit  I  advise  you  to  try  this  house. 

"  Ever  yours, 

"  J.  A.  Alexander." 


^T.43.1  mTEEPEETATION.  701 

Some  extracts  from  his  journals  will  give  an  insight  into 
his  studies  at  this  period ; 

''March  18.  Began  Koch  on  1st  Thess.  Lectured  to  the  first  class 
(from  Kurtz),  ou  1750-1814.  Eead  Job  in  the  LXX.,  and  1  Samuel  in 
the  Vulgate;  Old  Eed  Sandstone;  Alford  and  Baumgarten  on  Acts, 
xix;  Thucydides;  Allen's  Danish  History;  Stevens's  Lectures  on 
France. 

''Mardi^l.  LXX.  Job  xxi. ;  Vulgate,  1  Samuel  viii. ;  Koch  on  1 
Thess. ;  Old  Eed  Sandstone  ;  Studied  Mark  xiv. ;  Mariana  Ilistoria  de 
Espana;  began  to  write  questions  on  the-Gospel  History;  read  the  ser- 
/ice  for  Monday  before  Easter  in  the  Hebrew  (Christian)  prayer-book; 
lectured  to  the  third  class  on  Mark  xiv. ;  Stevens's  Lecture  on  the 
Fronde  ;  Thucydides." 

The  following  interesting  letter  on  the  subject  of  Interpre- 
tation is  to  his  brother  James : 

unr    -n         T>  "March  31st,  1853. 

"My  Deae  Beothek: 

"  I  wave  (or  waive)  the  etiquette  of  waiting  for  an  answer,  as  I  find 
it  a  relief  to  vent  my  thoughts  in  some  safe  quarter.    Whatever  may  be 
the  issue  of  the  present  movement,  one  thing  is  certain,  that  I  never 
felt  so  much  complacency  in  any  plan  or  prospect  of  employment,  since 
I  first  became  connected  with  the  Seminary.     Even  wlien  I  have  been 
most  contented  and  resigned,  I  have  never  felt  anytldng  like  enthusi- 
asm for  my  work  here.   Besides  other  reasons,  some  of  wliich  you  know 
as  well  as  I  do,  this  has  arisen  fiom  my  business  having  always  had 
some  disagreeable  arljnnct?,  and  some  painful  feelings  of  responsibility 
for  things  in  which  I  did  not  feel  sufficient  interest  to  do  them  well. 
But  now,  for  tliO  first  time,  Providence  seems  really  to  open  the  prospect 
of  employment  precisely  suited  to  my  taste,  and  so  far  as  I  can  judge, 
my  talents,  my  previous  studies,  and  whatever  reputation  I  may  thus 
fur  have  acquired.     I  cannot  desire  anything  better  than  to  teach  In- 
terpretation, without  the  preceding  drudgery,  as  a  science,  as  an  art, 
and  as  a  function  of  the  ministry.     While  all  the  professors  will  inter- 
pret Scripture  for  grammatical,  historical,  doctrinal,  and  theological 
purposes,  my  task,  according  to  the  present  plan,  would  be  to  teach  the 
stude.it  to  interpret  Scripture  for  himself  hereafter,  as  the  only  sure 
source  of  sound  and  sufficient  matter  for  his  popular  instructions. 

"This  view  of  the  matter  seems  to  strip  off"  the  scholastic  character 
which  offends  some  minds,  by  connecting  the  study,  in  the  closest  man- 


702  HOW   TO   TEACH   IT.  C1853. 

ner,  with  the  active  duties  of  the  pastoral  office.  At  the  snrac  time,  it 
leaves  it  all  its  learning,  etc.,  for  Interpretatiou  must  be  studied  as  an 
art  requiring  knowledge,  judgment,  tastj,  skill,  and  experienci^  just  as 
mucli  as  any  other  course  on  fine  arts  ;  and  yet  thii  art  is  not  empir- 
ical, but  founded  upon  science,  i.  e.,  governed  by  established  laws  and 
principles.  All  this  seems  to  me  to  give  a  substantive  individuality  to 
In:erpretation  as  a  distinct  branch  of  study  and  instruction.  My  idea 
as  to  execut'on  is,  to  teach  the  subject  in  a  threefold  method  :  I.  In 
theory,  or  by  precept,  presenting  dogmatically  the  principles  of  herme- 
neutics,  with  historical  illustrations.  II.  By  example,  applying  my  prin- 
ciples to  actual  exposition  in  esegetical  lectures.  III.  By  pnictice, 
accustoming  the  student  to  interpret  for  himself,  under  the  direction  of 
the  teacher.  I  am  very  much  taken  with  this  view  of  the  matter,  and 
prefer  it  greatly  to  a  mere  New  Testament  prolessorsliip,  not  merely  on 
?he  grounds  which  my  father  used  to  urge  against  such  a  division,  but 
because  there  is  a  loud  demand  from  friends  and  foes  for  more  system- 
atic attention  to  the  subject  of  prophetical  Interpretation,  which  would 
be  excluded  from  my  field  upon  the  other  plan.  Since  I  wrote,  there- 
fore, I  have  convinced  myself  that  the  mention  of  apologetics  in  my 
title  would  destroy  the  unity  of  my  department,  and  impose  a  disagree- 
able responsibility.  My  present  notion  is,  to  borrow  a  formula  from 
the  fa-i'ulty  of  medicine,  which  would  not  be  an  unmeaning  one  in  the 
case—'  The  Theory  and  Practice  (or  Principles  and  Practice)  of  Inter- 
pretation.' 

"  Affectionately  yours, 

"  J.  A.  A." 

His  correspondence  with  his  publishers  Avas  brisk  and 
active,  but  is  mainly  of  a  business  character.  It,  however, 
throws  some  light  on  the  workings  of  his  mind  when  pre- 
paring his  different  books,  and  also  upon  his  variable,  em- 
phatic, impulsive,  original  character.  They  are  almost  void 
of  wit  or  humour ;  but  abound  in  touches  of  good  taste,  strong 
sense,  benevolence,  delicacy  of  feeling,  and  a  strange  mixture 
of  simplicity  and  worldly  wisdom.  They  arc,  moreover,  as 
frank  as  candour  itself 

The  following  was  written  a  mouth  before  his  second  At- 
lantic  voyage,  and  shows  that  he  was  thinking  of  publishing 
his  travels  : 


book:  of  TEAVELS.  703 

„^         ^  "PRracETO^-,  April  20fh,  1853. 

"Dear  Sir: 

"  It  is  now  quite  probable  that  I  shall  go  abroad  next  month,  and  if 
so,  it  is  my  intention  to  prepare  at  least  one  volume  for  the  press,  with 
the  materials  thus  procured.     The  three  plans  which  have  occurred  to 
me  are  :  (1.)  a  visit  to  the  universities  of  Europe  ;  (2.)  an  account  of  the 
great  preachers;  (3.)  an  amalgamation  of  my  old  journals  with  the 
new,  under  some  such  title  as  'Europe  Eevisited,  after  an  interval  of 
Twenty  Years,'    I  may,  if  my  life  and  health  are  spared,  carry  out  all 
these  plans  ;  but  one  of  them  I  fully  expect  to  execute.     My  principal 
motive  in  determining  to  do  this  is,  to  furnish  the  expenses  of  tbe  voy- 
age itself;    audit  is  on  tliis  subject  that  I  now  address  you.     lam 
willing  to  engage  to  furnish,  within  sis  months  after  my  return  {Deo 
nolente),  at  least  one  volume,  equal  in  amount  of  matter  to  the  largest 
of  the  Psalms,  of  as  popular  a  character  as  I  can  make  it,  and  to  sell 
the  copyright  beforehand.     The  style,  price,  mode  of  printing,  etc., 
would  then  be,  of  course,  at  the  discretion  of  the  publislier.     As  my 
main  object  is  to  raise  money,  I  am  under  the  necessity  of  giving  it  to 
the  highest  biJder.     Instead  of  inviting  competition,  however,  which 
would  be  ridiculously  arrogant,  I  begin  by  giving  you  the  offer,  and 
shall  make  it  to  no  other,  if  you  think  it  worth  your  while  to  close 
with  it,  on  terms  that  will  at  all  answer  my  immediate  purpose.     I  set 
no  price  myself,  because  I  have  no  idea  of  the  risks  and  chances  which 
must  constitute  the  elements  of  calculation.     ITy  own  estimate  of  such 
a  book's  success  is  not  very  high,  and  I  should  therefore,  probably,  be 
better  off  in  your  hands  than  my  own.     Will  you  be  so  good,  then,  as 
to  state  the  highest  sum  which  you  would  think  it  right  to  offer  for  the 
copyright  of  such  a  book  as  I  have  described  ?     My  proposition  does 
not  necessarily  involve  any  actual  advance  or  prepayment,  but  only  an 
assurance  that  my  expenses  will  be  reimbursed,  although,  of  course, 
any  accommodation  of  that  kind  would  make  the  arrangement  more 
desirable  to  me.     In  order  to  provide  for  all  contingencies,  I  should 
like  to  stipulate  that,  if  I  should  in  any  way  be  hindered  from  pro- 
ducing the  precise  book,  or  kind  of  book,  proposed  at  present,  I  will 
furnish,  within  the  same  time,  a  work  of  some  other  kind,  equal  in 
commercial  value,  yourself  being  the  judge.     If  you  choose  to  confer 
with  Henry  on  tlie  subject,  you  can  do  so  ;  but  I  wish  to  hear  from  you 
directly,  when  you  have  made  up  your  mind  either  to  make  an  offer 
or  decline  it.     I  need  not  add  that  I  have  no  time  to  lose. 

"  Sincerely  yours, 

"J.  A.  Alexander. 
Mr.  Scribxer." 


704  SAILS   FOE  EUEOPE.  [1853. 

Mr.  Scribner  quickly  answered  this  letter,  acceding  to  all 
that  had  been  asked  ;  but  before  its  arrival  Dr.  Alexander 
had  changed  liis  plan,  and  thanks  Mr.  Scribner  in  the  follow- 
ing letter  for  his  liberality  and  promptness  : 

"PiuNCETOx,  April  26tb,  1853. 
"Deae  Sir: 

"I  expected  to  acknowledge  your  last  letter  in  person,  but  was 
obliged  to  leave  New  York  witbout  seeing  you.  I  write  now  to  say 
tbat,  wliile  I  fully  appreciate  tbo  liberality  and  promptness  of  your 
offer,  I  bave  determined  to  decline  making  cany  engagement  of  the 
kind  at  present.  Tbis  determination  has  been  partly  occasioned  by 
suggestious  of  your  own,  as  to  tbe  conditions  of  success  in  works  of 
tbat  class,  but  cbiefly  by  my  finding  tbat  such  an  arrangement  will  not; 
be  necessary  to  enable  me  to  go  abroad ;  and  tbis  being  tbe  case,  I 
should  enjoy  my  visit  far  more,  unencumbered  by  a  sense  of  obligation 
to  make  sometbing  out  of  it.  If  I  should  be  able  and  disposed,  on 
my  return,  to  make  a  book,  you  shall  be  among  the  first  to  hear  of  it. 
I  am  glad  that  you  and  Dr.  ScbalT  bave  come  to  an  understanding 

mutually  satisfactory. 

"Ti-uly  yours, 

"Jos.  Addison  Alexander. 

"Mr.  Scribxer," 

Dr.  Alexander  having  determined  to  spend  the  summer  of 
1853  in  Europe,  completed  his  arrangements  and  was  now 
ready  for  his  departure,  and  looked  forward  eagerly  to  a  re- 
newal of  the  pleasures  he  had  snatched  in  the  same  way  and 
from  tbe  same  objects,  just  twenty  years  before.  During  that 
trip  he  was  commonly  alone,  or  nearly  alone.  This  time  he 
was  to  be  accompanied,  to  his  great  satisfaction,  by  his  friend 
and  former  pupil,  the  Rev.  C.  W.  Hodge  of  Princeton.  The 
intercourse  between  them  was  throughout,  familiar  and  affec- 
tionate, wholly  unembarrassed  and  often  highly  amusing. 
The  excitements  preliminary  to  the  getting  off  were  soon  over, 
and  everything  was  on  tip-toe  for  the  journey. 

On  Wednesday,  May  18th,  the  light-hearted  traveller? 
sailed  from  New  York  in  the  steamship  Asia,  and  after  a 
pleasant  voyage  landed  at  Liverpool  on  Sunday  the  29th. 


^^•43.]  HIS   JOURNALS.  705 

Dr.  Alexander's  journals  during  this  short  visit  are  deeply 
interesting  and  on  most  accounts  well  worthy  of  being  pub- 
lished entire.  But  the  limited  space  at  my  disposal  witl  only 
allow  me,  as  in  the  journal  of  his  former  visit,  to  make  brief 
extracts  here  and  there,  leaving  much  to  be  supplied  by  the 
wit  or  knowledge  of  the  reader.  The  Guide  Books  have  by 
this  time  superseded  the  use  of  elaborate  diaries. 

During  tliis  flying  visit  he  spent  two  days  in  Liverpool, 
seven  days  in  Edinburgh,  two  days  at  Melrose  and  Abbotsford, 
SIX  days  in  London,  six  days  at  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  and 
seventeen  days  in  Paris.  From  thence  he  visited  in  order 
Nancy,  Basel,  Heidelberg,  Mannheim,  Mayence,  Cologne, 
Arnheim,  Utrecht,  Amsterdam,  Rotterdam,  Haarlem,  Leyden', 
The  Hague,  Antwerp,  Ghent,  Bruges,  and  Ostend.  On  the  2d 
of  August  he  crossed  over  to  Dover,  and  spent  a  week  in 
London.  He  then  made  a  flying  visit  to  Dublin,  going  thence 
to  Manchester,  and  making  his  last  stop  at  Liverpool ;  from 
which  port  he  sailed  on  the  20th  for  America,  in  the  Europa 
arriving  at  Boston  on  the  31st.  ' 

My  object  will  be  to  select  such  portions  of  this  epistolary 
chronicle  as  may  seem  to  me  to  possess  the  greatest  intrinsic 
value,  or  else  to  afford  the  best  lights  in  which  to  view  the 
man~\xi^  strong  and  peculiar  intellect ;  his  almost  perpetual 
vivacity  of  sjDirits;  his  learning;  his  command  of  English; 
his  power  of  description;  his  quick  discernment  of  eharrcter ,' 
his  dislike  of  sameness;  his  contempt  of  many  fashionable 
usages,  maxims,  and  opinions;  his  whimsical  tastes;  his  fancy 
for  odd  people,  startling  adventures,  queer  expressions  and 
street  signs;  his  passionate  love  of  children,  and  fondness  for 
courts  and  public  spectacles;  his  delight  in  attending  different 
churches  and  comparing  different  preachers;    his  quick  and 
impulsive  sympathies;  his  rare  humour;  his  sterling  common- 
sense  and  orthodoxy ;  and  his  devout  piety. 

The  travellers  landed  at  Liverpool  on  the  29th  of  May. 
The  diverting  account  one  of  them  gives  of  his  exploit  in 
getting  down  the  side  of  the  vessel,  with  another  man's  hat  on, 
ought  not  to  be  skipped.     After  a  detailed  exhibition  of  the 


10G 


A   PREDICAMENT.  tl863. 


difficulties  he  Lad  to  encounter,  Dr.  Alexander  continues  a3 
follows:  , 

"Down  this  almost  perpendicular  descent,  I  was  among  the  first  to 
venture.  Hard  as  it  would  have  been  at  any  time,  it  was  rendered 
doubly  so  by  a  circumstance,  of  Avhich  wo  never  think  without  hiugh- 
ing." 

His  old  hat,  poor  enough  when  he  set  out,  had  been  re- 
duced to  a  ruinous  condition  by  repeated  onsets  on  the  part 
of  some  of  those  who  had  been  suffering  from  sea-sickness. 

"  My  cnp  was  too  large  for  me  and  very  odd-looldng,  especially 
since  the  oilcloth  cover  had  been  blown  into  the  sea  upon  the  first  or 
second  day,  and,  notwithstanding  efforts  to  rescue  it,  b;.rne  by  an  east 

Avind  tow;ird  its  native  shores.     As 's  cap  was  very  nice,  and  ho 

preferred  it,  he  proposed  that  I  should  wear  his  new  hat  till  we  got  to 
Liverpool.  This  could  only  be  done  by  perching  it  on  the  crown  of 
my  head,  from  which  the  wind  threatened  every  moment  to  remove  it. 
The  problem  now  was  to  prevent  its  flight  and  at  the  same  time  to  ef- 
fect an  almo.t  vertical  descent  over  the  ship's  side.  With  one  hand 
on  my  hat  (or  rather  not  mine)  and  the  other  on  the  slight  rail,  I  be- 
gan a  descent  which  can  only  be  compared  to  that  of  Righi.  All  that 
I  know  is  that  I  found  myself  soon  after  at  the  bottom  with  my  bor- 
rowed hat  in  statu  quo.  It  was  now  quite  a  treat  to  see  the  rest  de- 
scend." 

From  what  the  reader  may  recollect  of  his  habit  on  the 
former  occasion,  and  from  the  hint  just  thrown  out,  ic  is  hardly 
necessary  for  me  to  say  that  Dr.  Alexander  lost  no  time  in 
heariuo-  some  of  the  famous  preachers.  The  first  he  had  the 
pleasure  of  listening  to  was  Dr.  McNeile.  For  this  purpose  he 
had  recourse  to 

"Princess  Park,  a  beautiful  enclosure,  on  the  edge  of  which,  facing 
a  wide  street  or  road  leading  out  into  the  country,  is  St.  Paul's  Church. 
The  people  were  already  streaming  in,  and  continued  so  to  do  until  the 
sermon  began,  by  which  time  the  church  was  fall.  It  is  ugly  inside, 
with  an  unpleasant  mixture  of  the  modern  and  antique,  the  Pl^m  and  or- 
namental. The  service  was  read  by  two  monkish  youths,  and  McNeill 
then  preached  from  Song  Sol.  v.  IG,  expoundin.?  the  whole  chapter  tc 


^T.43.]  DE.    CAWDLISH.  V07 

that  verse.  The  doctrines  and  sentiments  were  excellent,  the  mode  of 
treatment  delicate  and  skilful,  language  correct  and  plain,  manner  self- 
possessed  and  dignified,  voice  powerful  and  sweet  though  not  always 
used  well ;  but  what  most  surprised  me  was  the  absence  of  all  power, 
either  logical  or  rhetorical.  Tlie  whole  thing  was  tame,  and  if  heard 
from  a  stranger  would  have  gained  no  attention  and  left  no  impression. 
Perhaps  it  was  not  a  fair  sample,  but  the  audience  seemed  perfectly 
enraptured.  I  am  glad  to  have  heard  MclSTeile,  as  no  man  can  judge  of 
preaching  for  another;  with  my  present  impressions,  I  would  not  go 
across  the  street  to  hear  him  again." 

His  next  essay  was  to  hear  Dr.  Candlish,  and  was  equally 
successful.  The  whole  account  is  so  remarkable  for  its  vehe- 
ment emotion  and  graphic  description,  that  I  shall  give  it 
without  abridgment.  He  always  after  this  regarded  Candlish 
as  the  greatest  preacher  he  ever  heard.  What  follows  was 
of  course  written  in  Edinburgh  and  on  the  Lord's  Day: 

"This  morning  a  profound  sabbatical  stillness  reigned  throughout 
the  city.  "We  did  not  get  our  breakfast  until  9,  and  at  10  we  sallied 
firth,  and  as  we  walked  through  the  whole  length  of  Princess  street, 
found  it  almost  empty.  At  Free  St.  George's  we  went  into  a  kind  of 
dwelling  house  behind  or  beneath  the  church,  and  learned  from  a  man 
who  was  washing  a  bnsin  for  the  vestry,  that  Dr.  Candlish  was  to 
preach  'all  day,'  and  that  the  doors  would  be  open  a  quarter  before 
eleven.  We  walked  up  under  the  bi'ow  of  the  castle  rock  to  Free  St. 
John's  where  we  learned  to  our  regret  that  Dr.  Guthrie  was  out  of 
town,  and  that  Dr.  Hanna  (no  doubt  the  son-in-law  and  biographer  of 
Chalmers),  was  to  preach  '  all  day.'  Determined  to  make  sure  of  Cand- 
lish, we  went  back  in  some  haste.  The  whole  scene  was  now  changed. 
The  profound  repose  was  broken  by  the  clangor  of  church-bells,  espe- 
cially the  great  one  of  St.  Giles's  (tlie  old  cathedral)  and  the  fine  new 
one  of  Victoria  Hall.  The  streets,  too,  were  literally  full  of  people. 
At  St.  George's  a  decent  man  admitted  me  into  his  pew,  and  showed 
me  how  to  put  ray  hat  upon  the  book-board.  The  church  is  wide  and 
nearly  square;  quite  plain,  the  galleries  very  spacious;  the  pulpit 
small  and  slight;  under  it  sat  the  precentor;  a  handsome  black-haired 
man  in  a  gcwn.  The  whole  congregation  sang ;  witli  less  spirit  but 
more  sweetness  and  apparent  culture  than  the  Scotch  congregations  in 
America.  The  COth  chapter  of  Isaiah  was  read  after  the  prayer,  then 
another  psalm,  then  the  Lord's  Prayer,  then  the  sermon.     For  several 


708  ins   SEEMON.  [1850. 

years  past  I  have  expected  less  from  Candlisli  tlian  I  once  did,  and  had 
grown  almost  indifferent  to  liearing  him,  so  that  I  should  have  been 
less  disappointed  at  his  absence  than  at  Dr.  Guthrie's.     This  predispo- 
sition was  increased  by  his  appearance,  which  is  indescribably  grotesque 
and  even  mean.     I  cannot  convey  a  faint  idea  of  it  better  than  by  faith- 
fully recording  the  identical  impression  which  it  made  upon  me,  or 
rather  the  image  which  it  conjured  up,  and  which  was  that  of  a  sickly 
boy,  just  roused  from  sleep,  and  without  any  washing  or  combing— 
his  eyes  scarcely  open  and  his  hair  disordered— forced  into  the  ugliest 
and  clumsiest  black  gown  you  can  imagine,  dragged  into  the  pulpit  and 
compelled  to  preach.     The  illusion  was  kept  up  by  what  seemed  to  be 
incessant  efforts  to  get  his  gown  off,  or  to  button  his  clothes  under  it, 
with  occasional  pulls  at  his  hair  as  if  it  was  a  wig  which  he  had  just 
discovered  to  be  hind  part  before,  and  was  pettishly  trying  to  reverse 
or  throw  away.     Now  and  then  too  a  white  handkerchief  would  come 
out  in  a  kind  of  whirlwind  and  go  back  again  without  performing  any 
office.     Add  to  all  this  that  one  shoulder  was  held  as  if  by  a  painful 
effort  a  foot  higher  than  the  other,  and  the  neck  quite  nullified,  and 
you  have  no  exaggerated  picture  of  the  preacher's  personal  appearance. 
As  to  speech,  imagine  the  funniest  burlesque  of  tlie  Scotch  sing-song 
and  the  broadest  Scotch  pronunciation  of  some  common  words,  such  as 
waun  (one),  naio  (no),  Hawly  Oaiost^  &c.,  with  a  voice  rather  husky 
in  its  best  estate  and  sometimes  a  mere  rattling  in  the  throat ;  and  you 
have  the  impression  made  upon  my  ear  as  well  as  my  eye.     He  read 
the  first  three  verses  of  the  eleventh  chapter  of  2d  Corinthians,  and 
repeated  as  his  test  the  third.     He  read  every  word  of  his  sermon 
from  a  small  MS.  in  the  pulpit  Bible,  never  looking  at  the  congrega- 
tion, but  once  in  every  sentence  raising  his  eye  to  some  fixed  point  or 
timing  it  on  vacancy.     He  began  by  pointing  out  the  contrast  in  the 
jiassage  between  Christ's  simplicity  and  Satan's  subtlety,  as  exemplified 
i  1  Eve's  case.     God  gave  one  sufficient  reason  for  not  eating.     Satan 
gave  several  for  eating.     This  he  generalized  ;  truth  and  simplicity  are 
satisfied  with  one  good  reason  ;  craft  and  falsehood  must  have  many  ; 
as  if  many  weaknesses  equal  one  strength.     Theme :  The  simplicity  of 
Ihrist,  as  shown  in  five  particulars:  1st.  His  atoning  work;  2d.  The 
free  offer  of  salvation ;  3d.  The  completeness  of  his  people  in  him  ;  4th. 
Their  growth  in  grace  by  following  Him;  5th.  The  expectation  of  his 
second  coming.     Though  much  of  the  exterior  above  described  struck 
me  as  probably  a  caricature  of  Chalmers,  I  soon  found  that  he  did  not 
•  imitate  the  style  of  his  great  model.     The  composition  was  masterly; 
both  strong  and  beautiful;  no  Scotticisms  ;  no  provincialisms;  no  vio- 


^T.48.]  ITS   EFFECTS.  V09 

lations  of  taste,  except  perhaps  an  occasional  excess  of  ingenious  and 
pointed  antithesis.  As  to  substance,  the  first  head  was  a  most  capti- 
vating view  of  the  old  doctrine  of  Atonement,  as  a  simple  scheme  op- 
posed to  the  complexities  of  eri-or.  The  second  was  more  experimental. 
Under  this  he  accumulated  all  the  difficulties  men  feel  as  to  election, 
ability,  the  unpardonable  sin,  insufficient  conviction,  faith,  love,  hope, 
&c.  There  was  something  fearful  in  this  part  of  the  discourse.  I 
shuddered,  as  he  enumerated  the  terrible  contingencies,  I  never  can 
forget  the  strange,  uneartlily  drawl  with  which  he  said,  '  You  may  not 
be  one  of  the  elect ;  you  may  not  be  sorry  enough ;  you  may  not  be 
willing  enough  ;  you  may  not  be  able  enough  ;  you  may  have  commit- 
ted the  unpardonable  sin.'  But  when  to  these  (as  the  subtleties  of 
Satan)  he  opposed  the  simple  truth  that  Christ  had  died  and  God  was 
in  earnest  in  offering  salvation  ;  and  exhorted  us  to  let  God  take  care 
of  his  own  attributes,  and  to  look  at  the  Atonement  not  from  his  side 
but  from  ours ;  not  to  debate  with  Satan  or  wait  for  the  solution  of  all 
puzzles,  but  simply  believe  what  Christ  has  said,  and  do  what  he  re- 
quires ;  it  was  like  coming  out  of  an  English  railway  tunnel  into  the 
paradise  of  an  English  landscape.  And  then,  when  he  appealed  to  the 
experience  of  the  convert,  and  described  the  escape  of  the  poor  soul 
from  the  knotted  meshes  of  the  devil's  snare  to  the  '  simplicity  that  is 
in  Christ,'  I  was  completely  overcome.  I  shook  with  violent  agita- 
tion ;  and  I  don't  know  how  I  could  have  sat  still  if  my  eyes  had  not 
relieved  me.  But  I  passed  entirely  unnoticed.  Many  were  in  the  same 
condition,  and  tlie  rest  were  unconsciously  bent  forward  to  ^atch  every 
word.  During  the  height  of  this  excitement  the  preacher's  ugliness 
and  awkwardness  was  not  forgotten  or  unobserved.  They  seemed  to 
be  constantly  increasing,  but  by  some  strange  process  to  enhance  the 
effect  of  the  discourse  which  they  had  threatened  to  make  quite  ridicu. 
Ions.  In  the  crisis  or  acme  of  the  eloquence  his  gown  fell  half  off; 
his  right  arm  was  at  liberty  ;  and  he  assumed  the  look  of  a  demoniac 
fighting  with  a  fiend.  Ilis  gestures  were  those  of  conflict  with  one 
immediately  before  him  thrusting  and  struggling.  It  reminded  me  of 
Burley's  fencing*  in  Old  Mortality.  At  the  end  of  this  part  of  the 
discourse  he  relapsed  into  his  'first  manner:'  and  although  the  third 
was  admirable  too,  I  was  only  preparing  to  be  shocked  (in  the  electric 
sense)  again,  when  he  abruptly  shut  the  book  and  said,  'Tlie  rest  must 
be  deferred.'  After  the  prayer  he  read  one  or  two  notices,  threw 
them  behind  him,  and  pronounced  the  benediction.     The  members  of 

*  See  Old  Mortality,  vol.  II.  pp.  297,  298.     Parker,  1836. 


710  CANDLISH   AGAIN.  [1853. 

the  congregation  seemed  to  sit  till  the  strangers  liad  withdrawn.  Ifc 
was  cheering  to  see  such  a  crowd  pouring  out  from  sucli  a  sermon.  On 
rejoining ,  I  found  him  scarcely  less  excited  than  myself;  and  with- 
out knowing  whither  we  were  going  we  strolled  cff  in  a  direction  op- 
pi)site  to  that  of  our  hotel.  "We  got  iato  the  southern  suburhs ;  and  as 
the  interval  was  only  until  2  o'clock,  we  took  a  cup  of  cofi'ee  at  a  colFee- 
house,  iti  a  little  private  room  of  the  old  fashion  ;  made  a  few  inquiries 
al)oat  churches,  and  returned  to  Free  St.  George's.  Here  we  waited  in 
the  lobby  as  before ;  saw  Oandlish  come  out  of  his  vestry  near  us  and 
ascend  the  pulpit,  preceded  by  the  sexton  carrying  the  book,  and  fol- 
lowed by  the  gowned  precentor.  He  read  his  text ;  the  same  as  in  the 
morning;  and  without  the  least  allusion  to  the  previous  service,  re- 
peated word  for  word  the  introduction  to  his  sermon  as  if  he  was 
preacliing  it  again  to  a  different  congregation.  In  like  manner  he  re- 
peated most  distinctly  the  five  heads  of  the  discourse  several  times,  so 
tliat  no  one  could  forget  them :  summing  up  in  a  few  sentences  the 
three  heads  which  he  had  already  handled.  He  then  took  up  the 
fourth,  which  was  comparatively  short,  but  excellent  and  striking  in  a 
high  degree,  and  then  came  to  the  last ;  the  simplicity  of  the  Christian 
doctrine  of  the  Second  Advent.  This  had  greatly  awakened  my  curi- 
osity wlien  announced  in  the  morning,  and  I  trembled  for  the  preacher; 
but  my  fears  were  groundless.  His  treatment  of  this  topic  was  as  wise 
as  it  was  eloquent.  I  admired  what  he  did  not  say  as  much  as  what 
he  said.  The  idea  he  presented  was  that  of  a  great  picture,  the  out- 
line of  whfch  is  distinctly  drawn  in  Scripture  and  distinctly  visible  to 
all  alike.  The  disputed  matters  are  the  filling  up.  He  said  nothing  to 
conciliate  or  offend  the  Millennarian.  He  admitted  tlie  lawfulness  and 
use  of  such  investigation,  but  denied  that  they  belong  to  the  great  out- 
line which  the  hand  of  God  himself  has  traced,  and  which  he  now  re- 
traced b-;fore  us  with  transcendent  skill  and  power,  introducing  him- 
self as  the  i-pectat  or ;  under  various  characters  :  a  convicted  sinner;  a 
heart-broken  mourner,  &c.  &c.  and  telling  what  it  is  that  sustains  his 
liope— not  this  ;  not  that ;  but  Christ,  Christ  alone  ;  apart  from  all  ac- 
cessories ;  independent  of  all  revolutions,  earthquakes,  catastrophes : 
one  insulated,  solitary  figure,  standing  amidst  the  wreck  of  empires 
and  of  worlds:  not  the  church;  not  the  ministry;  not  a  new  state  of 
society  &c.  &c : — not  that  (he  shrieked  in  the  most  thrilling  way)  not 
that  at  all ;  but  Christ  in  his  simplicity — none  but  Ciirist!  It  is  to  him 
that  I  look  forward;  that  I  am  approaching;  I  have  caught  up  mi!A 
him ;  I  am  caughc  up  to  him  ;  with  tiiem  that  sleep  in  Jesus;  in  the 
clouds  ;  in  the  air  ;  into  heaven  ;  to  be  ever  with  the  Lord  !     Judging 


^r.43.]  A   SCOTCH   GUIDE.  711 

merely  by  the  actual  effect  npon  myself,  without  regard  to  rules  or 
the  judgment  of  others,  this  was  certainly  one  of  the  grandest  bursta 
of  eloquence  that  I  have  ever  heard.  If  Chalmers  was  as  much  above 
this  man  in  actual  power  as  he  is  in  fame,  he  was  almost  superhuman. 
It  was  some  relief  from  the  tension  of  this  winding-up  to  find  it  fol- 
lowed by  a  threefold  application  to  the  careless,  the  anxious,  the  be- 
lieving hearer.  The  fii-st  was  masterly :  characterized  by  a  solemn 
irony,  well  suited  to  impress  supercilious  sinners.  Instead  of  warning 
them  11010  against  the  subtlety  of  Satan,  he  told  them  Satan  did  not 
think  it  worth  his  while  to  practise  arts  on  them  :  he  reserved  his  craft 
for  those  who  had  escaped,  or  were  escaping,  frtmi  his  toils  ;  with  the 
careless  sinner  he  used  great  simplicity:  not  many  lie=,  but  one  lie 
not  even  a  new  one,  but  the  same  old  lie  that  had  seduced  Eve  and  its 
tens  of  thousands  since:  'Ye  shall  not  surely  die.'  The  other  applica- 
tions were  brief  but  excellent;  though  not  so  striking  as  the  other, 
being  rather  a  gradual  descent  from  the  previous  elevat'on.  In  any 
ordinary  sermon  even  this  part  miglit  have  made  the  preacher's  fortune. 
I  have  given  this  account,  with  all  its  seeming  extravag  mce,  for  the  very 
reason  that  I  do  not  wish  to  let  my  first  impressions  be  corrected  and 
cooled  down  by  subsequent  reflection ;  but  to  preserve  them  jus!;  as  they 
are  ;  for  my  oion  future  use,  as  well  as  for  your  present  entertainment." 

Such  a  lover  of  Scottish  history  and  dialect,  of  course, 
could  not  fail  to  meet  ^vnth  objects  of  interest  everywhere  in 
the  land  of  the  Douglas  and  the  Covenanters,  and  of  Jeanie 
Deans  and  Edie  Ochiltree.  The  references  he  makes  to  the 
old  legends  are,  however,  not  of  a  nature  to  justify  quotation. 
The  pithy  sayings  of  the  Scotch  peasantry  are  more  worthy 
of  preservation.  At  Melrose  Abbey,  he  fell  in  with  a  shrewd, 
satirical  old  guide  ;  and  overheard  a  sentence  or  two  from  a 
lady,  which  had  better  have  been  left  unsaid. 

"I  was  amused  at  the  straightforward,  common-sense  way  in  which 
our  cicerone  answered  a  lady  of  the  party.  He  also  took  her  down 
from  her  stilts  in  reference  to  the  nobility.  She  spoke  familiarly  of 
the  Duke  of  Buccleuch.  He  asked  her  if  she  knew  him.  She  said, 
with  a  stammer,  that  she  knew  where  he  lived.  The  old  man  said 
the  duke  had  so  many  dwellings  it  was  hard  to  know  them  all.  Seeing 
Lord  Somervillc's  name  upon  a  vault,  the  lady  said  (as  if  it  was  the 
name  of  an  acquaintance)  'Ah!   is  Lord  Somerville  buried  here?'    The 


Y12  DE.    HAMILTON.  [1853. 

old  man,  with  a  dry  laugli,  saitl,  '  Lord  Somerville  is  no  buried  at,  all, 
but  wLeu  ho  dies  he  has  a  reclit  to  lie  here.'  In  sliort,  he  was  an  ad- 
mirable typo  of  tlie  sturdy,  sensible,  free-spoken  Scotchman." 

After  a,  brief  but  pleasant  jaunt  among  the  scenes  immor- 
talized by  Burns  and  Scott,  he  returned,  with  but  little  reluc- 
tance to  England. 

Of  course,  he  went  to  hear  the  late  beloved  and  honoured 
Dr.  Hamilton,  of  Regent  Square,  London  ;  and  he  was  much 
pleased  with  the  sermon.  The  whole  account  is  worthy  of 
perusal. 

"  Tlie  church  in  Regent  Square  was  built  for  Edward  Irving,  and  is 
a  neat,  plain  building  of  the  Gothic  sort.  The  door-keeper  told  us  he 
could  not  give  us  seats  till  the  service  began,  but  he  thought  there  was 
plenty  of  room  in  the  gallery.  We  accordingly  ascended,  and  were 
shown  by  a  female  pew-opener  into  a  very  good  front  seat.  The  house 
below  was  well  filled,  but  not  crowded.  The  congregation  seemed  to 
be  entirely  Scotch.  "We  thought  at  first  a  stranger  was  to  pi  each,  but 
soon  saw  that  it  was  the  sexton  ushering  the  minister  into  the  pulpit. 
I  Avas  greatly  pleased  with  Hamilton's  appearance.  The  portraits  flat- 
ter him  very  little.  "While  his  presence  is  naturally  an  impressive  one, 
he  wins  respect  by  his  look  of  unfeigned  seriousness  and  modesty.  He 
read  a  chapter,  just  as  we  do,  without  note  or  comment.  His  sermon 
was  a  lecture  on  the  stilling  of  the  storm ;  precisely  like  his  books, 
and  not  at  all  improved  by  the  delivery.  Its  great  defect  was  some 
peculiarity  of  utterance  that  made  a  large  part  wholly  unintelligible. 
His  voice  is  deep  and  guttural.  He  did  not  read  by  any  means  so 
closely  as  Candlish ;  but  looked  at  and  addressed  the  congregation,  some- 
times uttering  several  sentences  without  referring  to  his  green-covered 
MS.  After  a  brief  but  interesting  summary  of  the  narrative,  he  re- 
marked upon  it  as  illustrating  the  character  both  of  the  disciples  and 
the  Master.  The  most  striking  points  were,  the  difference  between 
faith  and  physical  courage,  as  exemplified  in  Peter's  walking  on  the 
water ;  and  the  apparent  hardship  in  Christ's  treatment  of  the  twelve, 
who  were  sent  away  alone  in  a  storm,  and  permitted  to  share  neither  in 
the  rest  of  the  five  thousand,  nor  in  the  prayers  of  Christ.  In  this  con- 
nection, he  made  use  of  a  magnificent  figure,  which  Wordsworth  might 
have  envied;  in  his  own  line,  too;  for  it  was  that  of  the  eagle  stirring 
up  her  nest;  the  apparent  hardship,  as  it  seems  to  the  spectator,  on 
some  Highland  precipice  or  Alpine  clitF,  of  forcing  the  poor  eaglets  from 


'^''•<13.1  HIS   SEEMON-.  713 

the  eyrie  where  they  have  so  long  been  fostered,  over  the  vei-ge  of  the 
abyss  ia  which  sure  destruction  seems  to  await  them,  till  the  parent 
bird,  with  a  sweep  of  its  pinions,  like  a  flash  of  lightning,  passes  be- 
neath, and  bears  them  up  to  heaven !  This  was  intended  to  illustrate 
our  Lord's  method  of  preparing  the  apostles  for  their  future  work. 
But  by  far  the  finest  part  of  the  discourse  was  the  conclusion :  in  which 
he  brought  out  the  old  use  of  the  passage  as  an  emblem  of  the  trials 
of  the  Church  ;  tracing  the  points  of  correspondence  with  great  beauty 
both  of  thought  and  language,  and  especially  describing  with  extraor- 
dinary graphic  power,  the  dangers  of  the  Church  in  our  day,  when  the 
Master  seems  asleep  upon  a  pillow,  or  absent  from  the  ve^s.d  altogether, 
and  where  every  etfort  to  do  good,  or  remove  evil,  is  but  a  single  stroke 
of  the  oar  when  the  wind  is  contrary,  and  the  sea  tempestuous;  but 
when  the  night  is  darkest,  and  the  weather  worst,  a  form  is  seen  walk- 
ing on  the  waters  (this  was  wrought  up  very  beautifully),  sometimes 
dreaded  as  a  spectre  by  the  Church  itself;  but  the  moment  his  foot 
treads  the  deck,  the  waves  f\ill  flat,  the  wind  is  hushed ;  even  the  world 
acknowledges  the  presence  of  the  Master,  and  straightway  they  are  at 
the  land  whither  they  went.  "  Let  us  pray  " !  Comparisons  are  odious  ; 
but  I  must  say  that,  with  all  its  beauty,  this  discourse  of  Hamilton's 
was  far  below  Oandlish's,  in  all  respects,  even  in  literary  merit :  for, 
though  more  exuberant  in  figures,  it  was  not  in  such  good  taste ;  while 
as  to  argument  and  doctrine  and  experimental  power,  effect  upon  the 
conscience  and  religious  feelings  (judging,  of  course,  by  my  own  expe- 
rience) it  was  child's  play  in  comparison.  I  say  this  the  more  freely, 
because  all  my  prepossessions  were  in  Hamilton's  favour;  and  I  liked 
the  man  as  soon  as  I  saw  him :  whereas,  Candlish's  exterior  created  a 
repugnance  which  all  my  admiration  of  his  preaching  has  not  wholly 
overcome." 

The  mention  of  Hamilton  naturally  calls  up  the  name  of 
another  distinguished  London  minister  and  pulpit-celebrity, 
Dr.  Gumming ;  whom  lie  also  heard  with  pleasure,  and  whom 
he  thus  describes : 

"  I  inquired  repeatedly  the  way  to  Dr.  Cumming's  church,  of  which 
I  had  entirely  forgotten  the  locality.  One  stupid  policeman  said  it  was 
close  by ;  but  on  following  his  directions,  I  found  myself  in  Doctors'  Com- 
mons.  Another  thought  it  must  be  Strand-ways,  an  expression  new  to 
me,  though  very  English.  At  length  I  asked  a  policeman  of  superior 
yank,  and  of  a  portly  presence,  whom  I  took  to  be  a  Scotchman, 


71.4  BR.    GUMMING.  tl883. 

■whether  he  conld  direct  me  to  the  National  Scotch  Church.     lie  was 
jii8t,beginiiiiig  to  say  No,  vvlieu  I  added,  Dr.  Cumining's.     'Oh,  yesi ' 
said  he,  'I  can  direct  you  to  Dr.  Cumming's  church  ;  I  was  not  aware 
that  it  was  called  the  National  Scotch  Church.'     lie  then  directed  mo 
to  Crown  Court,  Drury  Lane,  the  entrance  to  the  court  being  directly 
opposite  the  colonnade  of  Drury-Lane  Theatre.     Here  I  found  a  small, 
oblong  court,  surrounded  on  three  sides  by  high  brick  houses,  and  on 
the  fourth  by  an  odd-looking,  old  stone  church,  with  a  profusion  of  small 
arched  windows,  irregularly  placed,  some  above,  and  some  in  clusters. 
Uere  I  found  several  waiting,  more  than  an  hour  before  the  time  of  ser- 
vice.    When  I  came  back,  the  number  was  increised,  and  while  I  stood 
there  the  court  actually  filled  up,  so  that  it  would  hold  no  more.     A 
policeman  in  attendance  said  that  all  these  were  strangers,  waiting  for 
the  opeidng  of  the  doors,  at  the  commencement  of  the  service ;  the 
seat-holders  being  admitted  at  a  door  in  Drury  Lane,  except  those  who 
had  seats  in  the  gallery,  and  who  were  all  the  time  passing  througli  the 
crowd  in  Crown   Court,  being  admitted  by  a  Scotch  sexton,  wiih  a 
very  cunning  look,  who  seemed  to  recognize  every  individual  seat- 
holder,  and  to  expel  every  stranger.     His  authority  was  enforced  by 
a  second  policeman,  who  stood  near  him,  while  the  first  walked  up  and 
down  through  the  crowd.     At  length,  the  doors  were  opened,  and  a 
great  rush  followed.     The  aisles  were  soon  filled,  and  thq  vacant  places 
in  the  pews,  to  one  of  which  I  was  admitted.     The  church  is  of  a 
singular  form,  being  nearly  semicircular,  with  the  pulpit  in  the  centre 
(of  the  diameter),  the  curved  part  having  galleries.     Cumming  has 
tried  to  assimilate  the  Presbyterian  worship  to  the  Episcopal;  but,  I 
think,  with  no  advantage.     They  sing  standing,  and  pray  kneeling  or 
sitting.     He  seemed  to  read  his  prayers,  which  contained  occasional 
snatches  fi'om  the  litui-gy.     Choir  for  precentor.     He  has  a  very  flashy 
look;  bare  neck,  elaborate  triangular  black  whiskers,  gold  spectacles; 
very  sweet  voice,  and  great  suavity  of  elocution.     Ecad  and  expounded 
Mark  xy;  preached  on  v.  5.     Very  orthodox  on  divinity  of  Christ;  but 
disparaged  theology  and  doctrinal  preaching,  and  metaphysics.    Extem- 
pore-colloquial ;  sometimes  very  beautiful;  occasional  sarcasm  against 
apostolical  succession;  priests   had  regular   succession,   yet   crucified 
Christ !     Let  worshippers  of  succession  now  beware,  lest  they  crucify 
tlie  Son  of  God  afresh,  and  teach  the  people  to  prefer  a  Barnabas  to  a 
Jesus.      lie  called  Popei'y  the  rel'gion  of  the  crucifix,  and  not  of  the 
cross.     Some  original  ide.is  as  to  Judas  and  Pilate  :  the  motive  of  their 
conduct,  suspicion  or  belief  of  Christ's  divinity.     He  urged  the  impossi- 
bility of  such  a  character  as  Christ's  being  invented  by  the  evangelist. 


^T.43.]  I]vf   THE    COTJETS.  715 

Mfiny  points  of  coincidence  with  James's  lecture  at  the  University  of 
Virginia;  but  some  things  ad  captandum.  At  times  very  eloquent, 
bat  commonly  too  English,  or  Scotch.  He  introduced  several  Greek 
phrases.  I  am  glad  to  have  heard  him,  but  have  no  wish  to  hear  him 
again." 

If  tlie  American  traveller  had  been  himself  a  retired  mem- 
ber of  the  bar,  his  interest  could  not  well  have  been  greater 
than  it  actually  was  in  everything  pertaining  to  courts  of 
justice,  judges,  barristers,  juries,  witnesses,  and  legal  foi-mali- 
ties.  Here  is  an  account  of  one  of  his  visits  to  Westminster 
Hall,  and  the  Courts  of  Common  Pleas,  Exchequer,  and 
Queen's  Bench ;  with  his  impressions  of  Jervis,  Talfourd,  Pol- 
lock, and  Lord  Camj^bell : 

"  Walking  any  longer  being  out  of  the  question,  I  went  into  "West- 
minster Hail ;  and  seeing  the  wigged  barristers  running  about,  entered 
the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  where  I  saw  Sir  John  Jervis,  Talfourd, 
and  two  other  judges,  on  the  bench.  I  afterwards  visited  the  Court 
of  Exchequer,  where  Sir  Frederick  Pollock  and  three  others  wtre  pre- 
siding ;  then  the  Queen's  Bench,  where  Lord  Campbell  was  pro- 
nouncing a  decision,  in  which  his  colleagues  all  concurred  successively. 
These  court-rooms  have  been  rebuilt  since  I  was  here.  They  would 
all  be  thought  small,  if  not  mean,  with  us.  They  are  lighted  en- 
tirely by  sky-lights,  and  wainscotted  with  oak.  The  judges  sit  behind 
a  little  altar-shaped  mahogany  desk,  on  a  long,  red  sofa.  Beneath 
them  is  a  row  of  clerks  and  other  officers,  in  wigs  and  gowns.  Be- 
neath these,  in  a'l  the  courts,  was  a  row  of  shabby-looking  men, 
much  below  the  average  of  Engl'sh  neatness  and  respectability,  who 
se.med  to  be  interested  in  the  causes,  and  occasionally  spoke  to  the 
connsel.  Could  they  be  attorneys?  The  judges' gowns  are  the  most 
ridiculous  you  can  imagine.  They  look  like  blue  nankeen  greatcoats, 
with  long  capes,  worn  over  old  calico  bed-gowns.  The  lawyers' 
gowns  are  of  some  coarse  black  stuff,  without  any  kind  of  ornament. 
I  never  saw  a  finer  collection  of  intelligent  and  healthy  faces  than  these 
barristers.  I  was  also  pleased  to  s't  and  hear  their  English.  The  col- 
loquial proceedings,  which  I  like  to  read  in  the  reports,  I  now  had  tikd 
voce.  The  great  object  of  the  judges  seems  to  be,  to  prevent  speechifi- 
cation,  and  get  at  the  truth  as  soon  as  possible.  Scarcely  a  sentence 
was  uttered  without  interruption  from  the  bench.  The  encounter  of 
wits  was  very  interesting.     Now  and  then,  there  was  a  general  laugh 


716  SHEA   AND    TALFOUED.  [1853. 

from  bench  and  bar.  The  judges,  notwithstanding  their  old-women's 
dress,  liave  a  noble  judicial  presence.  I  beard  several  motions  for 
new  trials,  and  the  statement  of  the  judge  who  had  presided,  with  his 
answer  to  the  arguments  of  counsel.  The  mutual  courtesy  is  admirable, 
even  in  exciting  disputes ;  one  of  which,  on  this  occasion,  was  some- 
what personal  in  its  character.  From  the  Tower  we  proceeded 
through  Eastcheap,  to  the  West  End,  where  I  proceeded  to  my  favour- 
ite resort,  Westminster  Hall,  to  which  I  find  my  steps  continually  turn- 
ing. I  first  Avent  up  into  the  Parliament  House,  and  found  a  crowd 
about  the  Committee  Room ;  where  the  investigation  of  the  Liverpool 
election  is  still  dragging  its  slow  lengtii  along.  Seeing  a  man  prohib- 
ited from  entering  by  the  ubiquitous  police,  I  returned  to  the  Hall,  and 
going  into  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  found  it  crowded  to  excels.  A 
jury-trial  was  in  progress,  before  Judge  Talfourd.  The  case  was  unin- 
teresting in  itself  (something  about  building  a  distillery)  but  all  judicial 
proceedings  interest  rae,  especially  in  England.  I  had  now  an  oppor- 
tunity of  observing  the  old  English  method  of  examining  and  cross- 
examining  a  witness.  The  examiner  stands,  and  his  associate  sitting 
by  him  takes  the  notes.  The  attorney  sits  behind  and  suggests  ques- 
tions. Great  mirth  was  occasioned  by  the  testimony  of  a  Scotch  dis- 
tiller, who  turned  the  laugh  against  Sergeant  Shea  repeatedly;  as  did 
an  architectural  surveyor,  who  testified  that  no  skill  was  required  for 
the  making  of  certain  wooden  bolts.  '  What ! '  said  Shea ;  '  no  more  skill 
than  for  the  making  of  a  wash-tub? '  'oSTot  so  much,'  was  the  reply. 
But  Shea  revenged  himself  on  both  of  them,  in  summing  up  ;  the  finest 
specimen  of  English  elocution  I  have  yet  heard.  It  was  masterly  in- 
deed, and  I  would  not  have  missed  it  for  a  guinea.  The  effect  upon 
the  jury  cotild  be  seen  with  the  naked  eye;  or,  at  the  most,  with  spec- 
tacles. The  moment  Shea  concluded,  Talfourd  began  his  charge,  and 
a  greater  contrast  cannot  be  imagined.  Extremely  rapid,  mincing,  and 
affected,  especially  in  the  excess  to  which  he  carries  the  English  stam- 
mer, with  a  great  deal  of  the  coxcomb  and  the  bon-vivant  combined  in 
his  appearance,  he  impresses  me  as  little  viva  voce  as  on  paper.  The 
jury  did  not  leave  the  box,  but  literally  put  their  heads  together,  and 
agreed  upon  their  verdict  in  a  moment.  I  then  went  into  the  Court 
of  Exchequer;  where  precisely  the  same  kind  of  thing  was  going  on 
before  another  judge  whose  name  I  did  not  learn.  And  I  had  a  sample 
of  the  famous  method  of  brow-beating  v^-itnesses  which  once  pi-ev:iiled 
here.  The  cross-examining  counsel  bellowed  in  the  most  threatening 
manner,  and  with  the  most  ferocious  look,  without  appearing  to  accom- 
I)lish  anything.     The  judge  seemed  thoroughly  disgusted  and  ashamed 


,Er.43.]  A   C0I!7CEET.  717 

wliile  this  was  going  on :  twisting  his  handkerchief  impatiently  round 
his  hands;  pretending  to  sleep,  etc.  etc.  This  was  another  thing  which 
I  would  not  willingly  have  missed,  though  perfectly  ridiculous.  The 
opposing  counsel  was  a  very  handsome  man;  which,  indeed,  is  very 
generally  true  of  all  these  barristers :  while  the  attorneys  are  by  far  the 
shabbiest  class  (uot  paupers)  I  have  seen  in  England." 

With,  all  his  love  of  music,  arid  especially  of  vocal  music, 
Dr.  Alexander  seldom  went  to  hear  any  of  the  public  singers 
in  his  own  country.  He  did  so,  liowever,  now  and  then,  in 
London  and  elsewhere  in  Europe,  and  on  one  occasion  had 
the  satisfaction  of  witnessing  a  wonderful  performance  on  the 
organ.     Here  are  his  own  words  : 

"  "We  went  to  a  concert  at  Exeter  Hall.  The  performers  were 
eighty  Germans,  from  Cologne,  amateurs,  who  have  been  singing  here 
with  great  applause.  Among  them  was  a  famous  organist  from  Dres- 
den, who  performed  a  masterpiece  of  Bach,  and  one  of  Handel  (the 
Hallelujah  Chorus  again.)  His  execution  was  wonderful,  especially 
with  his  feet,  which  seemed  all  the  time  to  be  skating;  but  his  perfor- 
mance was  nothing  to  that  of  the  others,  without  any  instrumental 
accompaniment  whatever,  a  new  and  grand  proof  of  what  the  human 
voice  can  do,  not  so  much  in  the  way  of  loudness  as  in  that  of  sweet- 
ness. Tlie  subdued  tone  of  these  fourscore  strong  voices,  was  almost 
celestial,  and  yet  perfectly  distinct.  The  breath  of  angels  scarcely  could 
be  sweeter.  Two  pieces  of  Mendelssohn  which  they  performed  were 
in  themselves  transporting.  The  applause  was  rapturous.  Several 
of  the  pieces  were  repeated." 

I  give  the  following  account  of  another  visit  he  made  to 
Westminster  Hall  and  the  law  courts.  Part  of  the  descrip- 
tion is  very  graphic : 

"I  found  jury  trials  going  on  in  the  three  courts ;  before  the  three 
chief  judges,  Lord  Campbell,  Sir  Frederick  Pollock,  and  Sir  John 
Jervis.  The  last  is  more  of  an  American  than  any  public  speaker  I 
have  heard.  He  is  very  excitable  and  impatient.  When  a  lawyer 
wanted  to  prove  something  yesterday,  he  screamed  that  it  could  not  be 
proved  ;  it  was  physically  impossible  ;  repciting  it  several  times  over 
at  the  top  of  his  voice ;  stepping  down  to  the  jury-box  and  showing 
the  paper  in  question  to  the  jury,  asking  them  whether  the  fact  al- 
leged was  not  physically  impossible.     To-day  there  was  an  interesting 


718  ME.    BINNEY.  [1863. 

trial  before  him  of  a  breach  of  pi-omise  case ;  Miss  Cnroline  White  and 
Captain  Peel.  The  y)laiiitiff' s  i-ister  testitied  tiiat  everything  was  ready 
for  the  wedJing.  The  counsel  asked  her  whether  the  wedJing  break- 
fast was  not  oidered  and  the  trousseau  purchased.  This  rous.-d  Jervis, 
who  coiitemptuously  asked  what  they  meant  by  a  trousseau;  and 
whether  everybody  that  was  married  must  have  diamonds  and  all  ihat; 
adding  in  a  way  that  caused  a  general  roar,  'When  I  get  married,  I 
don't  do  that  way.'  Chief  Baron  Pollock  (a  very  intellectual  but 
hanghty-looking  man)  lost  his  patience  with  a  lawyer  for  examining  a 
servant-woman  too  minutely  about  the  dimensions  and  arrangements 
of  a  house.  After  trying  ineffectually  to  arrest  it,  the  judge  startled 
everybody  present  by  asking  the  woman  in  a  voice  of  thunder,  'Are 
you  a  house-surveyor  ? '  '  No,  my  lord,  I  am  a  servant  of  all  work.' 
This  question  and  answer  convulsed  the  bar  and  jury." 

Among  the  more  striking  of  the  preachers  whom  he  heard 
in  London  was  the  famous  Mr.  Binney.*  From  a  notice  on 
the  outside  of  the  chapel,  the  American  visitor  inferred  that 
great  attention  was  there  paid  to  psahnody  : 

"A  new  tune-book  is  just  published,  with  pieces  harmonized  hy 
Lowell  Mason,  Turle,  Novello,  and  others,  and  a  preface  by  Binney 
There  is  no  choir,  but  simply  a  precentor.  For  the  fir-t  time  I  lieard 
a  prose  passage  chanted  by  a  large  congregation.  AVhat  excu-e  have 
the  seceders  for  turning  David's  Psalms  into  doggerel  rhyme  ?  Binney 
is  a  man  of  imposing  presence;  tall,  large-framed,  with  a  bald  and 
shining  forehead.  His  voice  is  deep,  but  not  full  or  .ngreeable;  and 
when  he  is  excited,  it  is  harsh  and  guttural.  He  not  only  did  not  read 
his  sermon,  but  he  could  not;  for  it  was  so  dark,  before  he  g 't  lialf 
through,  that  I  could  scarcely  see  him.  He  repu(!ii.ti_'d  all  ornament, 
and  indeed  all  style:  affecting  the  colloquial  laconic  to  excess;  uttering 
a  few  words  at  a  lime,  with  many  pauses  and  eiiiphatic  ri^i)et:tons. 
His  subject  was  tlie  parable  of  the  marriage  supper  in  Luke  xiv.  with 
the  preliminary  circumstances.  His  exposition  was  able,  his  illustra- 
tion striking  and  original.  The  way  in  which  he  dealt  with  our  Lord's 
directions  to  invite  only  the  poor,  showed  sense  and  independence. 
Instead  of  quibbling,  he  acknowledged  the  difficulty ;  but  appealed  to 
the  common  sen«e  of  men  in  general,  which  never  understand^  the 
passage  strictly.     'Does  any  man  believe  that  I  or  any  intcrpre;er  of 

*  A  good  idea  of  this  gentleman's  style  may  be  had  from  a  little  book  en 
titled,  "Make  the  Most  of  Both  Worlds." 


^T.43.]  HEAES   MELVILL,  719 

Scripture  am  to  tell  the  Lord  Mayor  of  London,  that  lie  can  never  en- 
tertain his  friends  and  equals  at  dinner?'  He  adopted  the  solution, 
that  the  feasts  to  which  our  Lord  referred  were  abuses  of  a  cliavit;ible 
institution  designed  expressly  for  the  poor.  Of  this  he  gave  a  striking 
illustration.  'From  time  immemorial,  tlie  Archbishop  of  Canterbury, 
on  certain  Saturday  evenings  in  the  year,  has  kept  open  house.  All 
have  access  to  him  and  may  enjoy  his  hospitality  without  distinction 
of  ranks,  or  rather  with  a  preference  to  the  poor  and  humble.  Now, 
suppose  some  Archbishop  had  converted  this  into  a  social  entertain- 
ment of  his  own  friends  and  equals  in  position:  might  I  not  say  to  him. 
Don't  do  this;  don't  invite  your  friends  at  these  time?,  which  are 
specially  appointed  for  the  humble  classes;  without  meauing  to  forbid 
his  entertaining  his  personal  acquaintances  and  friends  at  other  times 
and  in  another  way?'  He  talked  a  great  deal  about  'minor  morals,' 
manners,  selfish  and  ungenerous  conduct  in  little  things.  This  struck 
me  rather  oddly  in  connection  with  the  treatment  of  strangers  in  the 
Presbyterian  and  Lidependent  Churches  here.  While  he  was  expound- 
ing Christ's  directions  about  taking  the  lowest  places,  I  could  not  help 
thinking  of  the  many  who  were  excluded  from  any  place  at  all  until 
after  the  'second  prayer.'  I  know  of  nothing  in  which  our  American 
usages  compare  more  advantageously  with  those  of  Europe,  than  in 
this  very  particular.  Binney's  manner,  although  striking,  is  not  pleas- 
ant. There  is  too  much  irony  ;  in  the  ancient  sense ;  and  too  much 
latent  sarcasm  in  his  whole  discourse,  as  indicated  by  his  frequent 
smile,  a  very  bitter  smile  to  my  eye.  There  is,  however,  no  appear- 
ance of  affectation  or  of  an  effort  at  theatrical  effects,  but  abundant 
evidence  of  strength  of  mind." 

On  Tuesday,  Juno  11th,  he  went  to  St.  Margaret's  Church, 
Lothbury,  to  hear  Melvill  lecture.  He  heard  hira,  and  was 
delighted  even  beyond  all  his  expectations.  The  discourse  is 
given  in  full  among  the  preacher's  published  efforts  entitled 
"Golden  Lectures."  He  ranks  Melvill  next  to  Candlish. 
No  sixbseqiient  sermon  from  another  ever  modified  his  judg- 
ment of  the  uncouth  Scotchman. 

"We  entered  the  church,"  he  records,  "andAvere  shown  by  the 
pew-opener  to  a  very  eligible  seat.  We  found  the  service  just  begun, 
by  a  stout,  gray-haired  man,  of  no  very  prepossessing  a'^pect,  who 
seemed  abstracted  from  the  words  which  he  was  reading,  or  rather  re- 
peating from  memory,  and  looked  constantly  about,  as  if  he  saw  some- 


Y20  HIS    SERMON.  [1853. 

thing  that  surprised  him,  or  was  scanning  the  appearance  of  persons 
in  different  parts  of  the  congregation.     He  would  someames  fix  his 
eye  for  a  minute  on  a  particular  quarter  of  the  gallery,  without  the 
slightest  interruption  of  his  reading  which,  with  this  exception,  and 
in  point  of  elocution  and  expression,  was  exceedingly  well  done.     So 
disagreeable,  however,  was  the  general  impression  made  upon  me  by 
the  reader's  manner,  that  I  felt  convinced,  and  whispered  to  my  friend, 
that  this  must  be  a  curate.     My  only  fear  was  that  he  was  to  preach : 
but  this  was  in  a  great  degree  allayed  by  the  increase  of  the  congre- 
gation, which,  before  the  close  of  the  prayers,  quite  filled  the  church, 
no  small  one.     When  I  saw  the  same  person  in  the  pulpit,  my  heart 
sank  within  me ;  but  how  great  was  my  surprise  when  he  began  to 
read  in  the  most  admirable  manner!  but,  strange  to  say,  without  rais- 
ing his  eyes  once  so  far  as  I  could  see,  from  the  manuscript  before  him, 
a  most  beautiful  and  spiritual  sermon  on  Ps.  cxix.  116  ;  full  of  scriptural 
truth  and  poetical  imagery,  adopting  as  his  plan  the  apostolic  exposi- 
tion of  the  text:  1.  Tribulation  worketh  patience;  2.  Patience,  expe- 
rience ;  3.  Experience,  hope.     The  whole  was  captivating,  but  the  last 
few  sentences  were  grand,  in  which  he  brought  out  the  idea,  that  the 
day  must  soon  come,  when  he  and  all  his  hearers  would  feel  the  Psalm- 
ist's first  petition  to  be  useless— when  instead  of  saying,  '  Uphold  me 
that  I  may  live,'  we  can  only  say,  '  Uphold  me  that  I  may  die'';    bnt 
even  then  the  last  petition  would  remain  as  appropriate  as  ever ;  and 
with  strong  assurance  the  expiring  saint  may  cry,  'Let  me  not  be 
ashamed  of  my  hope ! '   I  did  not  ask  the  preacher's  name ;  for  if  it  Avas 
not  MelviU,  it  was  something  better.     The  discourse  pleased  me  more 
than  any  of  his  printed  one3 ;   perhaps  because  it  was  so  admirably 
read,  a  circumstance  which  I  had  not  expected.     The  audience  was 
breathless  with  attention.     What  a  sight  upon  a  week-day  morning  in 
the  heart  of  the  old  city,  surrounded  by  a  labyrinth  of  warehouses  and 
banks !     It  reminded  me  of  Chalmers's  Thursday  morning  lectures  in 
the  Tron  Church  at  Glasgow,  when  the  merchants  used  to  rush  from 
the  Exchange  to  hear  him.    I  have  not  attempted  to  give  any  analysis 
of  his  discourse,'  which,  although  highly  edifying  and  instructive,  de- 
rived its  great  charm  from  the  original  and  striking  images  with  which 
it  was  adorned,  and  which  I  cannot  reproduce.     It  pleased  mc  greatly 
more  than  any  sermon  I  have  heard,  excepting  those  of  Candlish  ;  and 
with  these  it  is  not  easy  to  compare  it,  because  Candlish  had  the  vast 
advantage  of  a  great  Christian  doctrine,  as  the  basis  of  his  practical 
appeals  and  the  ground  of  his  pictorial  illustrations.     Partly  on  this 
account,  but  not  alone,  he  still  stands  forth  upon  the  surface  of  my 


^T.43.J  OVER   TO    FEANCE.  ^21 

memory,  as  equal  iu  elegance  and  eloquence  to  any  of  the  rest,  and  in 
doctrinal  richness  and  intellectual  force  superior  to  them  all.  It  is  a 
satisfactory  reflection,  that  while  ray  parliamentary  designs  have  failed 
almost  entirely,  I  have  been  unexpectedly  successful  in  my  preaching 
projects— having  heard  every  preacher  in  London  that  I  wished  or 
hoped  to  hear,  and  several  in  addition," 

He  heard  a  strange  discourse  at  St.  Mary's,  Cambridge,  at 
a  portion  of  which  one  of  the  masters  in  the  pit  laughed;  and 
not  without  strong  provocation. 

"  The  sermon  (on  Isaiah  viii.  20)  seemed  to  be  the  first  of  a  series 
of  apologetic  lectures  (like  the  Boyle  and  Bampton)  and  was  very  or- 
thodox and  antigeological.  Tlie  preacher  coughed  so  much  and  in 
such  a  canine  manner,  that  I  could  have  fancied  myself  in  Allhallow's 
Barking.  The  one  master  in  the  pit  laughed  at  the  sermon,  especially 
when  a  vacuum  was  said  to  he  a  rock  on  which  men  sutfered  ship- 
wreck." 

On  the  first  of  July  he  crossed  the  English  channel,  and 
after  the  usual  experiences,  and  a  few  adventures  of  the  kind 
that  befall  nearly  every  tourist,  found  himself  once  more  in 
Paris.  Nothing  seemed  to  strike  him  with  greater  force  than 
the  pertinacity  of  the  commissionaires^  and  the  true  gentility 
of  the  common  people.  He  greatly  preferred  the  English, 
however,  on  the  score  of  personal  cleanliness.  For  a  while  he 
w^as  highly  entertained  in  the  imperial  city  ;  chiefly  with  ob- 
serving the  changes  that  had  been  introduced  since  his  former 
sojourn.  But  he  became  tired  long  before  the  month  was  out, 
and  hailed  as  a  relief  the  utter  contrast  presented  by  some  of 
the  chief  cities  of  Germany  and  Holland. 

On  the  3d  of  July,  he  went  after  breakfast  to  the  Oratoire, 
under  a  vague  impression  that  he  might  hear  either  Cocquerel 
or  Monod.  Finding  it  shut  at  10  o'clock,  and  no  one  in  the 
neighbourhood  to  give  information,  he  proceeded  to  Notre 
Dame  and  saw  the  Archbishop  perform  high  mass.  Hasten- 
ing back  at  11-|  to  the  Oratoire,  he  "  found  the  precentor  read- 
ing prayers."  He  afterwards  heard  an  excellent  sermon  on 
the  20th  Psalm,  especially  the  verse  "Be  w^ise,  &c."  The  de 
31 


722  M.    COCQUEEEL.  [1853. 

livery,  he  says,  was  excellent.  The  audience  increased  gradu- 
ally till  the  house  was  full.  They  still  sang  Clement  Marot's 
psalms  and  the  old  song  tunes  adapted  to  them.  "  I  asked 
the  beadle  who  that  was.  '  M.  Monod.'  '  Adolphe  ? '  '  Oui, 
monsieur,  Adolphe.'  So  I  have  heard  another  of  the  preach- 
ers whom  I  had  upon  my  list." 

He  thus  portrays  another  of  the  well  known  preachers  of 
the  French  Capital : 

"M.  Cocquerel  preaches  at  the  church  in  the  Rue  de  Grenelle.  I 
crossed  the  Seine  upon  the  Pont  des  Arts,  and  with  the  help  of  two 
policemen  found  the  place  I  wanted.  It  is  in  a  very  fine  street,  near 
several  departments  of  the  government,  including  those  of  the  Interior 
and  of  Public  Instruction.  The  church  bears  a  strong  resemblance  to 
the  Oratoire  ;  like  which  it  is  elliptical  in  form,  and  has  pews  or  rather 
chambers  in  the  wall,  like  the  old  German  churches.  As  at  the  Ora- 
toire last  Sunday,  the  congregation  constantly  increased  until  the 
church  was  crowded  ;  some  coming  in  at  the  very  end  of  the  sermon. 
The  scriptures,  psalms,  and  stated  prayers  were  read  by  a  precentor,  a 
very  young-looking  man  in  gown  and  bands.  Cocquerel  preached 
from  Mark  v.  14,  16.  He  is  a  red-faced,  gray-haired  man,  of 
no  very  pleasing  aspect;  a  powerful  but  grimacing  and  theatrical 
speaker,  very  colloquial  and  very  declamatory.  Ills  sermon  was  a  glo- 
rification of  true  Protestantism  {i.  e.  rational  Christianity,  freedom  of 
thought,  «fec.)  with  many  reflections  on  the  doctrines  of  grace;  no 
doubt  as  preached  by  his  colleague,  Adolphe  Monod,  whose  elocution  I 
prefer  as  much  as  his  doctrines.  To  my  own  surprise  I  have  now  heard 
every  preacher  that  I  cared  to  hear  in  London  and  Paris." 

But  he  was  yet  to  hear  still  another  who  was  worth  listen- 
ing to  with  deep  attention.  On  the  l7th  of  July  he  found  his 
wa7  to  the  Salle  Taitboat, 

"which  revived  many  of  my  ancient  recollections,  as  the  place  where 
I  attended  public  worship  most  frequently  on  my  former  visit  to  Paris. 
ThP  people  sit  on  chairs,  as  in  the  Catholic  churches.  A  black-haired, 
white-cravated  man  gave  me  two  tracts,  and  said  he  supposed  I  was  a 
foreigner.  He  afterwards  handed  me  a  hymn-book.  The  room,  which 
is  not  very  large,  was  quite  full  before  the  sermon  began.  The 
preacher  was  rather  a  young-looking  man  who  might  have  passed  for 
an  American.     He  had  a  disagreeable  way  of  praying  with  his  eyes 


^T.43.]  M.    PEESSENSi.  Y23 

open  and  rolling  up  the  whites  thereof.  But  his  sermon  was  a  very 
able  and  edifying  one,  and  in  some  parts  powerful.  The  text  was 
1  John  i.  8;  tlie  theme:  Tiie  various  ways  in  which  men  may  deny 
that  ihey  are  sinners:  1.  By  denying  the  essential  distinction  between 
right  und  wrong;  2.  By  calling  good  evil  and  evil  good;  3.  By  owning 
the  reality  of  sin  but  denying  its  consequences;  4.  By  owning  it  in 
general  and  denying  it  in  particular;  5.  By  owning  it  in  particuhir,  but 
making  tlie  good  outweigh  it.  The  last  head  was  particularly  striking 
and  original.  I  was  the  more  impressed  with  the  whole  discourse 
from  the  resemblance  of  the  plan  to  one  of  mine  on  Jer.  ii.  26.  The 
expression  was  often  very  forcible  and  happy.  The  elocution  would 
have  been  fine  if  he  had  kept  his  body  still  and  spoken'  more  deliber- 
ately. The  most  impressive  part  was  on  making  God  a  liar.  God 
brings  man  to  the  foiit  of  the  cross,  and  from  tlie  height  of  it  says  to 
him,  'Thou  art  a  sinner.'  Man's  reply  is,  'Mensongy!  '  'Nothing  but 
grace  cm  save  thee; '  'Mensonge!  '  And  so  to  all  the  doctrines  and 
olFers  of  the  Gospel,  tlie  unconverted  sinner's  answer  is  still,  '  Men- 
songe!  Mensonge!  Mensonge!'  The  application  to  believers  was 
equally  searching.  Several  of  the  hearers  wept.  One  sobbed  aloud. 
The  sermon  was  of  the  best  kind  known  in  America.  I  asked  the 
preac'aer's  name.     M.  Pressense.     I  had  often  read  of  him." 

Nothing  delighted  him  when  travelling  so  mtich  as  the 
study  of  character.  On  the  Rhine  boat  he  indulged  himself 
in  this  way  to  his  heart's  content.  After  a  description  of  the 
various  people  aboard,  he  gives  us  the  following  detailed  and 
racy  account  of  an  amtising  pair  of  Englishmen — a  doctor  and 
a  naval  or  military  officer  : 

"  I  derived  great  amusement  from  another  pair  of  Englishmen. 
One  was  a  short,  clean-shaved,  gray-haired  man,  in  a  home-made  sort 
of  black  dress  coat  and  trousers,  who  had  obviously  left  home  without 
the  slight->t  change  of  costume.  I  took  him  at  first  for  a  country  par- 
sun,  but  learned  from  the  talk,  and  the  inscription  on  his  trunks,  that 
he  was  a  physician.  lie  was  a  perfect  specimen  of  a  blunt,  positive, 
straightforward,  sensible,  prejudiced  John  Bull,  flis  companion  was 
a  man  of  more  refinement  and  gentility,  but  equally  John  Bullish  ;  with 
a  da-h  of  frankne-s  and  insouciance  which  led  me  to  regard  him  as  a 
sailor,  even  bel'ore  I  saw  upon  a  trunk  adjoining  the  doctor's,  the  name 

of  '  Captain  .'      Perhaps,  however,  he   was   of    the   army,   and 

tlie  doctor  an   army  surgeon;   as   I  heard   them    throw   out   several 


724  ON  THE   EHESTE.  11853. 

military  allusions.  The  diverting  part  of  tbeir  behaviour  was  that, 
althongh  quite  free  from  all  obtrusiveness,  or  airs  of  any  kind,  and 
tvholly  intent  upon  their  own  enjoyment,  they  acted  precisely  as  if  all 
the  people  on  the  boat  were  English.  Tiie  doctor  especially,  who  waa 
much  less  a  man  of  the  world  than  his  companion,  and,  indeed,  a  very 
decided  humourist,  would  stop  the  first  person  that  be  met  on  deck 
and  ask  him  or  her,  without  a  moment's  hesitation,  any  question  that 
occurred  to  him,  and  when  he  got  a  German  answer  would  say,  *Eh, 
Eh  ? '  in  a  tone  of  great  surprise,  as  if  he  wondered  what  those  foreign- 
ers  were  doing  there.  In  one  case  particularly,  he  convulsed  me  by 
running  up  to  two  heavy-looking  German  peasant  boys,  who  had  prob- 
ably never  seen  a  Dampf^chiff  before,  and  asking  tliem,  in  English,  in 
the  most  earnest,  peremptory  tone,  '  What  is  the  boat  stopping  for,  eb, 
eh?'  I  should  not  have  been  half  so  much  amused  at  all  this,  if  the 
men  had  seemed  conscious  of  the  fun  themselves;  but  the  idea  of  any- 
thing ludicrous  about  it,  or  of  anything  except  the  inconvenience 
attending  it,  seemed  never  to  occur  to  them.  I  was  quite  surprised  at 
the  frequency  with  which  they  lighted  upon  people  who  could  under- 
stand them,  and  according  to  the  universal  law  in  all  such  cases,  per- 
fectly willing  to  talk  broken  English  to  the  best  of  their  ability. 
Among  the  persons  whom  they  thus  encountered  were  two  French  or 
German  ladies,  of  a  faded-stylish  look,  who  heard  them  mumbling 
over  a  map  of  the  river,  and  volunteered  to  give  them  information. 
The  Englishmen  received  the  remarks  with  great  civility,  and  several 
times  went  back  to  ask  them  questions.  More  than  once,  as  I  passed 
near  them,  I  heard  the  doctor's  'Eh,  Eh? '  like  the  'What,  What? '  of 
George  the  Third,  as  described  by  Madame  d'Arblay.*  But  the  richest 
exhibition  of  the  two  John  Bulls  was  at  the  table  (TMte.  Soon  after 
we  set  sail  (or  ratber  steam),  a  man  went  round  inquiring  who  would 
wish  to  dine.  I  expected  the  table  to  be  set  in  the  cabin,  and  foreboded 
a  great  loss  in  point  of  prospect.  But  about  half-past  twelve,  a  great 
commotion  took  place  upon  deck,  occasioned  by  the  setting  of  the  table 
there.  " 

One  is  reminded  by  the  following  dialogue   between   a 
French  priest  and  a  German  abbo  (for  the  most  part  in  dog- 
Latin),  of  "  Father  Tom  and  the  Pope  :  " 
*  The  reader  will  be  reminded,  too,  of  the  couplet : 
"When  lo  !  the  moniirch,  in  his  usual  wny, 
Like  lightning  spoke,  What's  this  ?    What's  this  ?  what,  what  ? ' " 

Peter  Pindar's  Works,  p.  IG,  1835. 


<Et.  43.]  A   LATIN   CONVEESATION.  725 

"Among  the  passengers  I  had  early  observed  a  man  in  a  peculiar 
dress,  which  I  remembere'l  to  be  that  of  nn  abbe — aa  ugly  and  con- 
ceited, but  distingue-Iookiug  man,  who  talked  to  all  the  upper  sort  of 
Germans,  especially  the  litlies,  and  read  poetry  witli  and  to  the  wife 
of  the  Tyruler  before  mentioned.  At  one  of  the  stations  where  we 
stopped,  there  came  on  board  an  elderly  French  priest,  in  the  usual 
ugly  garb,  and  rather  squalid-looking,  but  witli  an  intelligent  counten- 
ance, and  with  all  the  bonhommie  and  easy  manners  of  his  nation.  The 
two  ecclesiastics  were  naturally  drawn  together,  but  it  happened ;  curi- 
ou«ly  enough,  that  the  one  knew  no  French  and  the  other  no  German : 
■which  must  be  a  very  rare  occurrence  here  among  men  of  any  education. 
I  happened  to  be  by  when  the  French  priest  accosted  the  German,  by 
asking  him  whether  a  building  on  the  liigh  bank  we  were  passing  was 
a  'convent.'  The  other,  understanding  his  gesture,  replied  at  once 
in  Latin,  '■  Monaster ium  esV  I  pricked  up  my  ears,  fur  1  had  long 
wished  to  hear  a  Latin  conversation.  After  several  other  questions 
and  answers  about  places  in  sight,  the  Frenchman  said  something  to 
the  German  in  a  low  voice,  whereupon  the  latter  called  to  a  waiter 
to  bring  the  gentleman  a  flask  of  Burgundy.  They  then  took  seats  to- 
gether at  the  table  near  me,  and  I  listened  eagerly  to  their  discourse, 
which  was  made  intelligible  by  the  deliberation  with  which  they  were 
forced  to  speak,  especially  Ihe  Frenchman,  who  appeared  quite  unac- 
customed to  it,  though  he  showed  a  scholarlike  acquaintance  with  the 
language.  The  German  spoke  more  glibly,  but  in  a  lower  voice. 
"While  they  were  waiting  for  tlie  wine,  the  Frenchman  said,  with 
pathos  '  J'ai  soif!  '  then  recollecting  himself,  added,  'Sitiol '  The  dia- 
logue was  rendered  the  more  comic  by  his  thus  continually  lapsing  into 
French,  and  then,  by  an  effort,  bringing  out  another  scrap  of  Latin. 
Having  half  filled  his  own  glass,  and  then  his  neighbour's,  according 
to  tlie  etiquette  of  drinking,  he  struck  the  glasses  together.  'Mujtoa 
annos !' quoth  the  German.  Answer:  'Idem! '  It  Avas  plain  that  the 
German  did  not  like  the  drink,  and  tried  to  shirk  it  by  officiously  filling 
his  companion's  glass ;  but  the  old  man  would  not  let  him  ofi",  crying, 
'  Bibe,  bibe ! '  till  he  had  to  yield.  Meantime,  this  drinking  scene,  which 
looked  like  a  picture  of  Gerard  Dow,  or  Tenierg,  began  to  draw  atten- 
tion. The  two  figures  were  themselves  quite  striking — the  German  in 
a  long  black  coat  and  shovel  hat;  the  Frenchman  in  the  hideous  black 
petticoat  and  girdle,  with  a  shabby-looking  skull-cap ;  both  seated  at  a 
table  on  the  open  deck.  Some  of  the  [lassengers  seemed  to  wondei 
merely  at  the  unknown  tongue ;  but  others  gathered  round  with  more 
intelligence.     A  man  whom  I  had  taken  for  a  Scotch  or  Irish  clergy- 


720  TWO   PRIESTS.  C1853. 

man,  with  a  youth  who  seemed  to  be  his  pupil,  Avas  attracted  by  the 
Latin,  and  they  both  came  and  silently  took  seats  behind.     A  group 
of  young  men,  whom  I  took  to  be  Bonn  students,  stood  close  by, 
huighing  and  conversing  freely  on  the  scene  bet\-re  thein.     The  Ger- 
man appeared  conscious  of  the  notice  they  attructeil,  and  endeavoured 
to  escape  it  by  remaining  silent,  or  replying  briefly  and  in  an  under- 
tone.    But  the  fine  old  Frenchman  was  not  only  wholly  unsuspicious, 
but  continued  to  draw  the  other  out  by  making  him  repeat  his  observa- 
tions more  distinctly.     For  reply  to  some  muttered  observation  of 
the  German,  he  said  aloud,   '  San&  convivium,  seu  aqua  fermentata, 
sufficit  ad  restaurandum  hominem  ;  sed  vinum  bonnm  est  ad  confor- 
tandum!  '     The  German  was  now  obliged  to  order  a  bottle  of  wine, 
although  the  mirth  of  the  students  was  thereby  much  increased.     On 
ta-tin-  it,  the  Frenchman  rubbed  his  brea-^t,  saying,  '  Bonum,  bonum 
est  1 '  °He  then  asked  whether  it  was  '  Vinum  Rheni  ? '  and  informed  his 
friend  that,  in  his  country,  they  had  'Vinum  rubrura  bonum,  excolleniis- 
siinum,  ex  proviucia  Burgundia  ortum,  et  in  Campania  vinum  album 
celebenimum.'     When  he  wanted  to  pay  for  liis  wine,  ho  was  in  a 
great  quandary;  and  asked  the  other,  in  French,  the  value  of  the  Ger- 
man coins.     The  other,  in  a  low  voice,  asked  him  to  speak  Latin.     '  Oui, 
oui  I '  said  he  hastily  and  pulling  out  a  handful  of  kreutzers,  and  their 
multiides,  'm.n  cognosco  banc  monetam:  quot  nummos  mibi  est  sol- 
vendum? '     The  other  fluently  but  almost  inaudibly  explained  to  him 
the  value  of  the  coins  ;  to  which  the  poor  old  fellow  answered,  '  Oui, 
oui,  oui,  oui!'  then   again   forgetting   himself,   '  et   ea  2— pardon!  et 
i^tu'd? '     After  their  compotations  were  concluded,  they  went  back  ta 
their  geo-^raphy.    '  Estne  ecclesia  quam  videmus  hie  ? '   '  Non  est  eccle- 
8ia   s^ed  arx,  castellnm.'     With  respect  to  a  church  which  did  appear 
soon  afterwards,  the  German  told  a  story  in  a  low  voice,  wlncli  the 
Frenchman  did  not  understand  until  he  had  forced  him  to  repeat  it. 
All  that  I  heard  was,  that  '  In  tempore  reformationis,  episcopus  hujus 
ecc^esisa  Lutheranus  factus  est  et  duxit  uxorem  ; '  and  then  something 
about  '  Omnes  successores-,'  at  which  the  old  priest  expressed  great 
disgust.    Anon  he  said, '  Ecce  urbs  magna ! '    'Bona  e^t,  ah  !  Bona  est.' 
'Quot    millia    habitantium     habet?'       'Qnindecim.'       'Omns    sunt 
Catholici?'      'Non:   mixti.'     The  bells  of  Bonn  were  chimmg  very 
sweetly  as  we  pa5sed.     '  Campane    sonant!'    and    then   they  joined 
in  some  devout  remarks   about   the   'Augelus'    and  the   sncrament. 
The  Frenchman  related    the    following   piece   of    news:    'Sacerdos 
Seminarii    Sancti    iter    faciebat    in    Rheno.       Saccum    contmentem 
■  vestimenta    et    alia    aliquis    vidit,    eripuit,     et     fugit.       Regressus 


^T.  43. J  HOLLAND.  727 

est  post  raptorem,  et  mansit  ad  recuperandum  saccum.'  He 
also  asked  the  other  about  his  oraployment;  who  answered  something 
with  respect  to  a  '  beneficium  in  familia  mea ; '  to  which  the  priest  re- 
plied, '  Apud  ncs  beneficia  ecclesiastica  non  existunt.'  He  had  previously 
said  that  the  '  Regio  Belgiaca,  qufe  est  mea,  non  producit  viuum ;  mul- 
tum  fruinentum,  sed  nullum  vinum : '  to  which  his  friend  replied  that 
Ills  country  produced  both.  As  we  touched  at  Bonn,  the  German  said, 
'Ecce  multitudo  astantiural '  and  they  both  went  towards  the  gang- 
board,  and  I  heard  no  more.  The  Latin  expressions  above  given  are, 
I  think,  exact." 

He  was  unaffectedly  charmed  with  the  Low  Countries  : 
especially  at  the  first  blush. 

"  The  Hollanders,"  he  records,  "are  more  like  Americans  than  any 
people  I  have  seen  ia  Europe  ;  and  their  language  is  more  like  English  in 
its  tone  and  accent.  Again  and  again,  since  I  entered  Holland,  I  have 
taken  it  for  English,  at  a  little  distance ;  which  I  never  did  with  French 
or  German.  Its  intonations  are  as  much  like  ours  as  the  Scotch  or 
Irish.  It  is  also  very  soft  and  musical,  so  that  when  you  hear  it  close 
at  hand,  it  sounds  like  German  spoken  by  an  Englishman,  with  a  sup- 
pression of  the  harsh  sounds." 

What  a  pleasing  glimpse  of  his  heart  we  have  in  the  fol- 
lowing ! 

"  However  strange  the  old  folks  may  appear  in  any  place,  the  babies 
all  seem  to  know  me.  One  pretty  little  creature  held  its  hand  out  to 
be  shaken ;  and  all  seem  ready  to  respond  to  the  least  hint  by  smile 
or  look.  The  adults  look  rather  heavy,  but  the  children  all  seem  bright 
and  lively.  I  am  amused  with  the  practice  of  giving  a  familiar  but  re- 
spectful nod  to  passers  by.  I  have  received  it  myself  from  persons  of 
all  ages." 

From  Ostend  he  sailed  to  Dover,  reaching  the  chalk  cliffs 
before  night  of  the  31st  of  July,  and  was  presently  ensconced 
in  his  chambers  in  London ;  where  he  fell  in  with  another  ad- 
mirable Scotch  preacher. 

I  return  to  the  record  : 

"  "When  I  got  to  Upper  George  Street,  Portman  Square,  I  saw  no 
church,  and  was  about  to  take  a  cab  to  Hamilton's,  but  happily  inquired 


728  ME.    CHALMERS.  [185S. 

first  of  two  policemen,  wlio  replied  together,  '  Yes ;  a  Scotch  Church 
just  a  little  further  on,  behind  the  trees.'     And  sure  enough,  I  found  a 
portico  and  large  door  in  the  front  of  what  appeared  to  be  a  row  of 
private  houses.     The  people  were  beginning  to  pour  in,  and  soon  filled 
(without  crowding)  a  good-sized,  handsome  hall,  with  pews  and  gal- 
leries, liglited  from  above,  lihe  the  Salle  Taitbout,  iu  Paris,  and  the  Bank 
of  England  hero.     The  sexton  took  me  to  an  empty  pew  far  forward, 
nnd  requested  me  to  occupy  the  inner  end.     lie  afterwards  brought  in 
another  man,  and  then  a  man  and  woman  ;  who  took  their  seats  as  they 
cam3  in,  Avithont  disturbing  me.     The  singing  was  conducted  by  a  pre- 
centor, but  with  a  kind  of  choir  in  the  circular  pew,  as  I  saw  in  the 
Free  Church  at  Montreal.    They  sang  standing ;  which,  of  all  the  apings 
of  Episcopacy,  is  to  me  the  most  unpleasant.     The  prayer  was  a  de- 
lightful treat— an  exquisite  Scotch  prayer  of  the  best  kind,  worth  a 
volume  of  St.  Chrysostom's  Collects.    The  sermon  was  upon  Isai.  xxxii : 
2,  very  much  iu  Hamilton's  style,  abounding  iu  poetical  descriptions, 
more  correct,  but  less  original ;  with  a  good  substratum  of  sound  doc- 
trine and  experimental  truth,  but  without  argument  or  formal  exposi- 
tion.    It  seemed  to  me  to  be  no  fair  sample  of  the  preacher's  gift?,  but 
probably  a  sermon  intended  for  the  dog-days.     Its  chief  merit,  unlike 
most  Scotch  sermons,  lay  in  the  delivery;  which  was,  at  the  same  time, 
elegant  and  powerful.     The  preacher,  unless  my  eye  deceived  me,  is  a 
very  handsome  man,  in  face  and  figure;  with  a  voice  of  extraordinary 
sweetness,  strength,  and  flexibility,  perfectly  audible  even  in  a  whisper 
and  susceptible  of  endless  modulation  without  any  seeming  efi"ort.     I 
never  saw  such  freedom  and  energy  of  action  in  the  reading  of  a  manu- 
script.    Indeed,  as  to  much  of  the  discourse,  I  could  not  find   out 
whether  it  was  written  or  extempore.    "With  such  advantages  of  voice 
and  person,  with  so  fine  an  locution,  and  so  little  brogue,  he  would  be 
very  popular  across  the  water.     I  was  going  to  make  sure  of  his  iden- 
tity before  I  came  away,  when  the  man  who  had  sat  next  me  asked  if 
I  attended  there  always.     '  No ;  I  am  a  stranger.'     '  Did  you  never 
hear  Mr.  Chalmers  before  ? '     'I  never  did.'     '  He  is  a  gootl  preacher.' 
'Yes.'  'And  an  excellent  man.'  This  was  not  a  member  of  his  congrega- 
tion, but  a  person  brought  in  by  the  sexton.    My  attention  was  some- 
what diverted  from  the  sermon,  by  a  lively  little  blue-eyed,  white- 
haired,  red-cheeked,  earnest-looking  boy,  about  four  years  old,  in  the 
adjoining  pew,  with  a  respectable  Scotchman." 

On  the  20th  of  Augiist,  Dr.  Alexander  (who  had  been  re- 
joined by  his  friend  Mr.  Hodge)  sailed  from  Liverj^ool  in  the 


^T.  43.]  EETUENS    HOME.  Y29 

Steamer  Europa,  and  arrived  in  Boston  on  the  31st  of  the 
same  month.  From  the  capital  of  New  England  it  was  but 
a  short  journey  home,  where  he  was  received  with  open  arms. 
Thus  was  accomplished  his  second  and  final  trip  to  Europe ; 
and  thus  a  pleasure  long  coveted,  and  once  tasted,  but  never 
to  be  again  repeated,  was  enjoyed  with  nearly  the  old  zest ; 
and  the  delight  which  springs  from  hope  and  ends  in  fruition, 
was  succeeded,  as  before,  by  the  happiness  which  lives  in 
memory  and  grows  pensive  in  retrospection. 


31* 


CHAPTEH    XXYI. 

We  now  stand,  as  it  Avere,  upon  a  bright  summit  in  Dr. 
Alexander's  history.  From  this  point  his  life  shelves  down — 
alas,  too  abruptly — into  sweet  glades  among  the  hills  and  tran- 
quil waters;  and  then,  beyond  all,  among  mysterious  shadows 
that  shall  never  be  lifted  in  this  world. 

Long  absence  from  his  accustomed  tasks  seemed^only  to 
whet  his  appetite  for  books  and  solitude.  His  journeyings  in 
Europe  proved  a  spur  to  his  diligence  at  home.  He  threw 
himself  into  his  studies  with  greater  zeal  than  ever.  He  again 
turned  a  deaf  ear  and  an  impassive  heart  to  the  allurements 
of  society.  Like  the  Greek  stripling,  he  bounded  over  the 
course  with  new  impulse  as  he  beheld  the  goal,  which  had  re- 
ceded for  av/hile,  once  more  approaching  him.  Even  the  least 
harmful  of  the  guiles  of  dreamy  indolence  he  could  now 
trample  beneath  his  feet  with  fresh  disdain.  Indeed,  I  cannot 
help  thinking  that  out  of  his  cloistered  silence  he  might  utter 
with  new  meaning  and  a  hearty  approval  of  their  sentiments, 
the  verses  entitled  "  Farewell  to  the  World,"  which  Ben  Jon- 
son  puts  into  the  mouth  of  a  "gentlewoman  virtuous  and 
noble." 

Dr.  Alexander  fell  in  again  about  this  time  with  an  old 
pupil,*  to  whom  we  are  indebted  for  the  particulars  which 
follow : 

"I  saw  him  again  in  1853,  just  before  the  meeting  of  tLe  General 
Assembly  at  PhiladelplHa.  I  had  at  that  lime  a  great  deal  of  conver- 
sation with  him  on  the  subject  of  the  Seminary  and  theological  train* 

•  Dr.  J.  H.  Rice,  of  Mobile. 


^T.U.-i  DEATH    OF    EELATIVES.  731 

ing  generally.  Whenever  I  met  with  him  I  was  more  and  more  aston- 
ished at  the  vast  range  of  his  learning  and  the  perfect  ease  with  which 
his  mind  embraced  and  comprehended  the  most  difficult  subjects.  He 
had  in  a  wonderful  degree  that  most  uncommon  faculty  commonly 
called  common  sense.  He  seemed  to  me  to  be  a3  wise  as  he  waa 
learned.  He  understood  the  politics  of  the  church  as  well  as  he  did  the 
Hebrew  grammar." 

A  single  fact  will  illustrate  his  marvellous  facility  of  acqui- 
sition ;  and  this  I  get  from  Dr.  Jones,  of  Bridgeton.  Not  long 
before  his  death,  one  of  his  brothers,  residing  under  the  same 
roof,  was  from  home  for  six  or  eight  weeks.  To  fill  the  void 
occasioned  by  his  absence,  Dr.  Alexander  determined  to  enter 
upon  the  study  of  two  entirely  new  languages,  one  of  them 
being  the  Danish.  By  the  time  of  his  brother's  return,  he 
had  so  far  mastered  both  these  languages  as  to  be  able  to  read 
dramas  and  novels  in  each  of  them. 

Dr.  James  Alexander  spent  the  summer  partly  at  Sharon 
Springs  and  partly  at  ISTewport ;  from  which  place  he  returned 
to  New  York  early  in  September,  and  was  soon  busy  over  the 
pages  of  Montaigne,  Fcnelon,  Quintilian,  and  Plato — also  in 
his  wonted  laborious  pastoral  duties.  In  October  the  news 
was  received  that  the  venerable  Mrs.  Graham  of  Lexington,  a 
sister  of  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander,  was  dead ;  and  in  Novem- 
ber the  same  tidings  came  with  regard  to  her  brother  Major 
John  Alexander.  He  was  the  last  male  survivor  of  the  old 
Rockbridge  household.  They  were  both  excellent  Christian 
people,  and  both  admirable  exemplifications  of  the  Scotch- 
Irish  type  of  intellect  and  manners.  The  former  had  soft  dark 
eyes  and  a  sedate,  reflective  mind  of  high  capacity.  The  lat- 
ter was  robust,  ruddy,  imjjulsive,  kind-hearted,  and  fearless — 
a  thorough  Saxon.  Though  not  like  one  another,  they  were 
both  in  some  respects  like  their  brother  of  Princeton.  The 
tidings  from  Lexington  brought  sorrow  to  the  hearts  of  all  the 
friends. 

We  now  turn  again  to  the  old  roof-tree,  where  Dr.  Addi- 
son Alexander  was  hard  at  work  on  Church  History.  His 
records  relate  chiefly  to  that  subject.      The  statements  ha 


732  DAILY   STUDIES.  [1853. 

makes  are  sometimes  of  a  nature  Avhicli  render  them  valuable 
to  Biblical  students.  1  accordingly  ask  the  reader  to  return 
with  me  to  the  journals,  which  are  unbroken  from  this  time 
on ;  but  as  one  day  was  so  much  like  another,  selections  here 
nnd  there  will  answer  every  purpose.     I  begin  with  a 

"Plan  for  1853  and  1854  (eVif  6  Kil/HoySfXj'jor/).  First  Class.  Lec- 
tjres  ou  Cliurcli  History,  twice  a  week  with  recitations.  Second  Class. 
1.  Thorough  exegetical  study  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  2.  First 
part  of  lectures  on  Church  History  as  above.  Tiiird  Class.  1.  Lec- 
tures and  lessons  on  Old  Testament  History.  2.  Lectures  and  lessons 
on  Connection  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament.  3.  Thorough  exegetical 
study  of  the  Gospels." 

"Nov.  2. — Leotured  to  the  first  class  on  the  heathen  reaction 
under  Julian,  the  Donatists'  schism,  and  the  Apollinarian  heresy.  Re- 
ceived a  letter  from  the  Rev.  Dr.  Macdonnell,  Provost  of  Trinity  Col- 
lege, Dublin,  which  I  answered.  Wrote  ten  quarto  pages  of  my  Intro- 
duction to  the  Sacred  History.  Read  Hefele's  Prolegomena  to  Barna- 
bas and  Clement." 

"Nov.  23. — Lectured  to  the  First  Class  on  the  theologians  of  the 
Fifth  Century.  Read  Gibbon  and  Kurtz  on  tlie  reign  of  Justinian. 
Prepared  notes  for  my  next  lecture.  Fini:^hed  Hagenbach's  lectnrt-'S  ou 
the  Church  of  the  First  Three  Centuries,  which  I  began  October  30. 
Continued  Clement  and  Thucydides.  Received  from  "Westerraann 
copies  of  Lange's  Church  History,  Noack's  Dogmengeschichte,  and 
Neander  on  James  and  John.  Received  from  Dr.  Schaff  a  specimen 
(in  MS.)  of  his  proposed  smaller  work  on  Church  History." 

On  December  the  2d,  I  find  that  he  finished  Mark  in 
Campbell's  version  ;  lectured  to  the  First  Class  on  Gregory 
and  his  times ;  read  Hackett,  Alford,  Baumgarten,  Scliaff, 
and  Conybeare  and  Ilowson  on  Acts  xix. ;  read  the  Epistle  of 
Ignatius  to  the  Romans;  continued  Cicei-o  Pro  Roscio,  Hoff- 
mann, and  Thucydides.  On  the  last  day  of  the  same  month  he 
finished  the  Acts  with  the  Second  Class ;  continued  Eadie  on 
Ephesians,  Hamilton  on  the  Philosophy  of  Perception,  Hofi- 
inann's  Syriac  Grammar,  Allen's  History  of  Denmark,  Keil's 
Introduction  to  the  Old  Testament,  and  Buttman's  Greek 
Grammar.     He  also  finished  the  Shepherd  of  Hermas  and  the 


^T.44J  TOO   EXEGETICAL.  733 

whole  collection  of  Apostolical  Fathers,  in  Hefele's  edition, 
which  he  had  begun  on  the  first  day  of  November.  He  like- 
wise finished  Thucydides,  which  he  had  begun  in  1849,  and 
had  been  reading  ever  since,  though  not  without  many  inter- 
ruptions. "  Herodotus,"  he  says,  "  I  read  ttirough  when  quite 
a  youth.  I  propose  to  take  up  the  Hellenica  of  Xenophon. 
In  reading  Thucydides,  especially  the  last  books,  I  have  noted 
many  parallel  or  illustrative  expressions  on  the  margin  of  my 
Knapp's  Greek  Testament."  He  also  this  week  closed  two 
courses  of  lectures :  one  on  the  Old  Testament  History,  and 
one  on  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles. 

These  labours  did  not  restrain  him  from  going  ofl*  to 
preach.  His  brother  in  New  York  often  asked  him,  and 
delighted  to  hear  him.  On  the  4th  of  December,  the  latter 
writes :  "  Addison  preached  a  grand  sermon  for  me  yesterday. 
He  is  very  unequal."  *  The  elder  brother  was  wont  to  say  that 
"  Addison  "  was  becoming  too  exegetical  in  his  sermons,  for 
the  popular  taste.  This  was  natural,  but,  he  thought,  needed 
to  be  somewhat  guarded  against.  I  have  heard  him  remark 
that  "  Addison  "  had  an  unaccountable  contemj^t  for  the  more 
florid  and  animated  discourses  of  the  kind  he  used  to  preach 
in  Philadelphia,  and  was  consequently  getting  to  think  that 
his  forte  was  the  lecture-room  and  not  the  pulpit.  But  now 
and  then  in  what  seemed  their  ashes  lived  his  wonted  fires ; 
which  would  once  more  blaze,  and  roar,  and  burn. 

Among  the  students  whose  names  appear  upon  the  gen- 
eral catalogue  for  the  period  1849  and  1850,  was  Dr.  Wm. 
C.  Cattell,  President  of  Lafayette  College ;  who  has  kindly 
furnished  his  reminiscences  of  Dr.  Alexander.  After  referrino- 
to  his  "brilliant  genius  and  prodigious  learning,"  and  "the 
magnetism  of  his  very  presence  in  the  class-room,"  of  which 
it  is  impossible,  he  thinks,  to  convey  to  others  any  adequate 
impression,  President  Cattell  proceeds  to  speak  of  a  trait  of 
his  character  which  was  not  so  generally  known  even  to  his 
pupils : 

*ram.  Letters,  Vol.  11.  p.  193. 


Y34  DE.    OATTELL.  [1364 

"  During  the  three  years  that  I  was  in  the  regular  classes  of  the 
Seiiiinai-y,  I  shared  fuUy  in  the  enthusiasm  of  all  the  students  who 
were  under  his  instruction  ;  but  after  I  was  graduated,  and  remained  a 
fourth  year  to  pursue  my  studies  as  a  'Resident  Licentiate,'  Dr.  Alex- 
ander invited  me  to  spend  three  evenings  a  week  with  him  in  the  study 
of  Hebrew.  Those  who  remember  how  much  interest  he  threw 
around  this  difficult  language  even  in  a  large  class  of  fifty  or  sixty 
students,  can  judge  of  my  privilege  to  sit  by  his  side  for  hours  in  his 
own  study,  examining  the  Hebrew  text  line  by  line,  and  word  by  word  ; 
and  certiinly  the  impression  made  upon  me  in  the  class-room  of  his 
Avonderful  erudition,  was  only  deepened  during  these  interviews.  But 
in  tlie  long  ttdks  we  had  after  the  book^  were  closed,  and  which  em- 
braced so  many  subjects  and  so  many  people  that  we  both  knew,  I  also 
learned  what  a  great  loving  heart  he  had.  I  cannot,  of  course,  give 
you  any  partlcuhirs  of  these  delightful  talks,  but  I  am  glad  of  the  op- 
portunity of  placing  upon  record  what  his  family  and  intimate  friends 
well  knew,  but  which,  owing  to  his  recluse  habits,  so  few  of  his  stu- 
dents ever  knew,  that  he  was  as  patient  and  kind  and  sympathizing  as 
a  woman;  and  when,  afierwards,  I  met  him  in  Europe,  he  still  seemed 
not  merely  the  brilliant  and  learned  professor,  but  also  the  genial, 
thoughtful,  and  loving  friend," 

His  final  record  for  the  year  is  characteristic,  and  on  the 
whole  does  not  breathe  a  feeling  of  dissatisfaction.  When 
time  flies  with  a  man  he  is  commonly  bappy.  His  memory  for 
dates  was  always  called  into  exercise  at  these  conjunctures. 
"  This  year  has  passed  with  great  rapidity.  I  can  hardly  be- 
lieve that  I  spent  three  months  of  it  at  sea  and  in  Europe.  I 
closed  the  month  of  May  at  Liverpool,  June  at  Dover,  July 
at  Ostend,  August  at  Halifax." 

The  diary  for  this  year  oilers  little  that  is  specially  note- 
worthy : 

"New  Year's  Day,  1854.  Heard  Dr.  Hodge  preach  in  the  chapel 
(Rom.  i.  16).  Continued  Eadie  on  Ephesians.  Resumed  the  reading 
of  the  original  SS.  with  ancient  versions.  Began  1.  Ecclesiastes  in 
Hebrew  and  Greek  (having  finished  Proverbs  shortly  before  I  sailed  for 
Europe).  2,  1  Kings  in  Hebrew  and  Latin  (having  finished  2  Samuel 
May  15th).  3.  Deuteronomy  in  Hebrew  and  Chaldee  ;  which  I  began 
but  laid  aside  a  year  ago.     (N.  B.  I  have  read  these  three  versions 


^T.  44.]  SHAVING-BOOK.  735 

regularly  from  tbe  beginning  of  the  Old  Testament.)  4.  Mark  in 
Greek  and  Syriac.  Made  a  few  remarks  at  Con'erence,  and  heard  a 
powerful  discourse  from  Dr.  HoJge  on  time  considered  as  a  talent." 

Two  days  after,  he  explained  the  course  of  study  to  the 
Second  Class  ;  and  continued  the  prosecution  of  his  private 
studies  on  the  same  plan.  He  read  1  Kings  ii,  in  Hebrew  and 
Latin,  and  Eadie  on  Ephesians  ii.  He  prepared  a  paper  on 
the  tenth  century.  He  continued  Hoffmann's  Syriac  Gram- 
mar and  Allen's  History  of  Denmark.  He  finished  Hamilton 
on  the  Philosophy  of  Perception.  He  continued  Kiel's  Intro- 
duction. He  began  Justin  Martyr's  Address  to  the  Greeks, 
which  he  had  translated  for  the  Repertory  in  his  youth  ;  also 
Xenophon's  Hellenica,  He  also  returned  to  his  boyish  pur- 
suits, and  read  the  first  sura  of  the  Koran  in  Arabic.  (He 
had  accomplished  the  whole  book  twenty-five  years  before.) 
The  perusal  of  Deuteronomy  iii.  in  Hebrew,  brought  the  day's 
tasks  to  a  close. 

"Feb.  2.  Lectured  to  the  third  Class  on  the  chronology  of  the 
Gospels.  Continued  Eadie  on  Ephesians,  Caspari's  Arabic  Grammar, 
Keil's  Einleitung  ins  Alte  Test.,  the  Koran  in  Arabic  with  Kasimirski's 
version,  Canticles  in  Greek,  and  Mark  in  Syriac.  Finished  the  second 
book  of  Xenophon's  Hellenica.  Read  Lord  Brougham's  admirable 
speech  on  the  Reform  Bill  (1831).  Began  a  list  of  the  grammatical 
forms  actually  used  in  the  Greek  Testament." 

He  was  in  the  habit  at  this  time  of  having  a  book  open 
before  him  while  he  shaved.  His  brother  James  had  perhaps 
suggested  this,  as  one  of  his  own  practices  for  many  years. 

"April  28.  Finished  Eadie  on  Ephesians;  which  has  been  my 
'  shaving-book '  for  several  months :  also  the  vulgate  version  of  2  Kind's 
(begun  Jan.  1).    Examined  the  First  Class  on  Church  History." 

How  full  his  mind  always  was  of  fresh  matter  and  new 
impressions,  it  is  unnecessary  to  state.  He  wrought  in  gold 
and  silver  and  precious  stones.  He  was  not  content  to  build 
his  structures  out  of  wood,  hay,  and  stubble ;  he  so  erected  his 
pillars  and  entablatures  as  to  bid  defiance  to  the  deluo-e  of 


736  MEETING   OF   THE   BEOTHEES.  0864. 

flame  which  he  knew  would  one  day  devour  most  of  the  la- 
bours of  this  generation. 

On  one  of  the  early  days  of  June  the  two  brothers  met  at 
Princeton,  and  had  one  of  their  delightful  reunions.   The  elder 
one  then  proceeded  to  Trenton,  and  thence  to  Easton,  return- 
ing home  by  the  Central  Railroad  of  New  Jersey.     The  air, 
the  chat  by  the  way,  the  scenery,  were  all  that  is  refreshing. 
He  spent  the  chief  part  of  the  summer  again  at  Newport ;  in 
absolute  repose  of  mind  and   body,  as  he  declares.     In  the 
early  part  of  September  he  went  once  or  twice  to  the  pictu- 
resque undulations  and  sylvan  solitudes  of  the  county  of  Sus- 
sex in  New  Jersey,  amidst  the  spurs  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  where 
he  had  left  the  members  of  his  household.     He  was,  however, 
very  ill  in  October;  and  suffered  excruciating  pains.     During 
the  paroxysms  he  had  extraordinary  experience  of  the  Divine 
mercies.     He  records,  "I  can  only  express  it  by  saying,  the 
experience  was  steeped  in  pain."     His  strength  on  recovering 
from  this  attack  was  remarkable.     I  do  not  think  he  ever  had 
another  of  these  nephritic  seizures.     He  was  again  in  Prince- 
ton early  in  December  ;  and  pronounces  it  "  a  delightful  visit 
to  the  dearest  spot  on  earth."     After  speaking  of  the  "  inde- 
scribable pleasure  "  with  which  he  listened  to  a  lecture  from 
Professor  Guyot,  he  adds :  "  But  most  of  all  I  received  stimu- 
lation in  my  Biblical  studies  from  my  brother  Addison.     I 
ought  to  go  often,  if  it  were  only  for  the  benefit  which  I 
derive  from  the  last  of  these."     After  a  short  visit  to  Trenton, 
he  returned  home  to  find  every  thing  going  on  prosperously 
and  happily.     On  the  21st  he  records:  "Letters  from  Addi- 
son ;  I  lament  his  discontent  in  his  present  situation."     This 
discontent  arose  out  of  the  professor's  strong  and  growhig 
conviction  that  he  was  not  in  the  right  chair ;  that  he  was 
specially  suited  by  his  tastes  and  capacities  not  to  church  his- 
tory, but  to  the  scientific  exposition  of  the  Bible,  to  its  litera- 
ture and  archseology  and  philology,  and  to  the  training  of 
interpreters  of  a  new  school. 

The  Life  of  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander,  by  his  eldest  son, 
which  was  now  finished  and  set  afloat,  was  received  with  ex- 


^T.  45.]  DAILY   EECORDS.  737 

traordinary  favour.     It  was  a  heavy  task  and  a  sore  trial  to 
the  author.     His  own  opinion  of  its  merits  was  very  low. 

The  autumn  journal  of  Dr.  Addison  Alexander  is  as  usual 
little  more  than  an  epitome  of  liis  studies.  I  find  that  on  the 
26th  of  Septeuiher  he  examined  tlie  Second  Class,  and  lectured 
on  Acts  i.  He  also  studied  churcli  history  in  various  books, 
and  continued  the  reading  of  Polybius  in  Greek,  Allen  in 
Danish,  Genesis  in  Hebrew,  and  Matthew  in  Greek.  Having 
the  Spanish  fever  on  him  again,  he  this  day  resumed  Mariana's 
"Ilistoria  de  Espana;"  the  fifth  book  of  which  he  had  finished 
just  before  he  went  to  Europe.  He  also  made  a  dash  at 
French  and  Italian,  and  completed  ''•  Joinville's  Histoire  de 
St.  Louis,"  which  he  had  laid  aside  in  January,  and  alternating 
between  the  two  languages,  finished  Sarpi's  "  Istoria  del 
Coneilio  Tridentino,"  which  he  had  laid  aside  just  four  months 
before. 

"  Nov.  2.  Lectured  to  the  Third  Class  on  the  early  missions  and 
persecutions.  Prepared  questions  and  a  lecture  for  to-morrow.  Re- 
sumed the  Gospel  of  Luke  in  Syriac,  Avhicli  I  laid  aside  on  the  Vth  of 
May.  Continued  Exodus  in  Hebrew;  Joshua  in  Chaldee;  John  and 
Eusebius  in  Greek;  Joinville  in  French;  Mariana  in  Spanish  ;  Olshau- 
sen  and  Kurtz  in  German.  Eeexamined  Gibbon,  Hallam,  and  Koeppen, 
with  a  view  to  my  lecture  on  the  Middle  Ajjes." 

I  only  give  specimens,  taken  here  and  there. 

"  Nov.  15.  Examined  the  First  Class  on  the  Crusades  and  Military 
Orders,  and  lectured  on  the  interpretation  of  the  Apocalypse.  Con- 
tinued Leviticus  in  Hebrew;  Acts,  Ezekiel,  and  Polybius  in  Greek; 
Chronicles  and  Buchanan  in  Latin;  Kurtz  and  Wiltsch  in  German; 
Pallavicini  in  Italian.     Began  the  Gospel  of  John  in  Dutch  and  Polish." 

The  record  for  the  next  day  is  almost  the  same,  only 
adding  the  reading  of  the  Gospel  of  John  in  Swedish  and 
Portuguese. 

"Dec.  4.  Lectured  to  the  Third  Class  on  the  civil  institutions  of 
the  Law.  Attended  the  monthly  concert.  Finished  Leviticus  again  in 
Hebrew.     Eesumed  my  commentary  on   the  Acts.     Continued  Act-, 


738  COMICAL   ADVEIiTTUKE.  0854. 

Ezeldel,  (\nl  Polybius  iii  Greek ;  Bucliunan,  Chronicles,  Ulilemann,  in 
Latin;  OlshiiusGii  (Romans)  nnd  Ewakl  (Hebrew  Syntax)  in  German ; 
John  in  Dutch  ;  Allen  in  Danish  ;  Mariana  in  Spanish.  Began  to  pre- 
meditate a  sermon  on  'The  stone  which  the  builders  rejected.'  " 

The  following  letter  to  his  brother  Samuel  tells  of  a  com- 
ical adventure  he  had ;  describes  one  sermon,  and  alludes  to 
another.  It  is  written  on  a  sheet  of  two  and  a  half  inches  by 
twelve. 

"  Peixceton,  Nov.  28,  1854. 
"Dear  Samuel: 

"I  was  glad  to  hear  from  you  and  Janetta,  as  I  felt  anxious  as  to 
her  exposure.  I  had  a  very  pleasant  trip  to  Philadelphia,  Avhere  I  put 
up  at  the  United  States  Hotel,  being  lodged  in  a  large  room  facing  the 
United  States  Bank.  Tlie  house  is  like  Jones's  at  its  best  estate ;  in  one 
respict  better ;  namely,  you  liear  no  servants'  voices,  and  no  noise  at  tlie 
bar.  Bridges,  you  know,  i^  dt-aJ.  I  believe  the  United  States  Hotel 
is  kept  by  McClellan  who  was  steward  at  Jones's.  As  f  mny  an  inci- 
dent occurred  at  Ogden's  as  the  one  at  Bloodgooil's.  I  stopped  there 
on  my  way  to  the  hotel,  and  found  the  younger  Ogdcn  with  a  gentle- 
man. I  asked  if  anything  had  been  left  there  for  me.  'No.'  I  then 
said,  '  Your  brotlier  is  not  in? '  '  Oh  yes !  I  will  call  him.  Here  he  is, 
Doctor ! '  Through  the  darkness  of  the  shop  I  saw  a  form  approaching, 
very  unlike  Henry  Ogden;  and  on  nearing  me,  it  proved  to  be  a  black 
boy!  The  stranger,  who  appeared  to  be  a  good  deal  mystified,  told 
Mr.  Ogden  I  had  asked  for  his  brother.  '  Oh ! '  said  he,  '  I  thought  you 
asked  for  our  bny  and  wanteJ  to  send  him  somewhere.' 

"1  heard  Wyli.\  in  the  fine  new  Covenanting  Church  which  Ditff 
consecrated,  expound  Psalm  sxxi.  and  Genesis  xix.;  two  full  length 
sermons  in  one  diet.  He  compared  the  Know-Nothing  or  Native 
American  proscription  to  the  people  of  Sodom  saying.  This  fellow  came 
in  and  will  needs  be  a  judge.  From  Lot's  treatment  of  the  angels,  he 
deduced  the  duty  of  sitting  in  the  city  gate  to  watch  for  strangers  and 
protect  them  from  temptation  and  imposition ;  not  literally,  but  by 
joining  an  associati  <n  lately  formed  fir  tlint  purpose.  Perhaps  it  was 
the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association!  for  he  afterwards  invited  his 
young  men  to  go  and  hear  young  Tyng  preach  at  the  Epiphany.  As  I 
went  down  Walnut  street  at  night,  Tom  Hall  ran  after  me  and  asked 
me  when  I  was  to  preach  ;  as  he  and  his  sister  were  following  me  up. 
His  mother  is  much  better.     I  stopped  at  St.  Mary's  Church  at  night 


^T.45.]  THE    GIFT   OF   A   CUTTEE.  739 

for  a  few  minutes,  and  heard  a  musical  service,  probably  a  mass  for  the 
dead.     The  church  wns  crowded. 

"Do  you  know  that  the  regiment  which  repulsed  the  Eu-sians  in 
the  late  att  ick,  was  the  one  we  savT  at  Montreal  ten  years  ago?  Pro- 
fessor Guyot  is  lecturing  at  College.  I  had  a  letter  irom  Scribner  last 
night,  urging  me  to  finish  Acts." 

A  travelling  clergyman  wlio  had  been  in  Princeton  in  the 
winter,  had  been  compelled  to  leave  behind  him  one  of  the 
swift  and  elegant  little  sleighs  called  "  cutters."  Some  time 
afterwards,  he  wrote  an  elaborate  letter  to  the  jirofessor  of 
ecclesiastical  history,  requesting  him  to  sell  the  cutter  and 
bpstovY  the  proceeds  of  the  sale  upon  any  distressed  minister 
of  his  acquaintance.  He  thereupon  sat  down  and  penned  the 
following  laugliable  note  to  Dr.  Hall,  inclosing  the  long  letter 
about  the  cutter, 

,,,,    ^        „  "Pkincetox,  Dec.  9,  1854. 

"I  received  your  affecting  letter,  and  regret  tliat  I  can  do  so  iittle 
to  relieve  you.  If  the  use  or  proceeds  of  my  cutter  would  be  of  any 
service,  I  need  not  say  how  greatly  your  acceptance  of  it  would  oblige 
"Your  sincere  friend, 

"Eev.  Dr.  Hall.  J.  A.  Alexander." 

What  became  of  the  cutter  I  do  not  know.  The  professor 
at  Princeton  never  applied  for  it,  and  the  troubles  of  the 
Trenton  pastor  had  to  be  relieved  in  some  other  way. 

A  little  more  than  three  weeks  later,  to  wit,  on  Dec.  28th, 
I  find  he  lectured  to  the  Second  Class  on  the  Carthaginian 
school  of  theology;  read  and  abstracted  Ewald,  Stuart, 
Elliott,  De  Wette,  Hengstenberg,  and  Ebrard,  on  Rev.  i.  9 ; 
continued  Numbers  in  Hebrew;  Judges  in  Chaldee;  Luke  in 
Syriac;  John  in  Swedish;  1  John  and  Polybius  in  Greek; 
Buchanan  in  Latin;  Psalm  cl.  ii.  in  Coptic;  Mariana  in 
Spani  h;  Allen  in  Danish;  and  Thiers  in  French.  He  also 
ran  over  several  articles  by  Low  in  English. 

The  letter  following  is  one  to  Dr.  Philip  Schafi",  and  will  be 
read  with  interest.  It  will  be  seen  that  Dr.  Schaff  had  asked 
l)im  to  assist  him  in  preparing  a  work  on  Church  History. 


740  DR.     SCHAFF.  [1854. 

"Peinoeton,  Dec.  29,  1854. 
"  Eev.  axd  Dear  Sir  : 

"I  congratulate  you  on  your  pleasant  journey  and  your  safe  return. 
I  will  take  an  early  opportunity  of  depositing  your  manuscript  with 
Mr.  Scribr.cr,  who  had  previously  requested  me  to  do  so.  I  have  liitlo 
liope  of  being  able  to  engage  in  any  joint  task  of  the  kind  you  mention. 
My  pressnt  jndgraent  is  in  favour  of  your  finishing  your  larger  work, 
or  some  considerable  part  of  it,  before  attempting  a  compendium.  One 
immediate  want  of  such  a  book  would  be  supplied,  as  you  suggest,  by 
a  good  translation  of  Kurtz's  Handbuch.  This,  I  think,  will  be  under- 
taken by  Dr.  Schaefer  of  Easton,  who  has  done  the  Heilige  Geschichto 
in  a  very  admirable  manner.  The  demand  is  so  urgent  that  I  do  not 
feel  at  liberty  to  wait  for  books  as  yet  unwritten,  however  satisfactory 
they  might  be  when  completed.  With  my  best  wishes  for  your  per- 
sonal welfare  and  professional  success,  I  remain,  with  great  regard. 
Your  friend,  and  servant, 

Prof.  Schaff."  Addisox  Alexaxdee. 

"P.  S.  I  am  just  renewing  my  subscription  to  the  Kirchenfreund, 
in  the  hope  that  yon  will  furnish  it  Avith  some  of  the  results  of  your 
late  visit  to  the  old  world." 

Dr.  Alexander  was  a  w^arm  admirer  of  the  talents,  attain- 
ments, and  piety  of  Professor  SchaiF,  and  thought  him  better 
fitted  than  any  man  in  America  to  write  the  great  popular 
work  on  Church  History  which  has  always  been  desired  by 
the  mass  of  educated  Christian  readers. 

His  social  habits  were  the  same  as  formerly,  with  the  ex- 
ception that  he  was  less  apt  to  disijlease,  and  more  sure  to 
delight  and  fascinate  his  visitors.  He  still,  however,  lived 
among  his  books  and  manuscripts. 

The  following  sketch  is  from  the  pen  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  B. 
M.  Smith,  Professor  of  Biblical  and  Oriental  Literature 
in  Union  Theological  Seminary,  Va. : 

"  Of  course,  no  one  capable  of  appreciating  his  profound  and  exten- 
sive learning  could  withliold  due  admiration  for  him,  or  fail  to  feel  as- 
sured that  he  would,  in  time,  make  valuable  contributions  to  the  Bibli- 
cal literature,  and  to  other  parts  of  theological  science.  But  liis  recluse 
habits  and  aversion  to  the  usual  forms  of  social  intercourse  produced 
the  impression,  that  his  sphere  of  knowledge  and  his  tastes  were  ex- 


-«!t.45.]  dk.   smiths    visit.  ^41 

clusively  literary,  or,  to  use  a  common  expression,  tliat  lie  was  a  '  book- 


worm. 


His  subsequent  career  as  a  highly  acceptable  and  popular 
preacher  had  not  entirely  removed  this  impression  from  the 
writer's  mind,  when  he  Avas  again  unexpectedly  thrown  in  his 
company.  The  impressions  produced  by  this  second  interview 
were  in  the  highest  degree  gratifying  and  delightful.  In  the 
winter  of  1854,  while  in  Princeton,  on  business  for  the  Board 
of  Publication,  he  called  at  the  house,  not  only  not  expecting 
to  see  Dr.  Addison  Alexander,  but,  so  far  as  he  had  thought  ot 
the  matter,  rather  predetermined  not  to  see  him.  When  tak- 
ing his  leave  he  was  invited  by  one  of  the  family  into  his 
study.  He  at  once  promptly,  and  very  firmly,  but  courteously 
declined  ;  alleging  that  he  was  not  acquainted  with  him,  and 
that  doubtless,  his  engagements  were  too  pressing  to  allow 
him  to  see  a  casual  visitor  with  no  special  business  and  no 
claims  on  his  attention.  The  invitation,  however,  was  so 
earnestly  pressed,  that  he  felt  he  could  no  longer  refuse  with- 
out apparent  rudeness  ;  and  sufiered  himself  to  be  almost  forced 
into  the  room,  with  the  expressed  intention  of  stopping  but  a 
"  few  minutes,"  His  reliance  on  the  friend  who  introduced 
him,  for  support  daring  the  awkward  encounter,  was  speedily 
cut  off  by  the  withdrawal  of  that  person  after  announcing  his 
name  at  the  door.     But  his  apprehensions  were  soon  quieted. 

"Never,"  he  remarks  "  was  I  more  agreeably  disappointed.  Tha 
most  cherished  friendof  twenty  years'  standing  would  hardly  have  ex- 
tended to  me  a  more  cordial  welcome.  After  a  few  minutes'  conver- 
sation about  common  friends  in  Virginia,  we  insensibly  glided  into  a 
comparison  of  views  on  those  subjects  which  would  naturally  interest 
the  minds  of  clergymen ;  especially  such  as  related  to  the  study  of  the 
scriptures  and  the  training  of  ministers.  I  use  the  phrase  '  compari- 
son of  views '  simply  for  want  of  a  better.  It  was  rather  an  inter- 
change of  suggestions  by  me  of  a  leading  nature,  and  full  expressions 
of  opinion  by  him.  On  these  topics  I  not  only  found  him  possessed 
of  extensive  and  valuable  information,  but  as  communicative  as  I  had 
supposed  he  would  be  reticent.  I  was  prepared  to  hear  from  him  the 
most  thoroughly  digested  opinions  on  all  subjects  connected  with  the 


14:2  ANOTHEE    INTEEVIEW.  [1854. 

study  of  the  scripture?,  to  commentaries,  lexicons,  grammars  nnd  other 
aids  to  ii  ti-rpretation ;  smd  also  on  those  parts  of  ministerial  training 
TV'hieh  lie  within  the  lines  of  scholastic  arrangements;  bat  I  was  sur- 
prised to  find  that  on  subjects  of  Bib'e  stndy  of  more  general  bear- 
ing, and  on  those  parts  of  ministerial  training  which  Ave  unconnected 
with  the  course  of  a  theological  seminary,  he  was  equally  at  home, 
and  his  views  were  most  eminently  practical.  lie  evinced  tlie  possession 
and  exercise  of  that  rare  talent,  so  eminently  conspicuous  in  the  charac- 
ter of  his  father,  for  at  once  seizing  on  the  salient  points  of  any  mat- 
ter of  interest  and,  by  a  kind  of  instinct  or  strong  common  sense,  at 
once  reaching  sound  conclusions." 

During  that  and  subsequent  interviews,  the  conviction  fast 
grew  in  his  mind,  that  so  far  from  being  a  mere  scholar  or  re- 
cluse, who  knew  little,  and  cared  for  less,  outside  of  bis  study 
and  lecture-room,  be  was  the  most  eminently  practical  man  be 
ever  knew ;  thoroughly  informed  on  all  topics  of  current  in- 
terest in  the  religious  and  political  world,  and  even  as  minute- 
ly informed  on  the  state  of  our  Church,  as  if  be  bad  made  it 
tbe  leading  object  of  bis  investigations. 

"  His  knowledge  of  the  min'sters  in  various  regions,  my  own  includ- 
ed, was  as  accurate  as  if  he  had  made  the  study  of  the  men  his  business. 
Entirely  removed  from  the  influence  of  petty  considerations  and  per- 
sonal prejudices,  his  powers  of  discrimination  enabled  him  to  form 
very  just  estimates  of  the 'character  and  conduct  of  the  men  who 
passed  under  his  observation." 

A  few  Aveeks  after  Dr.  Smith's  first  visit,  be  went  to 
Princeton  to  attend  a  meeting  of  New  Brunswick  Presbytery. 
He  found  Dr.  Addison  Alexander  a  member,  and  con- 
trary to  all  bis  preconceptions,  nearly  as  active  a  member  as 
any  present.  It  was  a  new  and  interesting  view  of  liis  char- 
acter as  a  minister;  as  be  bad  been  led  to  suppose  bim  indif- 
ferent to  such  engagements,  and  bad  imagined  that  if  be  at- 
tended the  meetings,  it  Avould  be  only  as  a  matter  of  duty  and 
as  a  silent  voter. 

"When  I  parted  with  him  after  my  first  visit,  which  you  may  well 
infer,  was  by  no  means  limited   to   'a  few  minutes,'  he  made  mo 


•^^  ^^-^  FIN-AL    CONCLUSIONS. 


14:3 


promise,  on  all  future  occasion?,  to  make  his  house  my  home,  while  in 
P.^  I  did  so ;  and  never  was  I  made  to  feel  more  at  mj  ea-e,  or  enter- 
tained with  more  evident  cordiality." 

Dr.  Smith  then  gives  a  resume  of  his  final  conclusions  : 

^  "I  may  sum  up  the  particulars  of  the  impressions  made  on  my 
mind  by  his  acquaintance  by  saying,  that,  on  subjects  on  which  we  look 
to  books  for  information,  I  found  his  communications  more  than  a  sub- 
•stitute,  and  it  mattered  not  what  might  be  the  subject;  on  those,  in 
respect  of  which  we  deem  the  extended  observation  and  experience  of 
practical  men  most  desirable,  his  views  were  of  the  highest  value  for 
coraprehensivene-s,  perspicuity,  and  sound  sense;  while  on  topics 
which  afford  occasion  for  entertainment  and  amusement,  no  professed 
wit  or  humourist  could  so  gratify  a  listener.  Indeed,  of  his  powers  of 
humour,  including  good-natured  satire,  no  reader  of  his  essays  and  his 
commentary  on  Isaiah  needs  to  be  informed.  On  reading  any  of  his 
works,  which  are  among  my  table-books,  I  am  often  so  forcibly  re- 
mmded  of  his  sound  discriminating  views  and  humorous  remarks  as 
expressed  in  conversation,  that  I  feel  very  much  as  if  I  had  been  sit- 
ting with  him  in  his  study." 

Such  was  his  versatility,  the  extent  of  his  curiosity  on  all 
matters  of  interest  and  use,  the  extraordinary  retentive- 
ness  of  his  memory,  his  good  sense,  and  his  remarkable  practi- 
cal turn,  that  it  has  often  occurred  to  this  writer  that  what- 
ever pursuit  he  had  seen  fit  to  adopt,  whether  law,  medicine, 
agriculture,  commerce,  manufactures,  or  political  science  and 
hie,  he  would  have  met  with  eminent  success. 

"Excuse  one  remark,  rather  aside  from  the  plan  of  this  communi- 
cation. In  reading  his  'Explanations'  of  Scripture,  I  have  been 
struck  with  the  clearness  and  conclusiveness  with  which  his  most 
thoroughly  critical  and  profound  interpretations  of  Scripture  sustain 
the  distinguishing  peculiarities  of  Calvinism.  And  while  he  examines 
and  dissects  the  text  according  to  the  sound  laws  of  criticism,  and 
most  unflinchingly  pushes  his  investigations  of  the  '  letter  '  of  the  Bible 
in  the  proper  use  of  all  the  discoveries  of  modern  Biblical  criticism  he 
never  forgets  that  it  is  the  word  of  God  he  handles.  With  a  childlike 
faith  and  the  most  humble  reverence  of  one  who  never  had  heard  the 
purity  or  the  integrity  of  the  text  questioned,  he  yet  pursues  the  most 


'744  CHURCH   HISTORY.  [1854. 

extensive  and  minute  investigations  of  mere  critical  discussions.  Tliat 
a  man  of  liis  independent  habits  of  tliouglit,  his  apparently  inexhausti- 
ble  resources  of  Icnowledge,  and  his  extended  and  infinitesimal  research, 
leads  liis  readers  to  stronger  confidence  in  the  Divine  authority  of  the 
Scriptures,  is  no  slight  contribution  to  the  ever  accumulating  mass  of 
evidence  by  wliich  the  faith  of  God's  people  is  sustained,  and  the  efforts 
of  all  sorts  of  infidelity,  in  the  church  and  out  of  it,  are  confounded." 

It  has  been  the  privilege  of  Dr.  Smith  to  know,  with  some 
very  good  opportunities  of  forming  intelligent  estimates  of 
character,  some  of  the  most  eminent  scholars,  both  in  theology 
and  other  departments  of  science,  in  the  United  States  and 
in  Europe,  and  it  is  his  deliberate  and  careful  conclu- 
sion, that  he  never  met  one  who  so  completely  filled  his  idea 
of  the  accomplished  professor  and  teacher,  the  keen  and  subtle 
casuist,  the  skilful  interpreter  of  Scripture,  the  Christian  gen- 
tleman, the  pious  and  humble  expositor  and  vindicator  "  of 
the  ways  of  God  to  man."  That  the  reputation  of  Dr.  Alex- 
ander has  not  been  more  general  in  our  church  is  due,  he  sus- 
pects, to  two  facts : 

"  One,  that  he  was  as  modest  as  he  was  learned,  and  the  other, 
that  many  of  the  men  of  this  generation,  who  give  tone  to  public  opin- 
ion, either  had  not  the  opportunity  to  know  him,  or  the  ability  to  ap- 
preciate liim." 

The  following  letter  is  interesting  as  showing  what  his 
feeling  was  with  regard  to  a  popular  Church  History : 

"Peincetox,  Dec.  1,  1854. 
"Dear  Sir  : 

"  I  have  not  abandoned  the  Acts,  but  am  slowly  adding  to  the  manu- 
script ;  although  I  have  not  yet  decided  as  to  size  and  shape.  When  I 
do  so,  you  shall  know  it.  You  are  the  best  judge  as  to  the  expediency 
of  publishing  on  the  subject  of  Church  history  :  though  neither  of  the 
works  you  name  will  answer  the  immediate  demand.  I  am  tired  of 
translations  and  impatient  to  see  something  written  in  English.  If  we 
must  have  translations,  I  prefer  Kurtz  to  Ilase.  Dr.  Schacfer,  of  Easton, 
thinks  of  Englishing  the  former.  Dr.  Schaff  could  make  the  only  book 
we  want,  if  he  would  write  for  English  and  American  and  not  for  Ger- 


^T.45.1  A     FOREIGN     student's     ESTIMATE.  745 

man  readers.  But  two  years  is  a  long  time  to  wait,  unless  lie  publishes 
m  parts  or  numbers.  If  I  continue  to  teach  tiiis  subject,  which  is 
doubtful,  I  shall  be  glad  to  get  assistance  sooner.  The  manuscript  of 
which  you  speak  is  ready  to  be  forwarded.  I  wish  to  know,  however, 
whether  I  sliall  wait  for  a  safe  private  opportunity,  which  may  not 
occur  soon,  or  forward  it  by  mail  at  your  risk. 

''  Yours  truly, 
"  ^«-  SoRiBXER.  J.  A.  Alexaxdee." 

It  is  an  indication  of  the  fairness  of  the  views  given  in 
these  volumes,  that  they  are  not  those  merely  of  Americans, 
or  of  those  who  have  been  strangers  to  the  best  European 
scholars,  teachers,  and  pulpit  notorieties;  but  also  of  men 
who  have  sat  under  the  Gamaliels  of  the  Old  World.  Dr. 
Sniith  was  reminded,  by  his  lectures  on  geograpliy,  of  Putter 
in  his  day  the  acknowledged  prince  of  continental  geogra- 
phers. President  Sears  could  not  determine  whether  Pro- 
fessor Addison  Alexander,  or  the  venerated  Tholuck  of 
Halle,  was  the  better  scholar,  knew  the  greater  number  of 
languages,  had  the  larger  stock  of  curious  general  knowledge, 
or  had  the  more  elastic  and  vivacious  mind.  Professor  Hep- 
burn, as  we  shall  presently  see,  greatly  preferred  the  lectures 
of  the  American  professor  on  Biblical  History  to  those 
of  Hengstenberg  himself.  Dr.  Scotfc  has  dared  to  speak  of 
Dr.  Alexander's  preaching  in  the  same  connection  with  that 
of  Dr.  Chalmers  of  Edinburgh.  I  now  refer  with  pleasure 
to  the  words  of  the  Rev.  James  Little  of  Florida,  formerly  a 
student  of  Queen's  College,  Belfast.     Mr.  Little  writes  : 

"My  iirst  distinct  and  personal  knowledge  of  Dr.  J.  A.  Alexander 
was  gained  in  the  fill  of  1854.  In  that  year,  during  my  summer  va- 
cation in  Queen's  College,  Belfast,  I  visited  the  United  States,  and 
found  myself  a  member  of  Nassau  Hall  before  the  vacation  had  ex- 
pired. I  had  indeed  heard  and  known  something  of  Dr.  Alexander 
before  that  time,  for  his  fame  and  some  of  his  learned  writings  had 
readied  the  Old  World.  But  in  my  mind  his  reputation  was  to  a  con- 
siderable extent  included  in,  and  blended  with,  that  of  the  family  to 
wliich  he  belonged,  and  had  not  taken  that  disthict  individual  form 
wblch  it  socn  after  did.     My  impressions  of  him,  on  reaching  the  ven- 


746  RELATIONS    WITH    HIS    COLLEAGUES.  0864. 

crable  library  and  theological  metropolis  of  American  Presbyterianism 
in  wliicli  he  lived,  were  akin  to  tliose  of  a  traveller  approaching  a  coun- 
try whose  mountains,  lakes,  and  rivers  he  has  never  seen,  but  concern- 
ing which  fame  has  spoken  much  ;  having  something  of  the  vague  and 
indistinct  in  them,  which  on  closer  examination,  becomes  distinct,  de- 
finite, and  satisfactory.  Thus  did  the  vagueness  anil  indistinctness  of  my 
notions  of  Dr.  Alexander's  reputation  pnss  away,  and  my  impressions 
of  his  great  talents  and  wonderful  learning  become  definite  and  clearly 
fixed. 

"  This  high  yet  distinct  impression  was  forced  upon  me  from  every 
point  of  view  I  had  of  him.  It  was  common  among  all  (literate  and  ii- 
.  literate)  where  he  lived.  The  students  of  the  College,  among  whom  I 
daily  mingled,  entertained  the  most  profound  respect  for  his  learning, 
talents,  and  genius,  and  thronged  to  hear  all  his  public  discourses. 
Such  respect  is  not,  I  believe,  permanently  entertained  for  and 
bestowed  on  any  save  those  who  possess  the  qualities  which  inspire  it. 
But  I  came  nearer  to  him,  saw,  and  heard  him,  I  was  introduced  to 
him  and  lieard  him  preach  some  of  his  most  popular  and  powerful  ser- 
mons. The  clearness  of  his  thought,  the  exactness  of  his  language,  his 
masterly  elucidation  and  enforcement  of  truth,  united  with  an  ardent  and 
impetuous  eloquence  which  like  an  irresistable  torrent  rushed  over  and 
bore  down  everything  opposing,  forever  fixed  him  in  my  mind  as  a 
genuine  and  inimitable  originality — a  preacher  of  the  order  of  which 
Melcliizedec  was  a  priest ;  as  among,  and  yet  different  from,  the  greatest 
preachers  of  Edinburgh,  London,  Paris,  or  Geneva,  whom  I  had  then, 
or  have  since,  heard." 

"What  lie  was  in  liis  relations  with  his  colleagues  in  the  Semi- 
nary, may  be  inferred  from  the  following  affectionate  state- 
ments of  the  Reverend  Dr.  Alexander  T.  McGill,  who  knew 
him  intimately  and  for  a  numher  of  years.     He  writes: 

"  It  is  a  melancholy  pleasure  to  recall  now  the  personal  and  pri- 
vate relations  between  Dr.  Alexander  and  myself  as  colleagues  and 
friends.  I  would  record  it  as  the  highest  gratification  of  my  life,  so 
far  as  honour  from  man  could  be  appreciated,  that,  through  more  than 
five  years  of  intimate  intercourse,  I  could  possess  the  confidence  and 
esteem  and  increasing  love  of  one  so  keenly  discriminating  in  his 
judgment  of  men,  as  well  as  learned  beyond  all  his  confemporaries, 
here  and  elsewhere.  If  I  could  venture  to  boast  of  friendship,  or  need- 
ed to  shield  myself  from  the  malevolent  reproaches  and  cruel  disparage- 


-^T.45.]  NOT   UNFEELING.  141 

ment  of  others,  I  ■would  be  contented  to  rest  mv  defence  on  llie  solitary 
fact,  that  the  searching  eye  and  honest  lieart  of  this  great  man  drew 
me  to  himself,  with  confiding  estimation,  which  seemed  to  increase  to 
ihe  last  hour  of  his  life." 

ISTothing  has  struck  me  more  forcibly  ia  preparing  these 
memorials  of  the  departed  scholar  and  commentator,  than  the 
difficulty  of  reconciling  the  popular  impressions  as  to  his  cold- 
ness and  severity  of  feeling,  with  such  an  impassioned  tumult 
of  sensibility  as  he  pours  out  in  some  of  his  sermons,  with  the 
pathetic  turn  he  has  given  to  several  touching  sentences  in  his 
books,  with  the  loving  friendliness  which  often  struggles 
through  a  cloud  of  irony  in  his  letters,  and  above  all,  with  the 
vehement  regard  for  him  Avhich  he  succeeded  in  implanting  in 
the  bosoms  of  some  of  his  acquaintances  and  fellow-labourers. 

Says  Dr.  McGill : 

"  There  was  never  the  slightest  Interruption  of  good  will  and  fra- 
ternal affection,  from  the  first  to  tlie  last  day  of  our  cooperation,  as 
professDrs  and  friends.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  only  increasing  radia- 
tion, manifested  on  every  possible  occision.  Often  he  came  to  my 
study,  with  overflowing  mind  and  heart,  to  cheer  me  in  my  labours, 
appreciate  my  plans,  talk  over  his  own,  confer  about  the  interests  of 
tlie  Seminar}^,  and  the  character  of  the  students.  No  one  was  ever  more 
welcome  in  liis  visits.  He  seemed  to  know  everybody  and  every- 
thing." 

He  oftrn  ran  over  to  the  study  of  Dr.  Hodge  or  of  Dr. 
Green  in  the  same  way,  and  unless  perplexed  Avith  some  pri- 
vate care  or  matter  of  public  business,  he  was  as  chatty  as  any 
of  them  and  often  left  a  beam  of  sunshine  behind  him. 

No  man,  says  Dr.  Hodge,  was  ever  more  free  from  vanity. 

"  He  was  of  necessity  conscious  of  his  strength.  But  as  an  adult 
man  knows  that  he  is  stronger  than  a  child,  but  neither  prides  himself 
on  thit  superiority  nor  seeks  to  display  it,  so  it  was  with  him.  It  waa 
an  admitted  fact,  which  he  never  seemed  to  think  of,  and  never 
dreamed  of  eshibiting." 

These  words  are   not  less  honourable  to  Dr.  Hodge  than 


'748  DR.    HODGE.  0854. 

accurately  true  of  Dr.  Alexander.  He  loved  the  retreats  of 
letters  and  philosophy,  and  the  t\ices  of  his  chosen  friends, 
with  hut  occasional  glimpses  of  the  giddy  world,  whose 
shows,  mannerisms,  hypocrisies,  applause,  and  intercourse  he 
very  greatly  despised. 

But  his  heart  beat  warmly  for  his  respected  associates,  one 
of  whom  *  says  of  him  : 

"Loyal,  loving,  and  magnanimous,  delicate  and  courteous  and 
just  anil  truthful — words  fail  me  to  express  my  estimation  of  his  value 
as  a  personal  friend  ;  and  I  felt  the  world  to  be  a  solitude,  outside  of  my 
own  family,  when  the  grave  closed  on  his  precious  remains.  The  se- 
vere dignity,  which  a  superficial  acquaintance  with  him  so  often  recoiled 
from,  was  anything  hut  indifference  to  the  sensibilities  and  sympathies 
of  others.  Indeed,  it  required  but  a  short  time  of  intercourse  to  see 
that  the  origin  of  his  peculiar  shynos?  was  the  very  opposite  of  proud 
and  cold  disdain  for  any  class  or  condition  in  society." 

No  one  had  more  abundant  opportunities  of  knowing  the 
solitary  professor  than  Dr.  Charles  Hodge ;  for  whom  the  sub- 
ject of  this  memoir  cherished  a  strong  personal  affection.  He 
writes  that  as  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  came  to  Princeton  as 
professor  in  the  Theological  Seminary,  in  the  spring  of  1812, 
and  as  that  was  the  year  in  which  he  himself  entered  college, 
it  so  happened  that  it  was  his  lot  to  live  in  the  same  village 
with  Dr.  Addison  Alexander  forty-eight  years.  During  the 
greater  part  of  that  time  he  was  intimately  associated  with 
him. 

"  He  was  elected  a  professor  in  the  Seminary  by  the  General  As- 
sembly of  1836  ;  so  that  from  that  time  until  his  death,  in  18G0,  I  was 
his  colleague.  From  this  long-continued  and  intimate  connection,  it 
may  be  assumed  that  I  knew  him  well,  as  a  man,  a  teacher,  and  as  a 
minister  of  the  gospel.  It  may  also  be  supposed  that  I  have  much  to 
say  about  him.  This,  however,  is  not  the  fact.  The  retrospect  of  a 
calm  academic  life  is  very  much  like  looking  over  a  wide  plain,  or  the 
wider  ocean.  The  prospect  may  be  very  extended,  but  the  prominent 
objects  are  few.    lie  indeed  made  a  deep  impression  on  all  who  knew 

*  Dr.  McGill. 


^T.  45.]  THE    ELDER     BEOTHEE.  '!^49 

Lira.  'SVe  all  felt  his  superiority.  There  was  a  continued  sense  of  the 
power,  greatness,  and  goodness  of  the  man,  which  secured  deference 
to  all  he  s  dd,  and  a  willingness  to  recognize  the  ascendency  which  was 
so  obviously  his  due.  Such  ascendency  was  never  claimed,  and  never 
seemed  to  be  consciously  exercised.  It  was  nevertheless  constantly 
felt  and  cheerfully  conceded." 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

It  is  a  relief  to  turn  now  and  then  from  the  excessive 
labours  of  the  student  to  those  of  the  pastor.  If  there  is  a 
certain  sameness  in  the  employments  of  the  younger  brother, 
who  above  all  things  coveted  change,  there  was  variety 
enough  in  the  small  daily  incidents  of  the  life  of  the  city 
minister,  who  hated  transition  and  innovation,  and  who 
prayed  for  rest — peaceful  quiet,  unperturbed  by  distractions 
a  routine  unbroken  by  exciting  novelties.  I  can  only  touch 
lightly  and  then  pass  on.  I  find  Dr.  James  Alexander  lec- 
turing one  Sabbath  night  early  in  February  to  his  young  men 
on  Augustin,  one  of  his  prime  favourites  among  saints  and 
authors,  and  one  among  whose  writings  he  was  thoroughly  at 
home.  Those  scholarlike  arldresses  were  often  indescribably 
fascinating.  No  one  had  a  better  idea  of  Augustin's  biography 
and  opinions,  and  few  could  tell  the  sweet  story  of  Monica 
more  effectively.  His  brother  Addison  also  liked  Augustin, 
and  sometimes  quoted  his  sayings,  as  in  the  note  to  his  expo- 
sition of  Matt,  xvi :  18,  where  he  says  of  a  certain  view  of  the 
passage,  "  This  is  no  new  opinion,  having  been  advocated  by 
one  of  the  earliest  of  the  fathers,  and  the  greatest  of  the 
popes."  He  then  gives  the  famous  words  of  Augustin  and  of 
Hildebrand.  Dr.  Alexander  was  very  fond  of  such  pithy  sen- 
tences, and  was  commonly  able  to  trace  them  to  their  several 
authors.  He  loved  to  repeat  happy  proverbs ;  and  to  dwell  upon 
Rabbinical  stories  and  picturesque  ecclesiastical  traditions.  He 
did  not,  however,  attach  much  importance  to  these.  He  was 
much  addicted  to  the  use  of  felicitous  Latin  phrases;  but  in 
the  Princeton  Magazine  has  ridiculed  the  piebald  way  in 
which  foreign  words  and  idioms  are  introduced  into  such 
books  as  Lady  Blessington's  novels.     He  was  very  scrupulous 


^T.  46.] 


A   li'EW    BOOK.  '751 


about  the  purity  of  his  English,  and  many  of  his  letters  to 
Dr.  Hall  are  ingeniously  made  up  of  Americanisms  and  cur- 
rent but  respectable  slang.  He  retained  his  early  repugnance 
to  commas  and  italics,  and  made  as  little  use  of  them  as  pos- 
sible. He  had  a  wonderful  way  of  digesting  a  long  j^ara- 
graph,  when  reviewing  a  book,  aud  of  putting  it  into  a  short 
sentence  of  his  own.  He  seldom  quotes  the  ipslssima  verba 
of  the  writers  he  mentions  in  his  commentaries.  He  gives 
their  gist  and  spirit. 

His  work  on  the  Acts  was  now  nearly  ripe  for  the  printer; 
that  is,  he  had  it  mapped  out  in  his  mind,  and  had  begun  to 
write  down  his  comments  in  a  blank  book.  He  wanted  now 
to  tear  the  leaves  out  and  send  them  to  press  at  once. 

In  the  letter  given  below  he  offers  his  new  book  to  Mr. 
Scribner,  on  certain  hard  conditions  which  are  specified. 

"Pfjncetox,  April  4,  1855. 
"Dear  Sm: 

"  I  propose  to  print  my  work  on  the  Acts  in  one  octavo  volume,  of  the 
size  and  general  appearance  of  'Da  Costa's  Four  Witnesses,'  printed 
by  Ballantyne  at  Edinburgh  but  reissued  here  by  Carter.  I  am  ready 
to  go  to  press  immediately,  provided  I  can  interrupt  the  printing  and 
resume  it  at  my  own  convenience.  This  is  an  indispensable  condition  ; 
as  I  cannot  bind  myself  to  stay  at  home  or  in  New  York  all  summer. 
Another  condition  is,  that  the  first  proofs  must  be  read  by  a  person 
competent  to  correct  Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew  accurately,  not  by  one 
who  learns  the  alphabet  for  the  occasion  ;  a  clean  proof  to  be  regularly 
sent  to  me,  for  general  revision.  My  third  and  last  condition  is,  that  I 
must  have  a  specimen,  not  only  of  the  type,  but  of  the  ink  and  press- 
work,  upon  which  I  think  much  moi'e  depends  than  on  the  paper  in 
determining  the  general  appearance  of  the  volume.  Why  may  not  a 
sheet  or  half  sheet  be  worked  off  precisely  as  the  whole  will  be  when 
completed?  I  state  my  terms  thus  positively  to  afiibrd  you  the  oppor- 
tunity of  declining  to  accept  them,  if  you  do  not  like  them.  I  do  not 
consider  you  at  all  bound  by  anything  that  has  passed  between  us,  to 
go  on  with  this  work  now,  especially  as  some  of  the  arrangements  upon 
which  I  have  insisted  are  opposed  to  your  own  taste  aud  judgment.  I 
only  beg  that  you  will  answer  yea  or  nay,  as  I  have  no  time  or  inclina- 
tion to  discuss  the  subject. 

"  Yours  sincerely, 

"Me.  Soeibner.  J.  A.  Alexander." 


752  PALLAVICmO.  [1855. 

A  letter  like  the  following  is  worth  getting.  It  contains  an 
anecdote  from  Pallavicino. 

"PiJiNCETOX,  March  19th,  1855. 
"Mt  deae  Brother: 

"  The  books  came  safe  to  hand,  but  not  having  been  opened  yet, 
escaped  my  recollection.  I  should  still  be  glad  to  have  the  opportunity 
of  viewing  such  remittances  before  they  are  deposited  in  bank.  I  con- 
gratulate you  on  the  change  of  weather.  Pallavicino  gives  a  Spanish 
anecdote  which  may  interest  you.  On  the  lYth  of  April,  1536, 
Charles  V.  addressed  the  Pope  and  Cardinals  in  full  consistory  at 
Rome,  ^  in  lingua  castigliana  per  lo  spazio  d'un'  ora^  winding  np  with 
his  famous  declaration,  that  it  would  be  better  for  the  world  if  he  and 
Erancis  I.  could  end  their  long  strife  by  a  single  combat.  Hereupon 
the  French  ambassador  at  Rome  who,  with  all  tlie  court,  was  present, 
begged  leave  of  his  holiness  to  ask  his  majesty  for  a  copy  of  his  speech, 
^ non  intendendo  egli perpettamente  Vidioma  spagnuolo^''  yet  desiring  to 
make  a  true  report  to  his  master.  The  Emperor  replied,  with  some 
warmth,  that  his  speech  was  not  addressed  to  the  French  king,  but  to 
the  Pope  and  Cardinals,  and  that  if  he  wished  to  send  it  to  the  former, 
he  would  do  it  tlirough  the  French  envoy  at  his  own  court,  '  cTie  inten- 
deva  ottimamcnte  spagnuolo.''  The  next  day,  both  the  French  ambassa- 
dors demanded  of  the  Emperor  whether  he  had  meant  to  challenge 
their  master  to  a  duel,  and  received  for  answer  that  he  did  not  give 
such  challenges  in  the  presence  of  his  holiness,  &c.  &c.  &c.  &c. 

"  Poly  bins  is  wonderfully  modern  and  certainly  the  inventor  of 
'Philosophy  of  History.'  lie  says  that  history  without  the  AIA  TI,  the 
nQ2,  and  the  TIN02  XAPIN,  may  be  an  Ari2NI2MA,  but  is  no  MAGHMA. 
He  also  refers  to  a  certain  class  of  writers,  I  suppose  like  Gulliver  and 
Crusoe,  as  T0I2ASI  0ni2Ti22  'I'EYAOMENOIS.  The  Notes  and  Queries 
in  Norton's  Literary  Gazette  are  getting  to  he  quite  interesting.  Four 
hundred  dollars  have  been  raised  in  Princeton  for  the  outburnt  stu- 
dents, besides  a  Inmdred-dollar  bill  from  New  York.  Mezzof;mti  was 
a  marvel.  Did  you  ever  read  the  scene  in  Ben  Jonson's  Poetaster, 
where  an  author  vomits  np  his  hard  words  ?  It  is  really  Aristophanic, 
and  the  only  thing  in  all  Ben  worthy  of  remembrance." 

On  Saturday,  the  28th,  the  two  brothers  were  to  be  seen 
riding  together  in  the  cars  between  Princeton  and  New  York. 
What  they  talked  about  on  this  jiarticular  occasion,  I  do  not 
know;  but  I  will  venture  to  say  that  they  had  a  joyous  time 


^T.46.J  VISIT   TO    EICHMOND.  '/SS 

of  it.  They  often  differed,  and  sometimes  had  vehement  dis- 
cussions.  One  point  on  which  they  differed  was  that  of  style. 
What  the  core  of  the  dispute  was,  I  never  certainly  learned, 
hut  inferred  from  a  word  or  two  dropped  by  the  elder  brother^ 
that  it  was  partly  as  to  the  propriety  of  adhering  steadfastly 
to  Saxon  forms,  and  of  avoiding  a  rhythmical  construction  of 
sentences.  Their  own  styles  were  very  dissimilar.  The  elder 
writer  was  the  more  carefully  terse  and  fastidiously  elegant 
in  his  diction,  the  younger  the  more  copious,  varied,  and  natu- 
ral. The  one  preferred  the  language  of  courtly  precision,  the 
other  the  language  of  the  Bible  and  of  common  life.  So  far 
as  they  went  to  the  classics  for  their  models,  it  always  seemed 
to  me  that  the  former  found  his  pattern  in  the  concise  Roman 
writers  and  the  latter  in  the  energetic  and  musical  Greeks. 
On  many  themes  their  manner  is  much  the  same,  and  some  of 
their  articles  in  the  Repertory  can  be  distinguished  as  to  their 
authorship  only  by  very  sharp  eyes. 

Some  time  during  the  month  of  May  Dr.  Addison  Alexan- 
der took  a  trip  to  Richmond,  and  lodged  in  the  family  of  one 
of  its  esteemed  pastors.  Here  he  enjoyed  himself  in  a  social 
way  as  he  had  seldom  done  before  during  his  manhood,  with- 
out the  households  of  his  very  near  kindred. 

The  pleasing  letter  given  below  was  penned  in  the  house 
of  Dr.  Moore.  It  is  to  one  of  his  own  brothers  and  gives  a 
very  amiable  view  of  the  man  who  wrote  it. 

"EiOHMOND,  May  19,  1855. 
"Eev.  and  Dear  Beothee: 

"  Why  did  you  not  come  to  Virginia  with  me,  as  you  promised  ?  I 
have  found  it  more  agreeable  than  ever.  I  spent  the  last  Lord's-day 
in  "Washington,  and  the  nest  day  at  the  house  of  John  and  Plicebe  Wil- 
son, where  I  met  Gurley.  I  have  been  since  Tuesday  last  a  guest,  or 
rather  a  member  of  the  family,  in  this  delightful  house,  which  seems 
to  me  a  perfect  model  of  elegant  simplicity  and  comfort,  without  the 
shghtest  ceremony  or  display.  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Moore  are  the  perfection 
of  unobtrusive  kindness,  and  their  children  that  of  life  and  freedom 
with  the  best  of  manners.  I  preached  on  Wednesday  evening  to  a 
large  and  brilliant-looking  company,  and  am  waiting  to  perform  the 
32* 


754  HOUSE    OF   DE.   MOOEE.  D886. 

same  duty  on  the  morrow,  after  which  I  hope  to  journey  Blneridge- 
and- Augusta-wards.  I  do  not  want  to  go  to  Prince  Edward,  although 
very  near  by  railroad,  while  the  College  is  in  session.  I  may  come 
back  here  from  Augu>ta.  and  run  to  Hampden  Sidney,  Petersburg,  and 
even  Raleigh,  before  sailing  for  New  York.  I  have  received  visits  from 
William  Maxwell,  William  Love,  and  Moses  noge,(with  whom  I  dined 
yesterday.)  We  have  heard  nothing  yet  from  the  General  Assembly. 
Moore  is  editing  the  Watchmfin  and  Observer  during  Gildersleeve's 
absence.  I  am  reading  over  his  popular  commentary  on  the  Minor 
Prophets,  which  Carter  is  to  publish,  and  Avhich,  meihinks,  will  be  a 
very  useful  book.  They  are  suftering  from  drought  here,  and  abhor 
the  sun.  If  you  write,  address  me  at  Staunton,  and  after  that  at 
Waynesboro.  I  have  no  news  to  send,  except  that  I  have  written  to 
Princeton  and  New  York. 

"  Yours  truly, 
"  Rev.  S.  D.  Alexander.  J-  A-  Alexander." 

For  the  reasons  expressed  in  the  foregoing  letter,  the  writ- 
er conducted  himself  in  the  family  of  Dr.  Moore  very  much 
as  he  would  have  done  in  liis  own  ;  but  with  even  more  obvi- 
ous cordiality  and  vivacity  than  in  scenes  to  Avhich  he  was 
more  accustomed.  His  whole  heart  seemed  to  be  drawn  out 
towards  his  old  host  and  pupil. 

Dr.  Moore's  own  account  of  these  visits  is,  therefore, 
worthy  of  the  closest  scrutiny.  The  incident  about  "  Dok- 
yana,"  is  very  characteristic  and  pleasant.     He  writes : 

"You  ask  me  to  give  you  a  full  account  of  his  character  in  social 
life,  on  the  ground  that  you  know  he  visited  in  my  family  at  least  as  un- 
reservedly as  he  did  anywhere  else  except  among  his  own  kindred,  i/ 
not  more  so.  I  fear  that  I  can  give  you  much  less  satisfaction  on  this 
point  than  this  statement  might  authorize  you  to  expect ;  for  the  si  np  e 
reason  that  there  was  nothing  peculiar  in  his  habits  or  conduct,  in  thia 
respect.  Indeed,  being  what  I  have  already  described  him,  there  ought 
not  to  have  been  any  special  peculiarity,  distingqishing  him  from  any 
other  intelligent  Christian  gentleman.  Those  who  would  have  expected 
something  different,  would  do  so  on  the  ground  of  supposed  eccentrici- 
ties of  genius,  and  those  stories  about  his  peculiar  feelings  and  conduct 
in  regard  to  society  which  were  so  rife  when  I  was  in  the  Seminary. 
Indeed,  I  confess  that  I  had  some  of  this  feeling  myself,  and  invited  him 


^T.46.]  DOMESTIC   INCIDENTS.  753 

to  visit  mi>  rt^itli  some  apprehension,  knowing  how  generally  he  avoid- 
ed private  tamilies  in  travelling,  and  how  little  he  mingled  in  general 
society,  and  fearing  that  we  might  not  be  able  to  make  things  pleasant 
to  liim.  But  never  was  I  more  delightfully  relieved  of  apprehension, 
and  never  has  there  been  a  guest  in  my  house  who  was  more  complete- 
ly one  of  the  family,  and  whose  presence  blended  more  perfectly  with 
the  quiet  flow  of  domestic  life. 

"Before  his  first  visit  there  was  a  feeling  of  awe  and  restraint  that 
seemed  inevitable  in  regard  to  one  supposed  to  be  so  peculiar  and  so 
apart  from  common  minds;  but  he  had  not  been  in  the  house  a  day 
when  all  that  wore  off,  never  to  return.  And  this  was  not  because 
there  was  any  seeming  effort  on  his  part  to  let  himself  down  to  the 
level  of  other  minds,  but  because  he  seemed  unconscious  of  any  eleva- 
tion above  them.  He  was  so  simple,  natural,  and  genial,  that  he  forgot 
he  was  a  great  man,  and  nothing  in  his  manner  or  conduct  ever  re- 
minded us  of  it.  We  saw  at  once  that  he  did  not  wish  to  be  lionized,  or 
have  any  parade  over  him  of  any  kind;  and  we  made  none ;  and  it  is  to 
this  mainly  that  I  refer  the  pleasure  he  seemed  to  have  in  visiting  us. 
We  made  no  more  change  in  oar  habits  for  liim  than  we  should  have 
done  for  the  nearest,  humblest,  and  most  intimate  relative ;  and  he  saw 
that  be  was  not  putting  us  out  of  our  even  course  of  life,  but  was  with 
us  as  a  beloved  addition  to  the  family  circle,  and  this  was  what  ex- 
actly suited  him.  Ho  had  no  peculiar  habits  or  tastes  to  be  studied, 
that  we  could  perceive,  but  fell  in  with  the  simple  routine  of  our  home- 
life  just  as  if  he  had  been  accustomed  to  it  always.  Indeed,  I  have 
since  regretted  that  he  had  not  been  disposed  to  think  and  to  speak 
more  of  himself  than  ho  was,  for  as  I  look  back  I  remember  some  lit- 
tle facts  that  attracted  no  attention  at  the  tin^e,  but  which  I  now  see 
to  have  been  the  stealthy  symptoms  of  the  incipiency  of  that  insidious 
disease  which  afterwards  carried  him  to  a  premature  grave.  But  they 
were  so  trivial  that  I  did  not  think  of  them  at  the  time,  and  he  was  so 
utterly  indisposed  to  make  himself  the  subject  of  thought  or  care,  that 
had  I  noticed  them,  I  should  probably  have  hesitated  to  press  them  on 
hid  attention. 

''Were  I  to  designate  his  character  as  a  guest  in  a  single  phrase,  it 
would  be  that  he  was  as  simple,  natural,  and  gentle  as  an  unspoiled, 
unaffected  child.  He  would  amuse  himself  with  the  children  by  pro- 
nouncing Arabic  and  Chinese  words,  and  getting  them  to  repeat  them 
after  him  ;  would  invent  plays  for  them,  and  tell  them  stories.  He  onco 
taught  them  an  alphabet  of  cbaracters  to  be  used  for  secret  correspond- 
ence, very  simple  and  easily  learned  by  a  child,  which  he  recalled  once 


756  EE3IEMBERE^G   THE    CHILDEElSr.  n855 

to  their  recollection  in  a  characteristic  manner.  The  youngest  child, 
who  could  just  talk,  was  only  able  to  express  his  name  by  the  vocabie 
'  Dokyana,'  which  lie  adopted  afterwards  as  his  designation  in  talking 
with  the  children.  The  first  day  he  arrived  on  one  of  his  visits,  she 
came  down  to  see  liini,  and  when  asked  on  her  return  to  the  nursery 
what  he  said  to  her,  replied  that  '  Dokyana  thought  she  was  a  sweet 
iittle  thing,'  presuming  that  his  estimate  other  was  the  same  that  was 
told  her  by  others  every  day.  He  was  amused  at  her  report  of  his  first 
impression?,  but  told  her  he  must  wait  to  see  whether  this  was  the 
fact ;  and  the  trivial  incident  was  forgotten  by  us  all  very  soon.  But 
after  he  went  to  Lexington,  I  received  a  large  envelope  directed  to  my- 
self;  and  opening  it  fuuud  one  directed  to  the  oldest  child,  inside  of  which 
was  another  to  the  next  one;  and  so  on  to  the  youngest,  in  which  was 
a  paper  written  in  this  square  character  to  which  I  have  referred, 
which,  on  examining  the  key,  I  found  to  be,  '  Yes,  Dokyana  does  tliink 

that  F is  a  sweet  little  thing.'     This  little  incident  will  show  the 

pains  he  often  took  to  amuse  children,  and  his  fertility  of  invention. 

"On  another  occasion,  one  of  the  children  was  sick  and  was  lying  in 
the  room  adjoining  his.  "We  missed  him  for  a  good  while  down-stairs, 
when  some  one  going  up  to  see  about  the  sick  child  found  Dr.  Alex- 
ander lying  beside  him  on  the  bed,  telling  him  stories.  These  little  in- 
cidents will  perhaps  illustrate,  better  than  more  elaborate  details,  that 
beautiful  simplicity  and  childlike  character  of  his  mind,  which  made 
him  so  delightful  an  inmate  of  our  household.  There  was  no  putting 
on  of  interest  or  any  mere  show  of  any  kind,  but  all  was  so  natural 
and  simple,  that  it  was  evidently  the  genuine  outflow  of  an  honest,  lov- 
ing heart. 

"It  was  in  my  intercourse  with  him  in  the  privacy  of  my  study  that 
I  learned  to  value  him  as  I  noAv  do,  for  he  talked  with  complete  unre- 
serve of  everytljingj  even  of  his  private  matters,  that  enabled  me  to 
see  the  unveiled  nature  of  the  man.  And  I  found  in  him  a  noble  and 
generous  manliness,  and  at  the  same  time  a  keen  and  accurate  knowl- 
edge of  men,  some  of  whom  I  had  more  opportunities  of  knowing  than 
lie  had,  and  yet  found  that  I  did  not  know  them  any  more  accurately, 
it  was  in  these  frank  and  unreserved  communications  tliat  I  saw  his 
genuine  and  unaffected  humility,  and  I  can  truly  say,  that  I  have  never 
met  a  man  Avith  a  tithe  of  his  intellect  and  culture  more  entirely  free 
from  all  pretension,  and  more  utterly  insensible  to  the  value  of  any  dif- 
ference between  him  and  other  minds. 

After  leaving  Richmond,  Dr.  Alexander  crossed  the  raoun- 


^T.46.]  CLIFTON.  757 

tains,  visiting  among  his  relations  of  the  valley.  He  dallied 
longest  in  Lexington  and  Staunton,  and  the  immediate  vicinity 
of  these  places.  He  was  delighted  with  his  visit  to  his  iincle's, 
Major  John  Alexander,  near  Lexington.  In  the  following 
interesting  letter  he  gives  his  impressions  of  "  Clifton  "  to  hi's 
brother  Henry. 

a  T^         ^^  "  Clifton,*  June  9th,  1855. 

"Dear  Hexet  :  ' 

"I  would  give  more  than  a  trifle  if  you  and  jours  could  be  in  this 
delicious  spot,  even  for  a  single  day.  A  noble  farm  stretching  as  far 
as  you  can  see,  with  every  variety  of  prospect ;  ploughed  ground,  corn- 
fields, meadows,  woodland,  Iiill,  and  dale;  a  river  running  by  the  front 
gate,  with  a  lofty  cliff  beyond  it ;  splendid  horses,  droves  of  cattle,  tur- 
keys, geese,  ducks,  chickens,  dogs,  and  negro  children  :  trees  and  groves 
in  perfection,  with  a  flower  garden  for  those  who  have  a  taste  in  that 
way :  a  commodious  country  house,  without  the  slightest  decoration, 
but  with  every  comfort :  a  table,  at  once  plentiful  and  elegant ;  the 
best  of  wheat  and  corn-bread,  perfectly  fresh  butter,  oceans  of  milk 
and  ice-water:  and  above  all,  a  family  extremely  kind,  without  appear- 
ing to  be  in  the  least  disturbed  or  interrupted  by  your  presence— these 
are  some  of  the  attractions  which  belong  to  this  delightful  residence. 
Another  is  the  thought  that  it  belongs  not  only  to  your  friends,  but  to 
your  nearest  kindred  and  to  those  who  bear  jour  own  name.  I  am 
constantly  surprised  to  hear  visitors  s;iy  Mrs.  Miss,  and  Mr.  Alexan- 
der. I  could  spend  my  whole  vacation  here  with  perfect  satisfaction,  but 
am  constantly  disturbed  in  my  enjoyment  by  the  recollection  that  I  have 
to  go  to  so  many  other  places.  One  consolation  is,  that  I  shall  proba- 
bly be  just  as  sorry  to  leave  them.  I  ought  to  have  mentioned 
that  the  house  is  full  of  books,  with  all  the  latest  Magazines,  &c.  J. 
A.  is  one  of  the  most  sharp-witted,  well-read  fellows  I  have  ever  met 
with.  My  faculties  are  rather  quickened  than  benumbed  by  idling  here. 
I  am  to  preach  to-morrow  for  raj  old  friend  Eamsej  at  New  Monmouth 
Church.  Then  I  must  go  to  Colonel  Eeid's,  and  Major  Preston's,  nnd 
Archy  Alexander's,  and  I  know  not  where  else.  Almost  all  our  rela- 
tions in  Rockbridge  are  well  off,  and  live  in  some  degree  of  style.  The 
view  of  Lexington  from  the  hill  behind  this  house  is  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  I  ever  Faw.  The  House  Mountain  is  superb.  The  scenery 
described  in  the  first  chapter  of  the  "  Life  "  is  here  seen  in  perfection. 

*  The  residence  of  his  uncle,  Major  John  Alexander. 


758  FEOM   STATINTON   TO   LEXH^GTON.  0955. 

I  should  like  to  see  Charley  and  Netty  running  about  among  these 
trees.  From  the  front  porch  you  descend  by  a  dozen  stone  steps  to  a 
green  bank,  and  from  that,  by  grassy  terraces,  to  the  road  and  river." 

I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  give  here  the  impressions  of  his 
cousin,  J.  McD.  Alexander  of  the  Natural  Bridge,  then  an  in- 
mate of  the  family  at  Clifton. 

He  writes  that  his  recollection  of  him  is  exceedingly  pleas- 
ant, hut  at  the  same  time  so  shadowy  that  there  is  scarcely 
anything  of  a  tangible  character  that  he  can  recall.  He  re- 
members with  perfect  distinctness  the  impression  that  he 
had  of  him  before  the  learned  professor  came,  and  that  that  im- 
pression was  completely  changed  by  the  association  he  then 
had  with  him.  He  went  to  Staunton  to  meet  and  bring  him  to 
Lexington,  and  on  the  trip  was  surprised  and  delighted  at 
"his  extreme  sociability,  affability,  or  whatever  you  may 
choose  to  call  it."  He  entertained  him  the  whole  way  home 
by  "  the  variety  and  versatility  of  his  talk,  and  that  too  about 
things  that  are  not  to  be  found  in  books."  The  only  thing  he 
^positively  remembers  was  a  description  of  the  appearance  and 
surroundings  of  one  of  the  quadrangles  of  some  one  of  the  Col- 
leges at  Cambridge  or  Oxford. 

"  While  he  was  in  Lexington,"  he  goes  on  to  say,  "  I  took  him  to 
Kerr's  Creek,  to  see  the  house  of  Mr.  John  T.  McKee,  where  Dr.  Alex- 
ander commenced  his  life  as  a  preaclier ;  the  very  room  was  still  ex- 
tant when  we  were  tliere,  and  he  was  deeply  moved  by  the  sight  of  it; 
I  doubt  if  I  ever  saw  him  so  completely  silent,  as  he  was  when  there, 
or  after  he  came  away.  He  also  on  that  occasion  paid  a  visit  to  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Ramsey,  who  was  at  that  time  preaching  at  Monmouth  and 
lived  within  a  half  mile  of  Mr.  McKeeVs.  I  was  exceedingly  struck  with 
the  reverence  and  devotion  that  Dr.  Ramsey  expressed  and  seemed  to 
feel  for  him;  and  this,  coming  from  him,  made  a  profound  impression 
upon  me.  I  tell  ycm  all  this  just  to  show  you  what  was  the  amount 
of  opportunity  I  liad  to  see  and  know  him  when  in  this  county,  and  at 
the  same  time  to  indicate  the  sort  of  influence  he  had  upon  me." 

There  is  nothing  further  from  the  truth,  so  far  as  Mr.  Alex- 
ander's knowledge  is  concerned,  than  the  idea  that  has  been 
believed  and  wopagated,  that  he  was  ungenial. 


^T.46.]  DE.    DABINTEY,  759 

"  His  whole  intercourse  with  our  family,  and  with  everybody  else, 
especially  with  the  children,  shows  tliat  every  such  imputation  wtis 
utterly  foreign  to  his  whole  nature.  I  believe  it  is  universally  true 
tliat  every  child  with  wiiom  lie  ever  became  familiar  has  the  liveliest 
recollection  of  his  stories  and,  of  course,  the  pleasante^t  memory  of 
him." 

Among  those  who  fell  in  with  Dr.  Alexander  in  Lexing- 
ton at  this  time,  Avas  the  Rev.  Dr.  R.  L.  Dabney,  of  Union 
Theological  Seminary,  Virginia,  whose  name  needs  no  intro- 
duction from  me,  and  whose  commendation  is  never  flattery. 
He  writes : 

"  I  never  met  the  Rev.  Addison  Alexander  until  his  last  visit  to  Lex- 
ington, Virginia.  Tliere  I  spent  parts  of  two  days  in  the  same  house 
with  him,  and  heard  him  preach  twice.  I  found  his  sermons  charac- 
teiized  by  very  thorough  and  evidently  faithful  preparation,  stholarly 
finish  of  style,  and  fine,  discriminating  acumen  in  the  criticism  and 
exposition  of  scriptural  propositions.  I  may  say,  once  for  all,  that 
these  have  always  struck  me  as  the  prominent  traits  of  his  critical 
writings,  with  (also)  laborious,  painstaking  diligence,  and  profound 
reverence  for  the  very  words  of  Scripture. 

"  You  are  perfectly  aware,  of  course,  that  gossipping  people  had 
given  him  a  name  for  great  and  sometimes  morbid  reserve.  I  found 
him  a  truly  unobtrusive  and  retiring  man;  but  he  met  every  civil 
advance  towards  social  intercourse  with  modest  courtesy ;  and  I  had 
much  sober,  but  agreeable  converse  with  him,  in  which  I  was  impressed 
with  his  excellent  good  sense.  "While  his  manner  was  what  I  have 
described,  he  still  left  the  impression  on  me  of  one  who  bad  a  pro- 
found contempt  for  pretence,  conceit,  flunkeyisra,  and  impertinence, 
and  who,  if  these  were  obtruded,  would  be  likely  to  mark  his  disap- 
probation either  by  his  silence,  or  by  some  quiet  sarcasm.  But  nut  a 
trace  of  this  appeared  towards  any  one  during  these  agreeable  inter- 
views. 

"I  remember  that  during  the  evening  sermon,  a  lively  summer 
shower  came  up.  This  enabled  me  to  test  a  peculiarity  of  his  voice 
and  utterance.  This  was  the  remarkable  continuity  of  the  vowel 
sounds  of  his  words  and  syllables.  He  spoke  rather  rapidly,  and  I 
noticed  that  it  was  only  at  the  ends  of  periods,  or  such  like  pauses, 
that  the  pattering  of  the  rain  on  the  pavement  without  could  be  heard 
between  his  words.     Yet  the  articulation  of  consonants  was  remark- 


V60  NEW    MONMOUTH.  ^855. 

ably  cleai*  and  distinct,  and  I  do  not  bcHeve  one  syllable  Avas  lost  to 
sensitive  ears  by  any  confusion  of  nlterance." 

The  testimony  of  "  his  old  friend  Ramsey  "  is  equally  im- 
poi'tant,  and  will  be  attractive  to  the  general  reader.  On 
his  preceptor's  first  visit  to  the  Valley  of  Virginia,  Dr.  Ram- 
sey was  preaching  at  New  Monmouth  Church  on  Kerr's 
Creek,  of  which  he  had  just  become  the  pastor,  lie  had 
seen  Dr.  Alexander  in  Lexington,  and  invited  him  oiit  to  his 
little  country  church  to  preach  for  him.  lie  had  said  he  could 
not  do  so  then,  but  should  probably  visit  the  Valley  the  next 
summer,  and  might  then  do  so.  The  next  summer,  when  he 
came  to  his  relatives  near  Lexington,  he  sent  Dr.  Ramsey  a 
note  saying  he  would,  if  convenient,  fulfil  the  promise  of  the 
year  before,  and  preach  for  him  the  next  sabbath.  This  was 
more  than  his  friend  expected,  and  he  gladly  welcomed  him. 
He  was  himself  living  then,  he  says,  in  a  small  log-house  of 
the  rudest  kind  and  quite  old  (the  church  were  then  building 
a  parsonage),  unplastercd,  of  course,  except  the  "  chinking  and 
daubing"  between  the  logs.  The  study  and  bed-room  was 
the  up-stairs  part,  the  roof  coming  down  at  the  sides  to  within 
about  two  feet  of  the  floor,  with  two  little  four-pane  windows. 
All  this  attracted  the  notice  of  his  visitor.  "  When  he  had 
clambered  up  the  old,  rickety  stairs  and  seated  himself,  and 
looked  out  of  the  window  upon  the  grand  old  mountains 
towering  above  (it  was  just  at  the  foot  of  the  House  Moun- 
tain),* he  expressed  himself  as  being  deeply  interested  and 
much  delighted." 

After  dinner,  his  kind  host  took  him  over  to  the  house  of 
good  old  father  McKee,  only  a  few  hundred  yards  olF,  and 
into  "  the  very  room  where  his  own  father  had  first  opened 
his  lips  to  proclaim  the  gospel  of  Christ."  There  was  much 
there  to  cause  silent  meditation.  "  The  room  was  unaltered, 
except  that  the  fire-place  had  been  changed  to  the  other  side 

*  One  of  the  most  curious  and  beautiful  mountains  in  all  Virginia.  For 
an  exact  description  of  it,  and  for  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander's  childish  fancies 
about  it,  see  "  Life  of  Dr.  A.  Alexander,"  p.  26. 


^i'ie.i  DE.    EAMSEY.  V61 

of  it,  After  sitting  down  in  silence  a  few  minutes,  he  said, 
*  This  is  deeply  interesting,'  and  then  relapsed  into  silence' 
while  I  conversed  with  some  of  the  family  and  left  him  to' 
pursue  his  own  more  valuable  musings." 

After  that  visit  to  the  Valley,  the  writer  never  saw  him 
again. 

He  preached  for  him  the  sermon  on  Phil  iv.  13  :  "I  can 
do  all  things  through  Christ  which  strengtheneth  me,"  which 
is  found  in  the  volumes,  since  published,  of  his  printed  dis- 
courses. Though  the  people  were  not  accustomed  to  hearing 
sermons  read,  and  many  were  prejudiced  against  this  practice, 
and  notwithstanding  he  read  from  a  large  and  crumpled 
manuscript,  "yet  he  ,so  read,  Avith  such  perfect  naturalness,  that 
every  word  was  understood  and  received,  and  that  all  present 
were  both  delighted  and  profited  :  the  attention  of  everybody 
seemed  to  be  riveted  to  the  very  end." 

The  author  of  these  accounts  then  regretted,  and  has  often 
regretted  since,  that  his  visitor  did  not  write  and  publish 
more  for  the  people.  »  He  had,  it  seemed  to  me,  very  great 
ability  to  state  the  most  difficult  questions,  and  treat  the  most 
difficult  subjects  so  that  the  very  statement  was  an  argument." 
His  power  of  expression,  his  mastery  of  the  English  language, 
and  the  compass  of  his  mind,  enabled  him  to  do  this  as  almost 
no  other  man  could.  None,  certainly,  that  he  ever  knew,  could 
even  approach  him  in  this  respect. 

Dr.  Ramsey  ventured  to  suggest  to  him,  with  some 
earnestness,  the  preparation  of  a  Church  History  for  our 
people,  a  work,  he  thought,  more  needed  than  almost  any- 
thing else,  and  that  no  man  was  so  well  qualified  to  write; 
but  the  professor  seemed  as  usual  to  think  that  it  could  be 
better  done  by  others,  and,  at  any  rate,  he  was  then  engaged 
in  the  preparation  of  his  commentaries  on  the  Gospels,  Avhich 
would  take  all  his  time.  Dr.  Ramsey  also  proposed  his  pre- 
paring a  work  for  the  churches,  on  the  "  Jewish  Tabernacle, 
and  the  Ceremonial  Law,  as  the  divine,  visible  picture  of  the' 
Gospel,  and  specially  adapted  to  make  its  abstrusest  doctrinea 
plain  to  the  popular  mind." 


1762  niPRESSIOTT    OF   DR.    WILSON.  [1865 

He  had  enjoyed  while  at  the  Seminary  the  advantage  of 
using  some  manuscript  notes  of  his  on  Leviticus,*  written 
merely  as  memoranda  in  his  study  of  the  book,  from  which 
Dr.  R.  had  gained  more  light  than  irom  all  other  commentaries 
combined,  in  regard  to  the  laws  of  sacrifice.  "  The  analyses 
of  tlie  first  few  chapters,  though  perhaps,  if  printed,  they  could 
be  put  on  a  couple  of  pages,  was  to  me  worth  more  than  any- 
thing I  had  seen,  or  have  ever  seen  since." 

He  ao-reed  that  such  a  work  was  needed,  but  said  that 
Professor  Green  would  probably  prepare  one  on  the  subject, 
and  that  Professor  Green  had  given  it  a  good  deal  of  study. 

While  Dr.  Alexander  never  "  talked  shop,"  he  was,  of 
course,  at  home  in  those  topics  which  specially  and  profession- 
ally interested  his  former  pupil;  but  much  of  the  conversation 
was  on  minor  matters  which  have  been  forgotten  by  the 
survivor. 

Another  witness  of  this  period  is  the  Rev.  Joseph  K  Wil- 
son, D.D.,  formerly  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  church  in 
Staunton,  now  of  Augusta,  Ga.  When  Dr.  Alexander  first 
visited  Staunton,  Dr.  Wilson  Avas  at  a  loss  how  to  treat  him, 
an3  hesitated  to  call  upon  him,  not  knowing,  indeed,  how  to 
approach  one  of  Avhom  he  "  had  been  kept  in  such  wholesome 
fear  at  Princeton."  Awed  by  his  greatness  and  impressed  by 
his  unapproachableness,  he  thought  an  interview  with  him 
must  be  an  almost  impracticable  affair,  from  the  lack  of  some- 
thing to  say  on  his  own  part.  He  nevertheless  did  call,  and  re- 
solved to  treat  him  as  he  would  any  other  gentleman,  by  en- 
gaging him  in  conversation  upon  the  ordinary  topics  of  the 
day.  The  result  was  remarkable.  "  He  received  me,"  he  says, 
"  with  great  courtesy,  and  seeing  I  was  disposed  not  to  make 
'a  great  man' of  him  (a  treatment  which  he  abhorred  with 
the  honest  sensitiveness  of  true  greatness),  we  got  on  swim- 
mingly together,"  and  he  never  heard  any  common  man  more 

*  There  are  several  volumes  of  these  notes,  or  else  copies  of  the  same, 
Btill  extant,  and  the  ophiion  in  which  they  are  held  by  Dr.  Ramsey  is  enter- 
tained by  others.     Cue  of  these  is  in  my  possession. 


^T.46.]  VISITS   TO   HIS   EELATIONS.  763 

eloquent  upon  the  weather,  the  crops,  the  little  interests  of 
the  community,  and  the  evcry-dav  afiairs  of  life,  tlian  he  was. 

Mrs.  McClung*  has  told  him,  that  at  her  house,  where  he 
spent  most  of  his  time  in  the  company  of  that  venerable  lady 
and  other  relatives,  he  would  stand  by  the  hour  at  some  win- 
dow that  overlooked  the  street,  and  engage  his  mind  in 
watching  everybody  that  passed,  noticing  every  turn  of 
things,  and  making  comments  upon  every  individual,  when- 
ever any  peculiarity  of  gait  or  dress  or  manner  enabled  him 
to  utter  a  commsnt  that  could  picture  it  to  those  Avithin.  He ' 
then  appeared  as  if  his  whole  being  M-as  absorbed  in  mere 
minute  observation,  and  as  if  all  scholarly  thoughts  were  as 
foreign  to  his  mind  as  they  are  to  the  merest  boy. 

These  visits  to  Staunton  and  Lexington  left  an  indelible 
impression  upon  the  mind  of  the  guest  as  well  as  of  his 
entertainers.  The  change  of  scene,  and  the  delightful  unaf- 
fected hospitality  seemed  for  the  time  to  make  a  boy  of  him. 
When  in  Staunton,  among  his  kinsfolk,  who  knew  all  about 
him  and  yet  were  not  afraid  of  him,  and  treated  him  like  any- 
body else,  except  that  they  were  fi-eer  with  him  than  with 
many  people,  and  loved  him  more  sincerely  and  evidently,  and 
admired  him  with  a  peculiar  and  generous  feeling  of  delight 
and  wonder,  he  shook  off  all  the  trammels  of  academic  habit 
and  personal  idiosyncrasy,  forgot  all  his  morbid  antipathies 
and  aversions,  so  far  as  he  may  be  said  to  have  really  had 
any,  and  began  to  enjoy  life  with  a  new  and  almost  painful 
zest.  He  was  from  this  time,  in  some  particulars,  a  wiser, 
and  on  certain  accounts,  a  happier  man.  He  never  afterwards 
shut  himself  up  with  so  absolute  a  rigour  as  he  had  done  in 
former  days.  He  mingled  more  than  he  had  done  before  in 
familiar  social  gatherings,  and  seemed  to  relish  with  unusual 
pleasure  the  society  of  persons  who  had  but  little  title  to  his 
friendship.  This  change  was  remarked  by  every  one  on  his 
return  to  Princeton. 

In  the  Valley  of  Virginia,  and  in  the  city  of  Kichmond, 

*  The  youngest  sister  of  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander. 


1U  POLITE   CONVERSATION.  [185». 

however,  as  well  as  in  Pliiladelpliia,  Trenton,  and  some  other 
places,  he  continued  to  preserve  the  freshness  of  his  youth, 
and  to  expatiate  Avith  the  buoyancy  of  a  boy  of  ten  years  old, 
through  strange  and  almost  untrodden  fields  of  what  was  to 
liim  and  others  the  most  delightful,  because  the  most  refined 
yet  unconstrained  "  foregathering."  Even  when  most  at  his 
ease,  however,  he  had  no  great  fondness  for  general  society. 
He  vastly  preferred  a  small  circle  or  accidental  group  of  chosen 
spirits.  He  Avas  nowhere  more  thoroughly  understood  and 
appreciated  than  among  his  Scotch-Irish  connections  and  culti- 
vated friends  of  Rockbridge  and  Augusta.  It  was  here,  above 
most  other  places,  as  Dr.  Wilson  intimates,  that  Dr.  Alexan- 
der was,  by  force  of  liis  genius,  his  common  sense,  his  good 
feeling,  and  perfect  candour,  as  well  as  of  a  certain  special 
gift  of  fascination,  one  of  the  most  talcing  men  in  the  world  ; 
illustrating  now  and  then  most  admirably  the  truth  of  Cow- 
per's  sagacious  lines, 

"Discourse  may  want  an  animated  No^ 
To  brush  the  surface  and  to  make  it  flow." 

Dr.  Alexander  was  himself  distinctly  conscious  of  this 
necessity,  and  was  often  tired  to  death  in  the  company  of 
assentative  people.  The  practice  of  always  chiming  in  with, 
and  echoing  back  the  sentiment  of  others,  is  felicitously  ridi- 
culed in  one  of  his  unpublished  minor  works,  in  an  article 
entitled  "  Polite  Conversation,"  which  is  very  characteristic  of 
him.* 

*  The  first  speaker  is  a  sort  of  caricature  of  himself:  "  A.  A  fine  day,  sir. 
B.  A  very  agreeable  morning,  sir.  A.  The  Spring  is  very  forward.  B.  lam 
struck  with  the  unusual  advancement  of  the  season.  A.  I  am  afraid  the  warm 
weather  is  not  very  healthy.  B.  I  have  been  apprehensive  myself  of  some  un- 
wholesome effects  from  the  extraordinary  mildness  of  the  temperature.  A. 
Are  you  fond  of  warm  weather  ?  i?.  I  am  very  partial  to  a  great  degree  of 
heat.  A.  I  prefer  cold.  B.  I  have  also  a  preference  for  winter.  A.  You 
like  both  best.  B.  Yes,  I  give  the  preference  to  each.  A.  I  have  observed 
that  some  men  have  no  mind  of  their  own.  B.  It  has  occurred  to  me  that 
there  are  persons  who  are  not  possessed  of  any  intellect  peculiar  to  themselves. 
A.  I  do  not  like  to  be  always  agreed  with,     B.  It  is  certainly  very  disagreeable 


^T.  46.)  SELF-FOEGETFULlSrESS.  Y65 

I  resume  the  thread  of  Dr.  Wilson's  pleasing  reminiscences : 

""Were  I  to  attempt  a  delineation  of  the  man,  as  the  features  of  his 
wonderful  character  are  impressed  upon  my  memory,  I  should  certainly 
fail.  I  can  truthfully  declare,  however,  that  of  all  the  men  of  mark  I 
have  ever  met,  he  had,  in  my  opinion,  no  superior.  "What  struck  me 
most  of  all  was  the  extreme  self-forgetfulness  which  he  always  exhib- 
ited, notwithstanding  he  must  have  been  aware  of  the  high,  the  com- 
manding position  he  occupied  in  the  eyes  of  the  whole  Church,  both. 
as  an  unequalled  preacher  and  a  profound  and  varied  scholar.  Of  this 
position  he  seemed  to  possess  no  consciousness  whatsoever.  He  never 
sought  to  im2yress  you  with  his  greatness,  because  he  did  not  appear  to 
he  aware  of  its  existence.  lie  felt  no  superiority  over  olhers,  and 
therefore  assumed  none ;  but  under  the  circumstances  this  non-assump- 
tion it  was  that  made  his  superiority  the  more  manifest.  Another 
feature  of  his  character  struck  and  deeply  interested  me.  I  allude  to 
his  simple,  unadorned,  straight-forward  piety.  He  appeared  conscious 
of  being  one  of  God's  humblest  children  ;  and  accordingly  it  was  more 
refreshing  than  I  can  tell,  to  hear  him  converse  on  experimental  re- 
ligion, and  more  edifying  than  I  can  describe,  to  follow  him  in  his 
prayers  at  the  throne  of  grace  :  whilst  his  preaching  was  all  that  the 
most  unlettered  believer  as  well  as  that  the  most  gifted  Christian  could 
desire,  in  its  explanations  and  illustrations  of  truth ;  especially  when 
he  extemporized  his  sermons,  which  you  know  he  often  did." 

The  accounts  of  Dr.  Wilson  and  Dr.  Ramsey  are  fully 
substantiated  by  that  of  J.  A.  Waddell,  Esq.,  which  I  now 
give.  Mr.  Waddell's  was  one  of  those  quiet  Christian  homes 
where  Dr.  Alexander  loved  to  unbend,  and  to  leave  all  traces 
of  the  learned  teacher  and  commentator  far  behind  him.  Mr, 
Waddell  Avrites  : 

"  It  seemed  to  me  that  he  knew  everything,  and  could  do  anything 
the  human  mind  was  capable  of,  and  that  nothing  cost  him  an  effort. 
His  sermons  always  impressed  me  as  among  the  grandest  compositions 
in  the  language,  and  since  they  have  been  printed,  I  have  often  won- 

to  experience  perpetual  coincidence  of  sentiment.  A.  Some  people  do  not 
practise  what  they  preach.  JB.  The  professioaal  services  of  some  are  not  in 
harmopy  with  their  discourses.  A.  What  do  you  mean  by  that,  sir  ?  JB.  I 
was  thinking  what  I  could  intend  by  such  an  observation,"  &c.,  &c. 


166.  PEEACHING    IN    STAUNTON.  [1856. 

dered  they  did  not  attract  more  attcnfion.  As  he  pronounced  some  of 
them  from  the  pulpit  in  this  pLice,  his  audience  hung  upon  his  lips  and 
appeared  to  di  ink  in  every  word.  The  annoimceraent  that  he  was  to 
preach,  never  failed  to  attract  a  large  congregation,  at  whatever  hour." 

Mr.  Wacldell  believes  the  universal  sentiment  in  Staunton  to 
be  that  his  sermons,  for  every  excellence  of  thought  and  style, 
were  unrivalled.  He  does  not  remember  to  have  heard  him 
more  than  once  preach  without  a  manuscript  before  him.  On 
that  occasion,  Dr.  Alexander  attended  a  night-meeting  with 
uo  expectation  of  preaching,  and  there  were  comparatively 
few  persons  present.  He  spoke,  however,  with  as  much  flu- 
ency as  if  he  were  reading;  and  in  hardly  any  respect  was  his 
discourse  inferior  to  his  more  formal  efforts. 

"I  heard  at  one  time— and  indeed  he  told  me  so  himself — that  he 
contemplated  wriiing  a  history  of  the  Church,  or  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion; and  I  anticipated  the  appearance  of  the  work  with  much  impa- 
tience. "When  subsequently  liis  commentaries  came  out  from  time  to 
time,  I  felt  disappointed  at  finding  that  he  was  spending  liis  time  and 
labour  upon  what  I  imagined  were  works  of  luinor  importance  c^m- 
pared  with  the  other.  In  my  ignorance,  I  tluiught  that  nothing  valu- 
able remained  to  be  accomplished  in  the  way  of  Scripture  ii.t  rpietation  ; 
and  upon  reading  a  little  now  and  then  in  the  commentaries  I  di  1  not  find 
them  interesting.  It  was  not  till  I  began  to  study  them,  tliat  I  discov- 
ered their  incomparable  excellence ;  and  it  was  not  so  much  the  Learn- 
ing and  research  di-^idayed  by  liim,  as  the  common-sense  interpreta- 
tions that  excited  my  surprise.  In  reading  his  expositions,  the  thought 
is  apt  to  occur  frequently  :  '  I  wonder  /did  not  think  of  that.'  " 

The  writer's  recollections  of  the  man  and  the  companion 
are  of  the  most  affectionate  and  delightful  nature. 

"I  may  speak  of  him  as  a  man,  but  must  restrain  myself  from 
expressing  all  that  I  felt  towards  him.  Although  I  had  seen  him  on 
two  occasions  at  Princeton,  before  he  came  to  Virginia,  I  thought  of 
him  as  a  person  of  great  inttllect  and  learning,  but  unsocial  in  his 
habits  and  fe.dings.  At  Princeton,  however,  lie  was  ab-orbi-d  in  tiio 
dniies  of  his  office  :  here  he  was  free  and  acted  as  his  nature  prompted. 
You  know  he  made  three  visits  to  Stuuuton,  and  always  staid  at  my 
house.     I  therefore  saw  him  morning,  noon,  and  night ;  and  the  more  I 


•^T.46.]  SOCIAL   TRAITS.  V67 

saw  him  the  more  I  not  only  wondered  at  his  greatness,  but  admired 
and  loved  him.  Sometimes  when  with  him  I  was  almost  carried  away 
with  delight,  and  positively  felt  like  throwing  my  arms  aroim;]  him  and 
embracing  him.  He  never  sought  to  make  an  impression  of  his  supe- 
rior wisdom,  and  was  far  removed  as  possible  from  dogmatism,  egotism, 
and  everything  that  is  disagreeable  in  social  intercourse.  His  manner 
was  always  polite,  but  as  unaffected  and  simple  as  a  child's.  It  was 
evident  that  his  heart  overflowed  with  sympathy  and  genuine  kind 
feeling. 

*'  At  that  tune,  as  you  know,  there  were  several  little  girls  in  my 
family  ;  and  they  associated  with  him  on  the  most  fomiliar  terms,  lean- 
ing upon  him  and  climbing  on  his  shoulders.  It  is  impossil)le  for  me 
to  describe  his  inimitable  mode  of  entertaining  children.  I  particu- 
larly remember  one  morning,  when  he  had  the  girls  I  have  mentioned 
around  him  amusing  them  and  himself  in  his  peculiar  manner.  He 
first  undertook  to  teach  one  of  them  to  write  in  an  'unknown  lan- 
guage;' and  after  she  succeeded  in  getting  a  correct  sentence,  he  called 
for  a  piece  of  paper  to  write  a  certificate  of  her  proficiency.  Then  he 
related  a  story  of  his  own  invention,  personating  the  varioxis  characters 
in  his  manner  and  the  tones  of  his  voice,  and  the  children  shouted  so 
loud  as  to  be  heard  over  the  neighbourhood.  Other  children  gathered 
in  the  street  opposite  the  house,  full  of  astonishment  at  the  unusual 
uproar.  He  seemed  to  enjoy  the  sport  as  much  as  the  little  girls,  and 
was  not  in  tlie  least  disturbed  by  one  of  them,  who  was  perhaps 
crowded  out  by  the  others,  so  far  forgetting  herself  as  to  go  behind 
him  and  climb  upon  his  back,  so  as  to  lean  over  his  shoulder!  " 

^  The  man  who  is  here  portrayed  could  hardly  be  your  cynic, 
misanthrope,  cobwebbed  antiquary,  or  harsh  censor  of  his 
fellow-mortals.  He  was  certainly  no  mere  repository  of  knowl- 
edge or  armoury  of  glittering  but  cold  intellectual  power. 
He  was  evidently,  at  the  time  referred  to,  a -gentle,  playful, 
conversable,  and  even  tender  being ;  with  a  warm  heart  beat- 
ing in  his  bosom;  a  man  wholly  unspoiled  by  books  and  scho- 
lastic habits ;  a  person  of  the  rarest  iliculty  of  making  himself 
vastly  agreeable,  although  somewhat  shy  in  company ;  a  man 
who  loved  guileless,  unaffected  children,  and  who  was  loved 
by  them  in  return :  yet  one  who  had  his  moments  of  abstract- 
ed silence  and  mysterious  reserve.  He  could  chill  the  very 
heart  of  those  Avho  purposely  annoyed  him.     He  would  not 


Y68  COL.    BALDWIN.  [1856. 

be  intruded  u]5on.  He  felt  the  raw  air.  He  knew  the  changes 
of  the  temperature  by  changes  in  his  feelings.  He  could 
kindle  a  friendship  that  sometimes  mounted  to  the  heights  of 
enthusiasm.  He  could  adapt  himself  to  new  scenes  and  asso- 
ciations. He  was  a  keen  observer  of  manners  and  people,  and 
of  sights  and  customs.  In  the  pulpit  he  was  Boanerges — a 
son  of  thunder. 

Among  the  gentlemen  of  Staunton  who  had  the  pleasure 
of  hearing  him  was  the  Hon.  John  B.  Baldwin,  whose  ability 
to  judge  in  the  premises  no  one  will  call  in  question.  He 
says*  that  it  would  be  a  very  low  statement  of  the  matter  to 
testify  that  Dr.  Alexander's  sermons  made  a  favourable  im- 
pression on  him  :  they  were  the  most  remarkable  and  attrac- 
tive he  ever  listened  to.  The  thoughts  were  fresh  and  original, 
and  the  fine  scholarship,  for  which  he  had  been  prepared,  was 
undoubtedly  present  but  was  exquisitely  concealed.  He  never 
once  stopped  to  ask  himself  what  he  thought  of  the  manner, 
which  was  altogether  appropriate  and  interesting.  In  his 
personal  appearance  the  preacher  reminded  him  strongly  of 
Mrs.  McClung,  his  aunt,  of  whom  Col.  Baldwin  speaks  in 
terms  of  high  respect  and  regard.  That  is  to  say,  Dr.  Alex- 
ander was  getting  to  look  more  and  more  like  his  father. 
There  was  a  strange  admixture  in  him,  as  has  been  noticed 
elsewhere,  of  the  Alexander  and  the  Waddel. 

*  I  am  sorry  that  the  accidental  loss  of  Col.  Baldwin's  manuscript  com- 
pels me  to  give  the  substance  and  not  the  words  of  what  he  wrote. 


CHAPTER  XXYIII. 

But  it  is  time  for  us  to  go  back  witli  the  traveller  to  Priuce- 
ton,  and  hear  the  news  of  Commencement,  His  former  con- 
nection with  :N"assaii  Hall  had  not  been  forgotten  by  Dr. 
James  Alexander.  The  young  men  of  the  College  Societies 
were  disappointed  this  year  as  regarded  their  Commencement 
Orator,  Avho  unexpectedly,  and  at  a  very  late  hour,  declined. 
In  the  emergency  they  applied  to  Dr.  Alexander  of  New 
York ;  who  consented  to  fill  the  gap,  and  at  the  time  appointed 
made  the  address.  It  was,  of  course,  very  hastily  prepared, 
but  was  a  graceful  and  felicitous  composition,  and  was  widely 
commended. 

His  brother  Addison  was  now  settled  at  his  desk  again,  or 
rather  his  table.  The  red  standing  desk  he  once  affect'ed,  and 
several  black  swinging  (Tnes  which  succeeded  it,  had  been  long 
ago  abandoned. 

Here  are  some  entries  from  his  journal : 

"  Aug.  9.  Began  the  Greek  Testament  again  in  Tiscbondorf 's  edi- 
tion (Leip.,  1839.)  Continued  2  Sam.  in  Hebrew,  and  in  the  Chaldee 
paraphrase  (suspended  last  spring).  Resumed  the  Syriac  version  of 
Luke  (ch.  xx.).  Read  tlie  London  Times.  Resumed  the  Abulfeda  la 
Arabic  and  Ahn's  Dutch  Grammar.  Continued  Acts.  Visited  by 
Charles  and  Henrj  Baird.  Henry  enters  to-day  upon  his  office  as  a 
teacher  of  ancient  and  modern  Greek  in  the  Cullege  ;  he  will  also  com- 
plete his  theological  studies  in  the  Seminary.  Besides  spending  most 
of  their  early  years  in  France  and  Switzerland,  Charles  has  resided 
as  a  chaplain  at  Rome,  and  Henry  as  a  student  at  Athens." 

On  the  5th  of  September  he  wrote  two  sheets  in  addition 
to  an  old  Introductory  lecture.     The  amount  and  diversity  of 
33 


110  DAILY   EEADINGS.  [1855. 

his  reading  was  as  great  as  ever.  This  day  he  went  through 
2  Samuel  xxi.  in  Hebrew  and  Chaldee,  Esther  in  Latin,  and 
Matthew  xxiv.  in  Greek.  He  still  amused  himself  with  Span- 
ish history  ;  and  this  day  began  the  9th  book  of  Mariana. 
Even  Dutch  grammar  had  its  attractions  for  him,  since  his 
second  voyage  to  Europe,  and  this  day  he  found  diversion  in 
an  extract  from  Stijl  (on  Charles  V.)  in  Ahn's  Dutch  Gram- 
mar. He  also  continued  Bernhardy's  Greek  Syntax,  Abulfeda- 
in  Arabic,  and  Edwards's  History  of  Kedemption.  He  also 
finished  the  Epistles  of  Horace,  and  continued  Tischendorf 's 
Prolegomena,  Eusebius,  and  the  Letters  of  Sydney  Smith. 
The  two  volumes  of  Lady  Holland  are  full  of  his  pencil 
marks.  The  wise  and  witty  Englishman  kept  him  almost 
choked  with  laughter. 

"Lord's  day,  October  14.  Heard  Dr.  Ilodge  in  the  Seminary  Chapel 
(Matthew  xxviii.  19).  Conference  (2  Cor.  ii.  15).  Kead  the  morning 
service  of  the  Church  of  England,  with  the  Psalms,  lessons,  Go>pel 
and  Epistle,  in  French.  Continued  Luke  in  Greek ;  Doddridge's  Exi)o- 
sition  ;  Boston's  Four-fold  State  ;  Fisher's  Catechism ;  Hahn  on  Job  ; 
consulted  Calvin,  Grotiiis,  Pool,  Wetsteio,  Wolf,  Whitby,  Henry,  Dod- 
dridge, Scott,  Bloomfield,  Trollope,  Eosenmullcr,  Bengel,  Olshausen, 
Meyer,  de  AVette,  von  Gcrlach,  Alford  on  2  Corinthians  ii. :  15— and 
the  same  with  the  addition  of  Kuinoel,  Campbell,  Fritzsche,  Ripley, 
Ebrard  and  Tholuek  on  Matthew  vi.  9  and  Luke  xi.  1." 

On  the  31st  of  the  same  month,  he  lectured  to  the  First 
Class  on  the  Controversies  of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  continued 
1  Kings  in  Hebrew  and  Chaldee  ;  John  in  Syriac  and  Greek ; 
Sarpi  in  Italian;  Allen  in  Danish;  Ahn's  Dntch  Grammar; 
Hahn  and  Schlottmann  on  Job;  Doddridge's  Exposition; 
Boston's  Four-fold  State ;  Schmitz's  Ancient  History ;  Horace's 
Odes;  and  Polybius  in  Greek.  On  this  day  he  made  the 
following  record  :  ".Talked  to  Professor  Green  about  open- 
ing classes  in  the  Oriental  languages.  I  think  of  teaching 
Svriac.  I  am  now  lecturing  twice  a  week  on  Medireval  Church 
history',  twice  a  week  on  Apostolical  history,  and  once  a  week 
on  Old  Testament  history." 


•^''•*^^  BE.    WALDEGRAVE.  '771 

^  He  had  no  lectures  on  the  first  of  November,  but  read  in 
private  Doddridge's  Exposition  ;  John  xi.  in  Greek  (Tischen- 
dorf's  edition)  ;    Boston's  Four-fold  State ;    Horace's  Odes ; 
1  Kings  xviii.  in  the  Targura  of  Jonathan ;  in  Arabic,  Abul' 
feda's  account  of  Alexander  the  Great;  in  Spanish,  Mariana's 
Historia  de  Espaila,  let.  xi.  cap.  2 ;  in  Dutch,  part  of  a  poem 
by  Spandau,  appended  to  Ahn's  Grammar ;  in  French,  Frois- 
sart,  liv.  I,  caps.  109  and  110;  in  Latin,  Melancthon's  Loci 
Communes,  De  Lege;  in  English,  Schmitz's  Manual  of  Ancient 
History  (Carthage  and  Sicily) ;  Journal  of  Missions  for  No- 
vember.    He  spent  an  hour  with  his  private  class,  after  which 
he  read  Neander,  Schaff,  Thiersch,  Lange,  and  Baumgarten  on 
Acts  viii.  :  read  Job  xiv.  in  Hebrew,  Greek,  Latin ,"German, 
and  English,  with  the  notes  of  Hahn  and  Schlottmann.     He 
also  read  Hengstenbcrg's  Kirchenzeitung  for  December,  1854. 
The  same  day  he   is  refreshed   by  letters  from  two  of  his 
warmest  friends,  one  of  whom  had  been  his  pupil. 

"Received  and  answered  a  letter  from  my  old  friend,  Dr.  William 
nnrns,  inviting  me  to  preach  for  him  in  Penn  Square  Chm-cli  next 
Sunday  ni-lit.  Received  a  letter  from  my  friend,  Dr.  T.  V.  Moore,  of 
Richmond,  inviting  me  to  contribute  to  a  paper  about  to  be  established 
im.ler  the  auspices  of  the  Synod  of  Virginia  as  a  substitute  for  Gilder- 
sleeve's." 

_  Dr.  Alexander  was  gratified  by  the  evidences  which  multi- 
plied upon  him  that  his  labour  as  a  commentator  on  the  Pro- 
phetical Scriptures  had  not  been  in  vain.  I  subjoin  a  letter 
Irom  the  Hon.  and  Rev.  Samuel  Waidegrave,  then  rector  of 
Basford  St.  Martin,  Wilts,  which  pleased  him  very  much.  It 
was  followed  up,  a  few  years  later,  by  one  which  accompanied 
a  presentation  copy  of  the  noble  author's  striking  Bampton 
Lectures  on  the  Millennium,  in  which  he  acknowledges  he  was 
much  aided  by  the  perusal  of  Alexander  on  Isaiah.  Dr. 
James  Alexander  attempted  to  see  Dr.  Waidegrave  in  1857 
but  was  not  so  fortunate.  Ho  was,  hoNvever,  honoured  with 
the  card  of  the  Earl  of  Waidegrave,  his  lather 


<772  EEPEETOEY   ESSAYS.  11855. 

"  BAsroED  St.  Martin,  near  Salisetjet, 
"July  30,  1855. 

"My  Deae  Sir: 

"  If  you  will  do  me  the  favour  of  referring  to  your  own  name  m 
the  Index  of  Authors  cited  in  the  accompanying  vohime,  you  will  soou 
learn  how  much  and  how  reasonably  I  desh-e  your  acceptance  of  my 

work. 

"  The  opinions  you  have  so  ably  stated  and  illustrated  in  your  mvalu- 
able  commentary  on  Isaiah  were  not  altogether  foreign  to  my  own  mind. 
But  I  confess  that  I  derived  much  confidence  and  instruction  from  your 
labours  when,  after  my  Lectures  had  been  preached,  and  before  they 
were  printed,  I  had  the  advantage  of  studying  your  pnges.  I  have 
uot,  I  trust,  made  more  use  of  those  pages  than  you  will  deem  to  be 
quite  warrantable.  Meanwhile,  will  you  join  with  me  in  praying  that 
so  far  as  my  book  is  in  harmony  with  the  mind  of  the  Spirit,  it  may 
be  of  some  use  to  the  one  Church  of  God? 

"  Should  you  favour  me  with  a  reply,  I  need  scarcely  say  how 
much  I  should  value  your  faithful  criticisms. 

"Yours,  dear  sir, 

"  With  very  sincere  respect, 

"Samuel  "Waldegeave." 

From  the  following  letter  to  Mr.  Scribner,  it  would  seem 
that  Dr.  Alexander  was  thinking  of  reprinting  his  essays  in 
the  Repertory : 

"Peikcetox,  Nov.  8th,  1855. 

"Dear  Sib: 

"I  am  lecturing  on  Acts  on  a  new  plan,  which  will  probably 
modify  the  character  of  the  book,  if  ever  published.  I  cannot,  there- 
fore, go  to  press  immediately  or  very  soon.  But  as  I  have  disappointed 
you'so  often  in  this  matter,  and  as  the  Essays,  in  their  printed  form, 
have  proved  a  failure,  I  am  inclined  to  accede  to  your  last  proposal,  if 
we  can  agree  upon  the  term^.  You  remember,  no  doubt,  that  the  vol- 
ume, as  originally  planned,  was  to  have  been  published  on  the  same 
conditions  with  the  Psalms,  and  it  was  only  when  I  stopped  short  and 
withheld  my  name,  that  I  relinquished  any  interest  in  it.  As  the 
propnsition  to  collect  my  articles  has  been  made  in  another  quarter,  I 
should  be  under  the  necessity  of  copyrighting  the  new  volume  and 
eiiher  selling  you  the  copyright  or  making  an  arrangement  similar  to 
our  existing  one.     With  this  understanding  I  am  willing  to  proceed  at 


^r-4C.]  FEETILITY    OF   INVENTIOISr.  773 

once,  provided  the  new  pnrt  can  be  made  to  match  tlio  old  exactly  ai 
to  type  and  paper.  Tlie  last  p:ige  would  have  to  be  reprinted,  as  well 
as  the  title  and  contents.  I  should  probably  add  one  or  two  unpub- 
lished articles.  If  you  determine  to  go  on,  you  will  have  to  procure 
ccpies  of  the  Eepertory  from  the  publisher  in  PhiLidelphia.  Let  mo 
know  your  decision,  and  on  what  terms  you  are  willing  to  undertake 
the  publication.  Yours, 

"J.  A.  Alexander. 
'Me.  Sopjbnee." 

The  next  letter  to  his  publisher  implies  that  his  mind  was 
in  a  state  of  vacillation  between  a  volume  of  essays  and  a 
commentary.  He  had  grown  weary  of  his  work  on  Acts,  and 
had  stopped  the  furnaces. 

"Peincetox,  Jan.  8th,  1856. 
"  Deae  Sie  : 

"  You  have  given  me  so  much  time  to  think  about  the  Essays,  that 
(as  usual)  I  have  changed  my  mind,  and  should  be  glad  to  get  rid  of 
the  engagement,  even  on  the  condition  of  going  at  the  Acts  again.  The 
only  way  to  keep  me  to  my  purpose  in  these  matters,  is  to  begin  print- 
ing. I  am  always  glad,  however,  to  get  off,  as  I  can  never  satisfy 
myself  as  to  the  form  in  which  the  thing  is  to  be  done.  If  you  have 
gone  so  far  in  this  case  as  to  make  a  change  of  plan  injurious  to  your 
interests,  I  will  of  course  go  on.  If  not,  I  leave  it  to  your  choice, 
which  work  shall  be  proceeded  with. 

"  Yours, 

"  Me.  Sceibxee.  J.  A.  Alexaxdee." 

The  fertility  of  his  invention  was  enormous.  Here  is  one 
of  his  numberless  plans  as  laid  before  Mr.  Scribner  : 

"Peinceton,  Jan.  14th,  1856. 
"Deae  Sie: 

"  One  reason  that  I  feel  disposed  to  take  up  Acts  *  again  is,  that  1 

have  thought  of  a  new  plan  which  will,  I  think,  facilitate  its  execution 

and  perhaps  increase  its  value.     It  was  originally  suggested  to  me  by 

*  Some  time  about  1852,  he  had  formed  the  purpose  of  writing  a  critical 
commentary  upon  the  book  of  Acts,  on  the  plan  of  his  work  on  Isaiah  ;  but 
did  not  actually  enter  upon  his  work  until  after  his  return  from  Europe  in  1853, 
and  the  work  was  put  to  press  in  the  winter  of  1855,  and  he  had  actually 
stereotyped  about  100  pages,  when  the  whole  plan  was  changed." 


774  TLAN   FOR   ISAIAH.  [1S56. 

a  proposition  of  Mr.  Wilcj  to  coinplete  the  sinall  edition  of  I-^aiali  by 
a  tliird  vnlumc,  to  contain  wliat  was  cmiiteil  in  the  other  two.  Thi? 
was  of  course  out  of  the  qnestinii,  but  it  afterwards  occurred  ti)  mo, 
that  the  end  might  be  accomplished  by  pre;iaring  a  new  vohmie.  to 
contain  the  critical  matter  and.  the  history  of  the  interpretation.  Tims 
the  first  two  volumes  would  form  a  complete  corarnent'iry  for  general 
use,  while  the  third  would  add  what  is  interesting  chiefly  to  the  profes- 
sional and  learned  reader.  This  course  I  have  agreed  to  take  in  refer- 
ence to  the  Isaiah,  and  if  I  find  the  first  experiment  successful,  am 
disposed  to  write  the  other  book  upon  the  same  plan  ab  initio.  The 
advantage  to  myself  would  be,  that  1'  could  write  more  rapidly  and 
with  more  spirit,  if  not  obliged  to  pause  at  every  step  and  crit  cise  the 
views  of  others.  The  advantage  to  the  public  would  be  that  no  abridg- 
ment would  be  necessary,  the  work  bting  bolh  of  a  popular  and  learned 
character.  The  plan  would  be  to  put  it  in  three  volumes  l.ke  the 
Psalms,  the  first  two  completing  the  analysis  and  exposition  of  the 
whole  book,  and  the  third  containing  the  additional  notes  upon  the 
Greek  text  as  above  described.  By  printing  fewer  of  the  third  vdume, 
you  could  furnish  the  first  two  as  a  complete  work  to  such  purchasers 
as  wished  it,  and  aT  three  to  any  who  preferred  it.  Anotiier  advan- 
tage of  this  plan  is,  that  the  first  two  volumes  could  appear  as  so^n  as 
finished,  and  the  third  be  prepared  at  my  leisure.  I  do  not  know  how 
this  will  strike  you  as  a  business  operation.  If  you  think  well  of  it, 
I  will  begin  as  snon  as  I  have  tried  my  band  on  the  Isaiah.  I  propose 
to  print  the  second  volume  first,  ns  I  have  grown  sick  of  recmmting  the 
first  part  so  often,  and  am  now  going  over  the  last  part  with  my  class. 
If  I  get  this  part  done,  I  can  soon  complete  the  first,  as  it  is  in  fact 
already  written,  and  would  only  require  some  chatige  of  form.  Tiie 
two  volumes  would  then  appear  together.    Let  me  have  your  candid 

judgment  on  this  point. 

"Yours  in  haste, 

"J.  A.  Alexander." 

The  letter  subjoined  is  in  the  usual  vein  of  business  like 
badinage. 

"Pkinceton,  March  17th,  1S5G. 
"My  Dear  Sir: 

"On  looking  at  my  calendar,  I  find  that  I  have  cruelly  deceived 
you;  and  I  hasten  to  nip  your  hopes  in  the  bud,  lest  their  withering 
wlien  full-blown  should  be  more  than  you  can  bear.  When  I  spoke  of 
April  as  a  holiday  month,  I  forgot  to  tell  you  that  the  first  Sabbath 


^T.47.]  PEEACHING    FOR   HIS    BEOTHEE.  V75 

thereof  is  my  regular  day  here;  and  that  as  to  the  second,  I  had  been 
invited  by  the  Ilev.  Dr.  Thomson,  of  New  York,  to  wind  up  his  yearly 
or  iialf-yearly  sacramental  service  with  an  evening  sermon,  and  although 
I  declined  making  any  positive  engagement  for  a  day  so  distant  I  am 
not  quite  sure  that  he  has  let  me  otf.  The  same  stern,  uncompromisino- 
prmciple  forbids  my  promising  to  be  in  Trenton  on  the  only  remaining 
Sunday  of  that  month  (27th).  It  is  true  that  the  30th  of  March  is  un- 
appropriated,  but  as  Dr.  H.  is  to  he  with  you  on  the  23d,  and  I  do  not 
approve  of  young  ministers  having  help  on  two  successive  Sabbaths.  I 
am  forced  to  deny  you  that  indulgence.  The  upshot  of  the  whole 
thing  is,  that  the  private  visitation  must  be  indefinitely  postponed. 
Allow  me,  my  desir  sir,  to  express  ray  satisfaction  that  our  long  cor- 
respondence on  this  interesting  subject  will  be  preserved  in  your  bioo-- 
raphy,  and  to  suggest  that  in  filing  this  communication,  it  would  be 
well  to  add  an  annotation  to  the  names  of  Dr.  H.  and  A.,  explaining  who 
they  were.  Yours  truly, 

"Kev.  Dk.  Hall."  "'^^  ^^  ^^^^^^^^b. 

On  Lord's  day,  April  the  13th,  the  fifty-second  anniversary 
of  his  brother's  l)aptisni,  Dr.  Addison  Alexander  preached 
for  him  in  his  church  on  Nineteenth  street.  It  was  his 
famous  sermon  from  the  text  "  Remember  Lot's  wife."  "  The 
impression,"  writes  the  city  pastor,  «  was  very  great."  There 
was  much  seriousness  i^revailing  in  the  congregation.  Within 
a  few  days  the  elder  brother  had  heard  of  several  cases  of 
awakening,  some  of  which  were  those  of  aged  persons. 

The  exordium  to  this  sermon  has  always  seemed  to  me 
one  of  the  most  startling  and  impressive  in  print ;  and  as  de- 
livered by  the  author  in  the  days  of  his  fiery  vehemence,  the 
whole  sermon  was  one  which  was  stamped  upon  the  soul  of 
every  hearer  as  if  it  were  red  hot  iron.  It  was,  I  think,  the 
most  popularly  effective  of  his  discourses,  though  not  at  al] 
more  imaginative  and  masterly  than  many  others.  There 
was  something  about  it  that  was  unique,  solemn,  and  awful. 

The  history  of  the  exegetical  books  of  Dr.  Alexander  must 
always  possess  an  interest  to  the  student  of  his  writings,  and 
to  those  who  seek  information  as  to  his  habits  and  motives. 

I  return,  here,  without  apology  to  the  journal,  which  after 


776  DEATH   OF   DE.   EICE.  [185^ 

after  all  is  our  mam  reliance  as  to  all  questions  respecting  the 
daily  habits  and  scholarlike  erudition  of  the  subject  of  this, 
memoir,  as  it  may  be  to  some  also  a  source  of  interest. 

"February  1,  1856.  No  lectures.  Eead  Lange  on  the  Pauline 
Epistles.  Eesuuied  the  preparation  of  my  book  on  the  Acts,  aud, 
also,  of  a  new  edition  of  my  Isaiah. 

"April  5.  Examined  the  Third  class  on  the  interval  between  the 
Old  and  New  Testament,  closing  the  course  of  Old  Testament  History 
begun  September  17.  Received  a  letter  from  the  Hon.  and  Ecv.  Sam- 
uel Waldegrave  in  answer  to  mine  of  February  25  ;  and  from  Dr. 
Buchanan  of  Edinburgh  a  copy  of  his  work  on  'Faith  in  God,  and 
Atheism.'    Finished  Proverbs  hflTebrew  and  Latin,  begun  January 

19. 

"May  12.  Finished  Keil  on  Joshua,  which  I  have  been  reading 
since  the  14th  of  January  ;  also  the  Ecclesiastical  History. 

"  May  13.  Finished  the  10th  book  of  Mariana's  Historia  de  Espafia 
which  I  began  December  21  ;  also,  the  Targum  of  Jonathan  on  Jere- 
miah, which  I  began  December  12.  Finished  also,  the  rewriting  of 
my  notes  on  the  1st  chap,  of  Acts. 

"May  14.  Finished  the  Greek  Testament  again,  with  Tischen- 
dorf 's  variations,  which  I  have  been  reading  since  the  9th  of  August. 
Compared  notes  with  Dr.  Hodge  about  our  Commentary.  Corrected 
my  notes  on  Acts  i.  for  the  press." 

Sad  news  came  in  March  from  Virginia.  The  venerable 
Dr.  Benjamin  II.  Rice,  who  had  some  years  previously  removed 
to  Prince  Edward  county  in  his  native  State,  was  suddenly 
attacked  with  paralysis  while  in  the  pulpit  of  the  College 
Church  at  Hampden  Sidney,  on  the  7th  of  January,  and  died 
on  tlie  24th  of  February.  He  was  the  brother-in-law  of  Dr. 
Archibald  Alexander,  and  in  his  best  days,  and  in  his  happy 
moments,  one  of  the  most  effective  of  extemporaneous  preach- 
ers. Dr.  Rice  was  a  more  popular  speaker  in  Virginia  than  even 
his  more  celebrated  brother,  John  H.  Rice,  D.D.,  the  bosom 
friend  of  Dr.  Speece  and  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander.  He  was 
greatly  beloved,  and  exceedingly  useful  as  a  pastor;  and  his 
piety  was  made  up  of  the  qualities  of  manly  vigour  and  a 
delightful,  almost  womanly,  delicacy  and  tenderness. 


fflT.4'7.]  MODE   OF   ■WOEKESTG.  Ill 

The  next  letter  to  his  publisher  in  New  York  contains  an 
interesting  statement  about  the  commentator's  mode  of  work- 
ing : 

"Peixcetox,  February  16,  1856. 
"  Dear  Sni : 

"I  sent  you  by  this  morning's  mail  a  new  analysis  of  ch.  i.,  on  the 
plan  which  I  intend  to  pursue  hereafter,  together  with  a  continuation 
of  tlie  commentary  to  the  end  of  the  8th  verse.  I  am  enabled  to  con- 
tract these  introductory  remnrks,  without  omitting  any  valuable  mat- 
ter, by  reserving  a  minute  historical  analysis  of  the  whole  book  for 
the  general  introduction.  This  I  expect  to  prepare  with  a  direct  view 
to  its  use  here  as  a  text  book  in  my  own  department;  and  had  thought  of 
proposing  to  strike  off  some  copies  of  the  introduction  by  itself,  for 
the  use  of  students.  I  am  now  satisfied,  liowever,  that  the  commen- 
tary cannot  be  completed  by  the  time  that  we  had  fixed,  and  it  has 
tlierefore  occurred  to  me  to  make  a  suggestion,  which  you  m.iy  possi- 
bly think  it  for  your  interest,  as  well  as  mine,  to  act  upon.  Although 
I  should  prefer,  on  some  accounts,  to  write  the  introduction  last,  yet  as  I 
have  the  materials  prepared,  and  have  repeatedly  gone  over  the  whole 
subject,  there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  preparing  that  part  first ;  and 
this  I  think  I  could  engage  to  do  before  the  meeting  of  the  Assembly. 
It  miglit  then  be  printed  as  an  '  Introduction  to  the  Acts  of  the  Apos- 
tles,' a  form  which  I  have  often  thought  of  giving  to  the  whole  work, 
and  might  be  followed,  either  by  the  commentary,  or  at  first  by  simi- 
lar introductions  to  the  Old  Testament  and  Gospel  history;  for  all  of 
which  I  have  the  materials  collected,  and  for  all  which  there  would 
be  a  steady  demand  here  as  class-books,  and  not  improbably  in  some 
other  Seminaries  also.  These  publications  would  prepare  the  way  for 
commentaries  on  the  single  books  to  which  they  might  be  then  prefixed 
as  introductions.  I  have  no  reason  to  prefer  this  plan,  except  tliat  it 
would  furnish  me  with  text-books  sooner,  and  enable  you  to  publish 
in  the  Spring,  which  is  forbidden  in  the  other  case,  by  the  amount  of 
manual  as  well  as  mental  labour  requisite  to  carry  out  my  plan.  I  may 
add,  that  introductions  to  the  books  of  scripture  are  in  great  demand. 
I  have  often  been  requested  to  prepare  one  on  the  Psalms,  as  I  had 
partly  promised  in  the  preface.  I  do  not  press  this  in  the  least;  and 
should  not  have  proposed  it,  if  I  had  not  thought  it  due  to  you  to  give 
you  the  refusal  of  a  plan  which  you  may  possibly  prefer.  If  not,  I 
am  prepared  to   go  ahead  upon  the  old  one  just  as  fast  as  possible,  but 

33* 


V78  A   LITEEAEY    CURIOSITY.  ri856. 

wholly  nnpled.sfed  as  to  time,  and  with  very  litUe  hope  of  being  able 

to  complete  the  work  in  three,  or  even  in  six  months. 

"  I  am,  &c., 

"J.  A.  Alexaxdek. 
"Me.  Sceibner. 

The  next  is  to  his  brother  James;  aud  is  written  with 
great  rapidity,  without  the  slightest  partition  between  the 
words.     It  is  a  literary  curiosity  : 

"Peixceto:^,  February  22,  1856. 
"  My  Deae  BEOTnEE  : 

"  The  more  I  think  of  your  idea  about  Moses  and  Elijah,  Acts  iii.  22, 
the  more  I  like  it.  I  have  sought  in  vain  for  any  trace  (jf  it  in  books, 
and  as  it  thus  belongs  to  you  exclusively,  I  crave  permis.^i.in  to  im- 
mortiilize  you  as  its  author  in  a  forthcoming  work  of  great  ability.  It 
would  perhaps  have  been  more  elegant  to  do  it  without  asking  yon, 
but  I  would  rather  sacrifice  the  ec'at  and  surprise  of  such  a  coup  de 
force  to  the  certainty  that  it  would  not  be  disngieeable.  I  need  not  say 
that  in  addition  to  the  justice  of  this  rfcognition,  it  will  give  me  no 
small  satisfaction  to  connect  your  name  with  mine  on  so  legitimate  and 
proper  an  occasion.  As  the  copy  is  now  ready  down  to  that  verse,  I 
am  tinder  the  necessity  of  asking  for  as  speedy  a  reply  to  this  flattering 
proposal  as  your  avocations  and  engagements  allow.  Your  hiu.s  as  to 
the  plan  arrived  exactly  in  the  nick  of  time,  cDufirming  the  conclusions- 
which  I  had  just  reached  myself  after  niany  vacillations.  I  received 
last  night  a  note  from  Gaussen,  of  Geneva,  enclosing  a  list  of 
about  forty  books  on  French  Church  History,  prepared  by  Merle 
D'Aubigne,  or  his  order,  including  works  in  German,  French, and  Eng- 
lish, with  minute  specifications  as  to  date  and  plan  of  publication. 
The  manuscript  is  jiartly  in  coarse  French,  and  partly  in  a  fine  and 
minute,  but  most  legible  German  hand.  If  you  can  get  as  many  more 
from  Pressense  our  library  will  be  complete.  I  am  strangely  fasci- 
nated by  old  Doddridge's  Exposition;  although  I  want  to  kick  him  at 
times  for  making  the  Apostles,  and  one  infinitely  greater,  talk  the 
dialect  of  English  nonconf  irmity  at  the  period  of  its  deepest,  I  mean 
shallowest,  naml)y-parabylgm.  Do  look  at  the  paraphrase  of  Peter's 
answer  in  John  xiii.  9,  and  think  of  the  Apostle  talking  about  intel- 
lectual and  executi'/e  powers  in  '  such  a  circumstance,' as  Doddridge 
always  says  himself  !  " 


iET.46.1  FEEQUElsrT   CHANGES.  779 

The  following  is  one  of  a  dozen  letters  on  the  subject  of 
the  title-page  and  press-work  of  his  Acts  : 

"  PrvixoETOJf,  March  14th,  1856. 
"Deae  Sir: 

"  I  wrote  upon  the  margin  of  the  proof  when  I  received  it,  but  will 
add  a  few  lines  here.  My  own  taste  is  satisfied  with  the  last  arrange- 
ment of  the  dashes.  The  inconvenience  that  vou  spoke  of  can  be  ob- 
viated by  a  little  care.  As  to  the  heading,  I  am  not  so  much  pleased 
with  the  new  one  as  displeased  with  the  old,  which  still  has  a  mean 
appearance.  The  admirers  of  English  books  think  the  American 
printers  are  too  much  afraid  of  large  type  in  their  titles.  Acts  is  so 
sliort  a  word  that  it  requires  to  be  printed  large,  I  should  like  the 
antique  style  on  page  nine  very  well,  but  perhaps  it  would  not  match 
the  body  of  the  page  sufficiently.  The  ordinary  small  type  (Acts)  of  suf- 
ficient hize  might  do  as  well.  I  wish  you  to  decide  this  without  send- 
ing back  to  me  again.  If  you  think  the  Eoman  figures  (I  or  i)  would 
h)ok  better  at  the  top  (I  mean  for  chapters)  you  can  introduce  them. 
I  have  the  copy  for  the  first  chapter  now  Avriiten  out,  and  am  going  to 
correct  it.  I  will  then  send  it  on,  and  no  more  till  the  second  is  com- 
plete. I  propose  to  finish  it  by  chapters.  When  you  have  decided 
about  the  heading  you  can  let  me  have  more  proof,  but  I  am  in  no 
hurry.  Yours, 

"Mij.  SoEiBNER.  J.  A.  Alexander." 

Dr.  Hodge  offers  the  folIoAving  explanation  of  his  frequent 
changes : 

"  lie  could  not  bear  to  teach  the  same  thing  over  and  over,  or  in 
the  same  way.  He  was  constantly  changing  bis  methods,  and  yet 
such  was  his  skill  and  power  that  each  new  method  seemed  better 
than  thai  which  had  gone  before.  He  occupied  three  chairs  successive- 
ly in  this  institution.  He  was  first  professor  of  Hebrew  and  Old  Tes- 
tament Literature ;  then  of  Ecclesiastical  History  ;  then  of  the  Langua- 
ge and  Literature  of  the  New  Testament.  His  impatience  of  same- 
ness was  a  great  inconvenience  to  him.  He  would  often  begin  to 
write  on  some  subject  and  get  tired  of  it  and  throw  it  aside.  Or  hav- 
ing written  for  a  while  on  one  plan,  he  would  change  it  for  another. 
He  wrote  tlie  first  part  of  his  commentary  on  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles 
several  times  over ;  first  on  one  plan  and  then  on  another.  He  said 
the  only  way  he  could  do  anything,  was  to  begin  to  print,  and  thus 


780  AN   IMPOETANT   PEOPOSITION.  [1856. 

feel  himself  forced  to  keep  ahead  of  the  press.  In  this  way  he  got 
through  his  Isaiah.  The  -whole  of  the  second  volume  of  his  commen- 
tary on  that  prophet  was  written  during  one  summer  vacation.  He 
occupied  the  house  of  his  brother  James  in  New  York,  the  family  being 
absent.  His  habit  was  to  riso  early,  get  a  slight  breakfast,  and  then 
sit  steadily  at  his  work  until  5  p.m.  At  that  hour  he  dined,  and  then 
would  get  in  an  omnibus  and  ride  to  the  end  of  the  route  and  back  ; 
and  go  to  another  line  and  keep  riding  about  the  city  until  10  p.m.; 
and  find  himself  after  a  good  night's  rest  refreshed  f.jr  the  labour  of 
another  day." 

The  subjoined  letter  to  Mr.  Scribner,  shows  where  he  got 
the  germ  of  his  smaller  commentaries,  and  what  he  thought 
of  the  new  pi'oposal. 

"  PfiiNCETOisr,  April  IGth,  1850. 
"DeaeSir: 

"  Dr.  Ilodge  has  just  made  a  proposition,  which  I  think  of  the  high- 
est importance,  not  only  to  myself,  but  to  the  public,  and  in  which  you 
may  be  interested  also,  for  which  reason  I  communicate  it  covfidentially 
<nd  on  my  men  responsibility.  lie  invites  me  to  unite  with  him  in  writ- 
ing a  series  of  notes  upon  the  whole  Few  Testament,  not  for  profes- 
sional and  educated  readers  merely,  but  for  a  much  larger  and  continu- 
ally growing  class — the  same  for  wluch  Barnes,  Bush  &  Co.  have  writ- 
ten. T!ie  idoa  is,  that  we  divide  the  labour  but  share  the  responsibili- 
ty, each  being  answerable  for  tlie  whole,  while  each  prepares  his  own 
l)ait,  that  is,  he  the  doctrinal  and  epistolary,  and  I  the  historical  and 
prophetical.  I  can  imagine  no  way  in  which  we  could  both  exert 
more  influence  than  this,  nor  any  that  would  probably  be  more  advan- 
tageous in  a  commerciiil  point  of  view.  Now  the  Doctor's  plan  is  to 
begin  at  once  and  carry  on  the  work  in  parallel  lines,  publishing  prob- 
ably two  volumes  at  a  time,  i.e.,  one  from  each  of  us.  But  my  book 
already  in  the  press  seems  to  be  an  insurmountable  objection  to  my 
undertaking  it ;  first,  because  it  would  forestall  a  part  of  the  proposed 
work  in  a  different  form  ;  and  secondly,  because  it  will  require  too 
much  time  for  its  completion.  On  these  two  grounds,  I  should  consider 
myself  bound  to  decline  the  invitation  at  once,  if  I  did  not  think  it  right 
to  allow  you  the  opportunity  of  choosing  between  these  two  plans,  so 
far  «8  I  can  give  it.  If  I  decline,  Dr.  Hodge  will  either  give  up  the 
whole  thing,  or  do  tne  whole  himself  (which  is  exceedingly  improbable), 
or  make  the  proposition  to  some  other  person.     I  confess,  that  if  we 


^'•46.]  LETTER    TO    ME.  SCEIBFEE.  '^^Sl 

had  not  made  the  beginning  (or  rather  a  dozen)  I  would  much  rather 
undertake  a  task  of  that  kind,  especially  as  I  find  that  at  the  rate  I  am 
now  going  the  book  is  likely  to  be  boundless  and  endless.  I  propose, 
however,  to  reduce  its  scale  aud  quicken  its  progress  when  I  settle  down 
to  it  in  my  vacation. 

This  is  by  far  the  most  attractive  proposition  that  has  yet  come  to 
my  knowledge,  both  for  authors,  publishers,  and  the  public,  especially 
as  Dr.  Hodge  himself  considers  it  entirely  compatible  with  works  of  a 
more  learned  kind  hereafter  on  the  separate  books  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment.    An  early  and  frank  answer  will  oblige, 

"  Yours, 
"Mr.  SoKiBNER.  J.  A.  Alexander." 

In  answer  to  the  preceding  letter,  Mr.  Scribner  Tvith  his 
accustomed  liberality,  proj^osed  to  cancel  the  sheets  of  the 
larger  Acts  which  had  already  been  stereotyped,  and  accept 
the  new  proposition.     Here  is  Dr.  Alexander's  answer  : 

,,  -r,         ^  "  ^Ew  York,  April  28th,  1856. 

"Dear  Sir:  ' 

"  Not  finding  you  at  home,  I  am  obliged  to  say  in  writing  what  I 
meant  to  say  by  word  of  mouth.  Your  estimate  of  the  larger  work 
on  Acts  is  so  extremely  high,  that  I  cannot  consent  to  your  making 
such  a  sacrifice  for  my  accommodation.  I  shall,  therefore,  hold  my- 
self in  readiness  to  execute  our  contract  by  completing  that  work, 
either  now  or  at  a  Liter  dny,  as  you  may  choose.  This  wUl,  of  course' 
put  an  end  to  all  comparison  of  claims  and  questions  about  compensa- 
tion, and  place  you  upnn  precisely  the  same  footing  with  all  others 
in  relation  to  the  new  work.  No  further  communication  will  be  neces- 
sary until  I  have  sent  you  the  final  agreement  between  Dr.  Ilodge 
and  myself. 

"  Yours, 
"  ^K.  Scribner.  j.  a.  Alexander." 

Dr.  McGill  expresses  himself  as  follows,  in  reference  to  his 
strange  union  of  mobility  and  steadfastness. 

"  The  great  activity  of  his  mind  was  given  also  to  changing  of  me- 
thods more  frequently  than  comported  with  the  greatest  benefit  of 
teaching.     He  was  a  man  of  genius,  far  more  than  of  method ;  and 


^82  HIS    COMMENTAEIES.  0856. 

could  never  content  himself  Ion?  with  even  the  best  methods  which 
his  fertile  mind  contrived.  For  the  sake  of  change  itself,  and  the 
l)leasure  of  novelty  to  his  own  mind,  he  seemed  to  baffle  the  forecast 
of  the  ]ilodding  student  continually  in  the  plans  he  pursued  and  ad- 
vised, though  sure  to  captivate  the  interest  of  learners  notwithstand- 
ing their  preference  for  the  ca^t-off  methods  which  had  delighted  the 
classes  before  them.  No  man  of  his  generation  was  so  remarkable  for 
the  immovable  tenacity  with  which  he  held  the  old  formulas  of  truth 
in  our  standards,  combined  with  ever-varying  modes  and  sides,  to 
which  he  kept  shifting  his  own  views,  and  the  views  of  his  pupils. 
And  all  this,  without  pliilosophlcal  speculation  of  mind  merely,  for 
which  he  had  no  respect,  but  even  contempt,  in  seats  of  sacred  learn- 


Maiiy  of  liis  pupils  could  see  autl  feel  all  this,  and  were  as 
much  pleased  as  amazed  at  the  benefit  they  derived  from  their 
whimsical  master. 

The  new  commentary  came  out  early  in  this  year,  a  popu- 
lar not  a  critical  exposition,  and  in  the  reduced  proportions 
that  made  it  correspond  with  the  series  of  volumes  issued,and 
to  be  issued,  by  Dr.  Hodge.  Many  have  never  ceased  to  pour 
forth  lamentations  that  Dr.  Alexander  did  not  carry  out  his 
original  intention  of  writing  a  critical  rather  than  a  popular 
work.  In  that  case  we  should  have  never  known  the  extent 
of  his  versatility  and  his  charming  power  of  communicating 
what  lie  knew,  and  yet  of  hiding  the  source  of  his  information. 
The  work  on  the  Psalms  was  not  only  concise,  and  bare  of 
citation,  but  almost  meagre.  The  later  commentaries  of  Dr. 
Alexander,  I  mean  the  ones  on  the  NeAV  Testament,  have 
almost  the  brevity  and  the  vivid  peculiarity  of  Calvin.  The 
Isaiah  could  boast  his  logic,  his  erudition,  and  his  orthodoxy, 
but  in  comparison  with  his  later  works  lacked  the  wonder- 
ful sententious  completeness  and  power  of  statement,  and  the 
high  popular  elegance  of  the  great  Genevan.  These  are  to  be 
found,  if  anywhere,  only  in  the  Acts  and  books  on  the  Gospels. 
It  has  always  struck  me  as  a  very  absurd  notion  that  Alex- 
ander on  either  of  the  first  two  Gospels,  or  on  the  Acts,  was 
any  less  learned  than  Alexander  on  Isaiah.     The  diftcrence,  as 


^T.46.]  KN-OWLEDGE   OF   MANY   AUTHORS.  V83 

it  appears  to  me,  was  that  between  a  builder  who  leaves  his 
scaffold  up  aud  one  who  takes  it  down.     The  more  extensively 
one  reads  beyond  the  covers  of  Dr.  Alexander's   books  on 
the  Acts  and  the  Gospels,  the  more  deeply,  I  am  told,  is  one 
impressed  with  that  masterly  control  of  the  materials  which 
could  enable  the  author  to  bring  in  the  views  of  so  vast  a  body 
of  wnters  in  various  languages,  analyze  them,  group  them 
refute  them,  or  make  them  his  own,  and  yet  scarcely  hint  at 
the  existence  or  qualities  of  the  individual  writers  in  question 
He  had  a  way  of  extracting  the  pith  of  a  page  or  a  chapter 
and  crammmg  it  into  a  sentence,  a  clause,  and  sometimes  an 
epithet.     He  could  also  bundle  up  the  substance  of  a  shelf  of 
authors  in  a  paragraph.     His  adjectives  are  a  study  of  com- 
prehension and  precision.     They  are  often  allusive,  and  point 
to  traits  of  mind  or  character  in  particular  writers  whom  he 
had  been  reading,  but  whom  he  does  not  name  or  otherwise 
mdicate.     Thackeray  said  a  man's  knowledge  might  be  o-auo-- 
ed  by  his  ability  to  see  the  covert  allusions  of  Macaulay,  which 
he  says,  are  crowded  almost  as  thick  as  his  words,     'in  like 
manner,  1  conceive,  the  larger  and  more   discursive  a  man's 
reading,  the  more  he  will  admire  and  value  Dr.  Addison  Alex- 
ander's Acts  and  Gospels.     But  though  when  put  side  by  side 
with  h-s  Isaiah,  these  smaller  works  may  seem  unembarrassed 
by  iormal  citations  or  circumstantial  details  of  any  kind,  it  is 
really  astonishing  how  many  books,  events,  historical  charac- 
ters, traits  of  feeling,  aud  minor  things  he  has  expressly  re- 
ferred to  in  these  little  compact  volumes.     The  Bible  he  knew 
as  even  he  knew  nothing  else.     The  Kabbiuical  and  classical 
authors  were  at  his  fingers'  ends.  The  references  were  seldom 
if  ever,  made  at  second  hand.     He  read  over  the  principal 
Greek  authors,  and  took  notes  on  them  with  a  view  to  these 
very  labours.     And  in  like  manner  he  read  the  Targums,  the 
fathers,   and  the  chef-d'oeuvres  and  curious  performances   of 
oaodern  literature.     For  the  same  purpose  he  often  treasured 
up  what  he  saw  in  the  newspapers  and  other  effusions  of  the 
periodical  press,  and  what  he  met  with  in  Lis  own  conscious- 
ness and  in  the  intercourse  of  daily  life. 


Y84  NO   PAEADE   OF   LEAElSrilTG.  1856 

On  this  point  Dr.  Beach  Jones  has  written  very  forcibly. 
lie  says  that  there  was  in  Dr.  Alexander  no  parade  of  learning 
or  talent ;  and  continues  : 

"If  his  great  Commentary  on  Isaiah  seems  by  the  citation  of  so 
many  critical  authorities  and  variant  opinions,  to  furnish  an  exception 
to  this  remark,  it  is  only  an  apparent  exception.  The  design  and  plan 
of  lliat  great  work  rendered  necessary  the  exliibition  of  critical  erudi- 
tion beyond  what  would  otherwise  have  suited  Lis  taste.  His  exposi- 
tions of  the  Acts  of  tlie  Apostles,  and  of  the  Gospels  of  Mark  and 
Matthew  indicate  the  actual  taste  of  the  man.  Scholars  can  see  in 
every  part  of  these  commentaries  proofs  of  amazing  erudition,  as  Avell 
as  of  the  profoundest  and  nicest  scliolarship  ;  and  even  unprofessional 
readers  become  convinced  that  the  aiathor  must  have  possessed  vast 
resources.  Yet  it  would  be  difficult  to  point  to  any  similar  production 
where  so  much  learning  is  presupposed  and  implied ;  and  where  so 
little  is  displiiyed.  We  have  the  ripest  fruits  of  consummate  scholar- 
ship, but  no  parade  of  the  means  and  processes  by  which  they  were 
produced.  One  of  the  first  scholars  and  greatest  minds  in  this  coun- 
try was  once  contrasting  the  commentaries  of  Professor  Alexander 
with  tho5e  of  another  distinguished  author  in  the  same  department, 
and   illustrated   the   difterence    by   the   following   expressive  figure: 

I  -^hen has  done  his  work,  you  find  yourself  up  to  your  knees 

in  shavings.  When  Dr.  A.  has  finished  his,  you  don't  see  a  chip.' 
This  absence  of  'chips,'  I  have  no  doubt,  has  prevented  many  from 
estimating  at  their  real  value  the  three  commentaries  last  mentioned. 
Tlierc  is  so  little  appearance  of  efi"ort,  and  so  entire  an  absence  of  the 
parade  of  learning,  that  superficial  students  have  thereby  underrated 
both  the  workman  and  his  work.  Scholars  most  versed  in  the  field 
cultivated  by  Prof.  Alexander  are  the  men  who  most  readily  concede  to 
him  superlative  merit.  The  highest  published  eulogium  I  ever  knew 
pronounced  upon  the  Exposition  of  Mark  was  a  critiqiie  contained  in 
a  foreign  periodical,  in  which  the  writer,  apparently  a  professional 
scholar,  pronounces  the  work  incomparably  the  best  ever  written." 

Every  word  of  this  statement  is  true.  The  Mark  and  the 
Matthew,  and  to  a  great  extent  also,  the  Acts,  show  on  inspec- 
tion a  granitic  formation  covered  with  herbage  and  revived 
with  springs  of  water.  These  fields  are  irrigated  throughout, 
not  only  from  Siloa's  brook,  but  from  the  wells  of  English  un- 


■^^•46-]  PUBLICATION   OF   ACTS.  V85 

defiled.  Tbe  commentaries  in  question  are  perhaps  their 
author's  noblest  monument.  They  afford  an  exquisite  lio-ht 
to  the  scholar,  but  may  also  be  read  with  profit  and  pleasure 
by  men  who  have  not  the  means  of  estimating  their  true  rank 
and  value.  As  to  the  relative  merits  of  these  later  books  it 
is  hard  to  decide.  Probably  most  readers  would  pronounce 
for  his  "Mark."  His  Matthew  is  a  torso ;  but  contains  discus- 
sions which  perhaps  he  has  not  equalled  elsewhere.  A 
competent  judge  of  such  matters  gives  it  as  his  opinion  that 
the  most  interesting,  and,  as  he  thinks,  generally  valuable  of 
his  commentaries,  is  his  book  on  the  Acts,  "  which,"  he  says, 
"  is  for  me  the  best  commentary  I  ever  read." 

This  was  the  book  which  he  now  placed  upon  the  counters? 
and  introduced  into  his  class-room.  I  was  a  student  at  the 
time  in  the  Theological  Seminary,  and  can  testify  to  the  thor- 
oughness with  which  the  professor  did  his  work.  The  massive 
page  seemed  to  brighten  and  soften  under  the  influence  of  his 
invaluable  running  comments  on  his  own  text. 

Let  us  now  try  to  picture  to  ourselves  what  he  was  at  this 
period  in  the  privacy,  contentment,  and  unaffected  ease  of  his 
own  dwelling.  He  had  everything  around  him  to  make  him 
comfortable,  and  to  minister  to  his  various  cravings.  He  rose 
neither  very  early  nor  late,  but  was  absolutely  regular  in  the 
discharge  of  his  religious  duties  in  the  family.  Punctuality 
was  the  law  of  the  house.  At  the  striking  of  the  clock,  tbe 
bell  would  ring  for  prayers;  and  on  the  cessation  of  the  sound, 
the  door  of  Mr.  Alexander's  study,  which  was  the  front 
room  on  the  right,  would  open  suddenly  and  its  occupant 
would  issue  from  it  and  repair  to  the  sitting-room  in  the 
rear  of  the  house,  which  is  known  to  all  old  students  as 
having  been  the  study  of  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  in  the  days 
during  which  that  venerable  man  spent  his  life  in  one  room, 
and  during  the  latter  part  of  the  time  in  one  chair.  That 
chair  was  still  standing  on  its  short  rockers  in  the  middle  of 
that  same  room,  near  a  centre-table  on  which  were  placed  the 
Bible  and  a  hymn-book.  The  family  had  gathered  by  the  time 
he  entered,  and  Mr.  Alexander  would  at  once  move  his  hand 


786  AT  HOlVrE.  C1856. 

swiftly  among  the  leaves  of  the  old  brown  volume  which  he 
had  Used  so  long,  select  or  find  the  passage  of  Scripture  he 
■wished  to  read,  and  then  go  through  it  in  a  dry,  measured 
tone,  and  with  great  rapidity,  holding  the  book  up  before  him 
in  both  hands  very  near  his  eyes,  with  his  head  slightly 
bent  forward  and  his  eyes  looking  upward  over  his 
spectacles.  One  who  knew  him  could  see  that  there  was 
nothing  perfunctory  in  his  manner.  When  his  glasses  where 
removed,  Lis  eyes  recoiled  from  the  light,  and  had  a  very  un- 
usual appearance.  The  power  in  his  face  often  struck  me  more 
then  than  at  common  times.  He  was  very  near-sightecl,  but 
his  vision  was  very  strong.  Like  William  Bockford,  he  might 
have  been  said  to  have  the  eyes  of  an  eagle.  He  read  witliout 
glasses  in  the  twilight,  and  never  complained  of  soreness  or 
wealiness  in  the  organ.  He  could  go  to  a  window  and  read 
when  no  one  else  could  see  a  letter.  Having  read  the  chapter, 
he  would  close  the  book,  say  "  let  tis  pray,"  and  be  upon  his 
knees,  and  sometimes  well  advanced  in  his  petitions,  before 
the  rest  were  all  fully  aware  that  he  had  reached  this  part  of 
the  service.  The  same  or  nearly  the  same  rapidity  of  utter- 
ance characterized  him  here  as  before.  Yet  vrith  all  the 
rapidity,  though  there  was  no  sanctimony,  there  was  no  irre- 
verence. The  duty  was  performed  in  a  spirit  of  child-like 
simplicity.  The  quickness  with  which  one  word  followed 
another  would  be  the  first  thing  to  strike  a  stranger,  and  the 
next  would  be  tlie  perfect  fluency  of  the  speaker  and  his  mar- 
vellous command  of  language. 

It  was  impossible  that  the  thoughts  of  a  listener  should 
not  be  directed  sometimes  from  the  spiritual  exercise,  to  notice 
and  reflect  upon  this.  The  difference  between  Mr.  Alexander 
and  nearly  all  others  in  this  respect  was  the  difference  between 
that  which  cannot  easily  be  improved,  and  that  which  is  less 
or  more  faulty.  I  never  kncAV  him  to  hesitate  for  a  word,  or 
to  break  the  current  which  was  rushing  on  with  such  even 
velocity  for  any  other  purpose  than  to  cough  or  clear  his  throat 
when  he  had  a  cold.  I  never  knew  him  to  recall  a  word  or 
syllabic  once  uttered ;  and  yet  months  of  elaboration  could 


^T.  40.]  FAMILY    WOESHIP.  787 

not  well  have  addecl  polish  or  terseness  or  a  more  exquisite  pro- 
priety to  II  single  sentence.     The  happiest  pages  of  his  com- 
mentaries will  give  some  notion  of  the  character  of  the  lan- 
guage I  refer  to.     Every  word  Avas  in  its  right  place,  and  was 
the  very  word  of  the  whole  English  vocabulary  to  express  the 
precise  shade  of  thought.     There  was  something  of  the  same 
rhythmical  and  dactylic  peculiarity  that  is  observable  in  his 
sermons.     And  yet  these  wonderful  words  were  poured  out 
with  an  ease  that  resembled  negligence,  though  the  close  ob- 
server could  not  fail  to  discern  traces  of  consum.mate  previous 
preparation   for  these  tasks.     The  prayers  themselves   were 
models  of  all  that  is  beautiful  and  edifying  in  such  transcripts 
of  Christian  experience.     They  were  withal  as  exact  and  mas- 
sive as  his  Isaiah.     There  was  a  happy  blending  of  sameness 
and  variety— a  mixture  of  simplicity  and  refinement— that  it 
would  be  impossible  to  describe.     There  were  certain  favourite 
phrases  and  petitions,  sometimes  in  the  formof  scriiiture  texts, 
which  were  constantly  recurring ;  but  with  so  many  modula- 
tions, that  the  recurrence  was  always  agreeable  both  to  the 
mind  and  the  ear.     One  of  these  phrases  was,  "  Let  the  wicked- 
ness of  the  wicked  come  to  an  end."     Another  was,  "Deliver 
us  from  the  extremes  of  despondency  and  presumption."     The 
sentences  were  commonly  short,  and  very  uncomplicated  in 
structure.     Yet  often  a  technical  term  was  used,  where  its 
avoidance  would  have  seemed  an  affectation.  This  was  especial- 
ly so  in  the  case  of  the  prayers  at  the  opening  of  each  lecture. 
In  prayer,  the  manner,  which  had  been  unimpressive  during 
the  reading  of  the  chapter,  became  mellowed  and  soft,  and 
sometimes  very  sweet  and  subduing.     Even  in  the  reading  of 
the  chapter  the  tones  of  his  voice  would  sometimes  accommo- 
date themselves  to  a  glowing  narrative,  or  a  bold  and  graphic 
prophesy,  or  an  exultant  Psalm.     There  was  something  grand 
about  the  way  he  often  read  such  books  as  Isaiah  and  Nahum. 
Tlrere  was  a  swell  in  the  voice,  and  a  sonorous  chanting  music 
in  the  tone,  which,  with  the  knowledge  and  admirable  emphasis 
of  the  Teader,  brought  out  the  force  of  the  original  as  nothing 
else  could  do. 


788  AS   A    TALKEE.  I13S6. 

As  soon  as  the  word  "Amen"  Imcl  been  prononncecl,  Mr. 
Alexander  was  at  once  in  rapid  motion  towards  the  door  of 
his  study,  and  was  there  secluded  till  breakfast.     He  always 
had   some  special  intellectual  work  for  these   odd  moments, 
which  he  could  attend  to  at  no  other  time.     He  always  said 
that  he  could  keep  up  his  acquaintance  with  all  the  languages 
he  had  ever  learned  by  reading  a  sentence  in  each  every  day. 
At  one  time  he  devoted  a  half  hour  before  dinner  to  this  pur- 
pose, most  agreeably  to  himself  and  with  entire  satisfaction 
as  regarded  the  results.     It  was  one  evidence  of  his  great 
memory.     His  journals  show  how  he  spent  the  hours  which 
were  regularly   devoted  to  study.     He  would  then  seldom 
leave  his  room ;  but  if  he  did,  it  was  commonly  with  a  bright 
face  and  with  some  cheerful  question  or  delighted  comment 
on  what  he  had  been  reading,  or  some  laughing  jest  or  recol- 
lection.    He  would  often  step  out  into  the  entry  to  express 
the  pleasure  he  had  derived  from  the  society  of  some  rare  but 
congenial  visitor.     When  no  one  was  visiting  in  the  family, 
his  habit  as  to  talk  and  social  demonstration  at  the  table  was 
variable.     At  ordinary  times  he  was  lively  and  chatty.     He 
would  sometimes  talk  incessantly  for  twenty  minutes  at  a 
stretch,  while  others  perhaps  were  disposed  to  remain  silent. 
He  was  as  free  as  a  bird  as  to  the  topics  on  which  he  descant- 
ed.   Sometimes  it  was  altogether  about  various  articles  of  food, 
English  and  American  fashions  as  to  meals,  waiters,  courses, 
&c.     Sometimes  it  was  about  the  books  or  newspapers  he  was 
reading.     More  commonly  it  was  about  every-day  people  and 
thino-s,  in  which  wide  range  of  subjects  he  manifested  an  in- 
terest that  never  seemed  to  flag.     Sometimes  a  brisk  dialogue 
or  general  conversation  would  spring  up,  in  which  he  would 
tinifonnly  join  and  commonly  take  the  chief  part.      What 
struck  me  most  in  these  daily  outpourings  of  his,  was  the  con- 
clusive evidence  which  they  furnished  of  his  impulsiveness, 
when  he  felt  entirely  at  home.     There  were  now  and  then,  too, 
the  scintillations  of  genius.     There  were  times  when  he  would 
be  silent  and  in  drooping  spirits.     Sometimes  he  would  be  as 
gay  as  a  school-boy  just  let  out  from  school.     There  were 


JEr.iG.]  AS    A   TALKER.  789 

seasons  when  he  seemed  to  crave  the  stimulus  of  opposition, 
and  he  woukl  seek  a  pleasant  intellectual  combat,  in  which,  it 
is  needless  to  say,  he  was  very  ape  to  come  off  victor.  Not 
always,  howevei*.  Professional  knowledge  would  sometimes 
interpose  an  invincible  and  unexpected  check  to  the  march  of 
his  logic.  He  would  then  give  up  the  point,  and  invent  a 
dozen  new  arguments  in  a  twinkling,  or  else  change  the  sub- 
ject altogether.  Sometimes  it  was  plain  that  his  simple  object 
was  to  elicit  truth,  and  that  his  objections  were  only  intended 
to  draw  out  others  whom  he  thought  better  informed.  He 
would  then  delight  to  be  confuted,  and  freely  express  the  joy 
with  which  he  found  himself  instructed. 

This  talk  at  table,  in  his  own  house,  was  something  unlike 
all  his  other  talk.  It  was  often  more  like  monologue  than  any 
he  ever  would  consent  to  engage  in  under  other  circumstances. 
It  was  without  restraint  of  diffidence  or  reluctance,  of  what- 
ever origin  whether  morbid  or  otherwise.  Pie  seemed  to  be 
thinking  aloud.  There  were  times  when  he  sparkled  with 
lambent  repartee  and  wit.  His  blue  eye  then  twinkled  with  a 
serene  and  jubilant  intelligence.  The  conscious  gleam  of  that 
eye  when  a  good  thing  had  been  uttered,  put  one  in  mind  of 
Thackeray  at  his  lectures  on  the  English  Humourists.  There 
was  in  it  a  shrewd,  dry  intelligence  ;  of  the  sagacious  Anglo- 
Saxon  Scotch-Irish  sort,  mingled  Avith  an  expression  that  must 
have  been  inspired  by  the  very  genius  of  fun  and  drollery. 
He  never  looked  more  intellectually  brilliant  than  at  such 
moments.  His  countenance  then  befitted  the  ci-devant  editor 
of  the  "Patriot,"  and  the  correspondent  from  "South  Smith- 
ville,"  and  might  have  been  painted  beside  those  of  JEsop, 
Moliere,  and  Cervantes,  At  other  times  he  was  terribly  sar- 
castic. His  talent  for  caustic  rejoinder  was  unequalled.  This 
was  usually  at  the  expense  of  persons  or  classes  of  people  men- 
tioned in  the  course  of  conversation.  The  spleen  he  vented 
at  any  casual  notice  taken  of  braggadocios,  upstarts  in  litera- 
ture, and  plausible  charlatans  of  every  kind,  was  at  such  times 
vitriolic.  I  well  remember  the  prodigious  burst  of  satirical 
wi'ath  with  which  he  heard  that  some  small  pretender  was 


ITQO  EECEEATIOK.  [1858. 

denominated  a,  "genius,"  and  the  noble  wai-mth  with  Avhich 
he  recognized  the  true  men  who  justly  wear  that  title.  He 
was  very  fond  of  a]iplying  the  term  himself  to  the  controlling 
or  original  minds  of  Church  History,  good  and  bad,  especially 
the  men  of  action  as  distinguished  from  mere  scholars ;  such 
men  as  Ilildebrand,  Innocent,  Bernard,  Luther,  Farel,  John 
Knox.  But  the  general  tone  of  his  remarks  was  either  in- 
structively grave  and  rich  with  native  common-sense  and  a 
learning  he  could  not  wholly  suppress,  or  else  marked  by  an 
almost  boyish  playfulness  and  mirthful  ebullition  of  spirits. 
When  the  weather  was  dreary,  one  could  tell  at  once,  from  a 
certain  listlessness  and  dejection  of  manner,  in  what  quarter 
the  wind  was  setting.  He  seemed  to  give  himself  more  margin 
in  the  way  of  leisure  immediately  after  tea  than  at  any  time 
during  the  day.  He  would  also  sit  rocking  idly  in  his  chair, 
and  drumming  with  his  hands  on  the  smooth  vv'ooden  elbow, 
after  evening  prayers.  After  drinking  tea,  the  family  would 
resort  to  the  sitting-room,  which  was  still  called  "  the  study,*' 
and  which  still  retained  much  of  the  old  library  look,  and 
would  indulge  for  half  an  hour  or  more  in  general  conversa- 
tion. Some  of  these  evenings  were  intellectual  and  social 
feasts  of  the  highest  order.  Commonly  the  talk  ran  liigh  on 
the  political  news  of  the  hour,  or  the  petty  details  of  j)ersonal 
village  incident. 

Nothing,  however,  even  at  night,  could  long  detain  him 
from  his  books,  or  rather  his  reviews  and  newspapers ;  for 
there  is  reason  to  believe  that  at  this  time  he  occui)ied  the 
larger  part  of  his  evenings  in  recreating  his  mind  over  the 
daily  bulletin  of  home  news,  or  some  one  or  more  tf  the 
English  or  continental  journals.  He  Avas  an  couraiit  in  all 
matters  of  contemporary  literature,  and  especially  the  British 
and  foreign  chit-chat. 

He  took  (as  is  well  known)  very  little  exercise,  except 
when  he  was  travelling.  He  however  a])preciated  its  essential 
importance.  He  had  a  way  of  pacing  slowly  up  and  down 
a  tan-bark  path  surrounding  his  front  yard,  lined  with  lilac 
bushes ;  generally  with  a  book  in  his  hand,  and  with  his  head 


-^^^s.]  SAEOASM.  791 

bent  upon  his  breast.     He  looked  up  frequently,  and  nothing 
that  was  going  on  escaped  his   observation.     Sometimes  he 
carried  a  chair  to  one  of  the  two  mounds  which  are  still  in 
the  spring   embosomed  in  glossy  green   leaves   and    purple 
periwinkles.    Here,  after  the  bushes  were  grown,  he  was  fairly 
encircled  by  the  bloom;  and  here  he  loved  to  read,  and  to  tell 
stories  to  the  children.     One  who  saw  him  passing  rapidly 
from  the  oratory  with  his  hat  on,  between  five  and  six  in  the 
evening,  would  be  struck  with  a  certain  air  of  neatness,  re- 
serve, good   breeding,  and  determination.       His   short    gray 
hair,    gold   spectacles,    trim   overcoat    (of  olive   green),    and 
smooth  beaver,  with  his  hurried  gait,  struck  an  admiring  awe 
into  many  beholders.     The  crowded  entries  never  offered  any 
impediment  to  him.     He  moved  right  on  like  a  bullet  to  its 
mark,  and  everything  gave  way  before  him.     Ten  chances  to 
one  he  was  in  a  genial  mood,  and  the  next  moment  would  be 
laughing  and  talking  with  the  family  at  liome.     Sometimes  a 
student   of    bolder  temperament    than    his    comrades  would 
overtake  him,  before  he  got  out  of  the  Seminary,  and  put 
some  question  to  him.     He  loved  to  be  thus  accosted,  and  if 
the  student  did  not  disgust  him  by  conceit  or  sycophancy,  he 
was  always  richly  repaid  for  his  supposed  audacity.     He  had 
two  methods  of  correcting  the  faults  which  he  remarked  in 
his  friends.     One  was  by  sarcasm  that  was  absolutely  blight- 
ing.    This  was  seldom  resorted  to  unless  the  error  lay  deep 
or  threatened  to  prove  obstinate  if  not  incurable,     I  do  not 
think  he  commonly  intended  to  hit  as  hard  as  he  did :  but  he 
was  scarcely  aware  of  the  terrible  edge  of  his   own  weai^on. 
He  would  cut  a  man's  side  open,  to  relieve  him  of  a  fe;terinc? 
bi-iar.     Or,  to  change  the  figure,  he  hurled  rocks  at   the  fly 
that  troubled  his   friend's  slumbers.      The  other  and  more 
usual  method  was  by  taking  him  aside,  and  dealing  with  him 
in  the  way  of  faithful  but  gentle  remonstrance.     He  was  fond 
of  breaking  up  bad  habits  in  small  things  in  tliis  way.     He 
once  drew  a  young  relative  to  him,  and  said  with  the  most  in- 
sinuating sweetness  that  he  had  noticed  he  said  "  commenced 
to  do  a  thing,"  instead  of  "  beffan  to  do  it,"  or  "  commenced 


792  '  IIIS   STUDY.  [1856. 

doing  it."  The  fault,  ho  said,  was  one  that  was  getting  to  be 
very  prevalent  in  America,  but  was  one  of  those  little  things 
that  are  worth  correcting.  His  young  kinsman  was  thankful 
for  the  lesson,  and  profited  by  it. 

Much  has  been  said  about  the  way  he  changed  his  books 
and  study  apparatus.     At  this  time  he  had  a  very  long,  nar- 
row, massive  table,  with  Gothic;  legs,  and  covered  with  green 
morocco.     This  table  occupied  various  places  in  the  room,  but 
was  generally  on  the  north  side.     He  changed  his  chaii"s  (not 
only  In  the  Seininary,  but  in  his  study)  and  his  position  at 
this  table.     Sometimes  he  sat  opposite  the  middle  part,  with 
his  face  fronting  towards  the  road ;  sometimes  he  sat  to  the 
right  or  left  of  this  point,  or  on  the  other  side  of  the  table,  or 
evljn  at  one  of  the  ends.     On  this  table  there  were  nearly 
always  a  large  clear-glass  inkstand,  an  ivory  paper-cutter  and 
folder,  a  bunch  of  quUls  or  a  box  of  Mitchell's  J  pens,  a  black 
portfolio  with  plenty  of  loose  sheets  and  blotting-paper,  bis 
manuscript  journal  or  lecture  book,  the  Ilexapla,  the  New 
Testament  in  Syriac,  Aben-Ezra  or  Jarchi,  one  or  other  of  the 
Targums,  the  latest  commentaries  on  the  Gospels,  some  recent 
woil  of  literature,  Bagster's  Greek  Testament,  and  the  English 
Bible.     There  was  never  any  litter  on  the  table  or  in  the  room. 
There  was  an  air  of  comfort  and  neatness  about  everything. 
A  cheerful  fire  of  coals  was  generally  glowing  in  the  grate. 
The  walls  were  covered  everywhere  with  books,  which  were 
nearly  all  bound  in  the  same  style  in  half  calf  or  rich  morocco 
backs  not  ribbed  but  indented.     The  lower  tier  of  shelves  was 
crammed  with  enormous  folios.     There  were  the  Talmud,  the 
whole   Rabbinical  literature,  the  oldest  versions,  the  great 
paraphrases.    There,  too,  were  the  early  chronicles  of  England, 
in  which  he  greatly  delighted.     For  one  of  so  much  modern 
feeling,  be  had  a  true  scholar's  love  for  a  folio.     Higher  up 
were\is   lexicons,   grammars,   thesauruses,  geographies,  at- 
lases,   chronological    tables,   learned    helps   of   every   kind. 
Higher  up  still  were  works  of  travel,  books  on  art,  commen- 
taHes,  sermons,  works  on  practical  religion.  University  text- 
books, belles-lettres,  biography,  volumes  of  choice  poetry,  the 


^T.47.j  VISITORS.  ,  793 

masterpieces   of   literature   in   many   languages,   theological 
books,  metaphysical  books,  romances,  most  of  the  Tauchnitz 
or  Teubner  classics,  other  editions  of  favourite  classics,  picture 
books,  books  of  humour,  books  of  every  sort  and  size;  piled 
away  in  the  strangest  confusion,  with  no  regard  except  to 
their  appearance.     It  was  astonishing  tliat  such  a  lover  of 
system  and  such  a  master  of  analysis  should  not  have  had  a 
better  arrangement  for  his  volumes:    but  so  it  was.      The 
sameness  even  of  good  order  was   here  intolerable  to  him. 
Sometimes  he  would  shuffle  his  whole  library.     If  any  one 
came  in  to  borrow  a  book,  he  was  always  very  kind  and  gen- 
erous, and  would  say,  "  You  may  have  it  if  you  can  find  it. 
I  can't  and  don't  pretend  to."     He  ceased  towards  the  last  to 
be  so  particular  about  his  bindings.     He  did  not  have  much 
sympathy  with  the  mere  bibliographer,  but  he  was  himself  on 
many  points  of  interest  a  Avalking  Dibdin.     He  cared   much 
more  for  the  good  reading  that  was  in  a  book  than  for  any- 
thing that  could  be  said  or  known  about  it.    While  he  did  not 
have  his  brother's  tenderness  for  Baskervilles  and  Elzevirs,  he 
was  notwithstanding  very  open  to  the  Influence  of  good  white 
paper,   good   black  type,   good   broad   margins,   substantial 
covers,  and  a  creditable  title-page.     He  was  fastidious  to  the 
point  of  nicety  about  his  letterpress. 

When  any  one  knocked  at  his  door,  he  said  "  Come  in  "  in 
a  very  vigorous  and  sometimes  rather  dissatisfied  manner ; 
with  a  peculiar  prolongation  of  the  tone.  The  pitch  and 
sound  were  nearly  those  of  the  C  tuning-fork.  When  his 
visitor  entered,  he  turned  his  head  to  see  him,  and  if  he  was 
not  uncommonly  busy,  and  was  not  bored  by  the  intrusion, 
greeted  him  with  amiable  and  natural  politeness.  He  did  not 
usually  rise  himself,  but  Inclined  his  head  and  in  a  kind  voice 
requested  his  visitor  to  "  take  a  seat."  He  would  then  com- 
monly turn  his  chair  round  towards  the  fire,  and  before  long 
would  probably  be  upon  his  legs.  Sometimes  he  was  curt 
and  short.  This  was  very  seldom  the  case  where  he  was  not 
provoked  by  people  who  had  not  common  sense  enough  to 
know  how  to  behave  themselves  in  his  presence.  He  would 
34 


794  HUMMING   TUNES.  [1856. 

show  in  an  instant  whether  ho  liked  the  call  or  not.  The  rule 
was,  that  he  was  affable,  iVee  and  easy,  full  of  interesting 
talk,  and  in  many  cases  enthusiastically  joyous  and  friendly, 
and  to  the  last  degree  fascinating.  No  matter  how  the  inter- 
view commenced,  this  was  usually  the  way  it  ended ;  espe- 
cially if  the  visitor  took  no  umbrage  at  the  sincerity  of  his 
manners,  and  illustrated  in  his  own  person  the  qualities  of  the 
agreeable  gentleman.  Whoever  had  good  reason  for  coming 
were  welcomed.  Those  who  came  to  cringe,  or  stare,  or  com- 
pliment, Avere  rebuffed.  With  very  slight  exceptions,  Dr. 
Alexander's  treatment  of  those  who  went  to  see  him  was  very 
much  like  that  they  would  have  received  from  others,  save 
that  few  others  had  so  pei-fectly  at  command  and  could  so  un- 
consciously exercise  the  art  and  charm  of  conversation.  Not 
a  few  have  been  perfectly  carried  away  with  these  hit-or-miss 
interviews,  and  have  cherished  the  memory  of  those  snatched 
half  hours  as  among  their  most  precious  recollections. 

He  had  a  way  of  talking,  or  rather  reading,  to  himself, 
when  he  was  engaged  in  study,  and  also  of  humming  tunes. 
His  favourite  device  was  to  apply  the  edge  of  a  folder  to  his 
mouth,  and  whistle  or  blow  tunes  upon  it.  He  did  the  same 
with  stiff  paper.  The  tune  he  was  fondest  of,  at  least  for 
these  purposes,  was  a  very  singular  and  pretty  one  which  he 
is  thought  to  have  made  himself,  and  which  he  had  adapted 
to  the  words,  "  O  for  a  blast  of  that  dread  horn."  The  tune 
was  so  ingeniously  contrived  that  it  brought  in  every  note  in 
the  scale.  If  children  came  to  see  him,  he  hardly  ever  failed 
to  sing  them  the  Persian  air  (how  sweet  and  graceful  a  one, 
many  well  remember)  "  Sa-ki-biar  badeh."  He  is  shrewdly 
suspected  of  having  made  this  likewise. 

He  often  paced  the  floor  of  his  study,  reading  or  glancing 
about  over  his  shelves.  This  he  seemed  to  do  for  exercise,  or 
as  a  relief  from  the  sitting  posture.  He  was  then  visible  from 
the  street,  and  excited  many  curious  wishes  in  the  breasts  of 
the  gossips,  who  all  the  world  over  covet  a  position  beside  the 
great  man's  valet  de  chamhre.  The  students  of  the  College 
and  Seminary  many  of  them  regai'ded  him  as  they  might  have 


^T-*7-3  _  AK  INCIDENT.  795 

clone  the  statues  of  Memnon.  He  was  an  impressive  stony 
riddle  to  them,  breaking  into  music  under  the  sunbeams  of  a 
polyglot  literature.  Others  looked  upon  him  as  an  astrono- 
mer walking  in  solitary  rapture  among  stars  and  constellations. 
The  simple  truth  was  he  was  just  like  other  people  in  most  of 
his  tastes  and  feelings,  and  like  them  -too  in  most  of  his  do- 
mestic  habits;  with  this  marked  difference,  that  he  appreciated 
the  shortness  of  life,  and  heartily  enjoyed  the  work  on  which 
he  had  resolved  to  spend  the  strength  and  affluent  resources 
with  which  heaven  had  gifted  him. 

Let  me  give  an  example  of  one  of  the  casual  encounters 
he  sometimes  had  with  the  students.  Late  one  afternoon,  with 
a  "hody  of  wood  on  his  shoulder,  a  very  young  gentleman 
was  whistling  a  lively  tune  and  keeping  time  with  his  feet  as 
he  ascended  the  stairs  in  the  first  story.  Having  gone  about 
half  way  up  to  the  first  landing  (making  a  shuffling  and  pat- 
ting noise  on  each  step  as  he  went),  looking  up  to  lee  whose 
feet  those  were  on  the  top  step,  he  received  a  great  shock  of 
surprise  at  beholding  Dr.  Addison  Alexander  standing  at  the 
first  turn  of  the  steps,  patiently  awaiting  his  movements— 
which  were  quite  rapid  enough,  although  for  the  reason  men- 
tioned he  was  making  very  little  headway. 

"To  retreat,"  he  says,  "was  my  only  thought,  and  the  movement 
was  made  in  regular  craiofish  style,  until  my  back  was  against  the  bul- 
letin board.*  There  I  siood,  hod  piled  high  with  wed  still  on  my 
shoulder,  expecting  nothing  but  a  reproof  for  my  undignified  and  boy- 
ish conduct ;  but  as  he  reached  the  floor,  with  as  bright  and  pleasant  a 
countenance  as  ever  shone  on  mortal,  he  said:  'Good  evening,  Mr. 
,  I  believe  you  are  always  in  good  spi.its.     I  am  glad  of  it,  sir.'  " 

As  the  dreaded  scholar  passed  out  towards  his  father's,  the 
«yes  of  the  vexed  yet  amazed  and  delighted  student  pursued 
him,  though  the  pupil  stood  motionless  at  the  foot  of  the 
stairs,  thinking  to  himself  that  the  professor  was  a  most  extra- 
ordinary man  and  that  it  was  very  strange  that  so  many 
people,  especially  students,  should    think  him  austere.      By 

*  In  the  middle  of  the  entry  on  the  first  floor. 


V96  LITTLE   lOlTDlSnESSES.  [1S56. 

tLis  and  other  little  kindnesses  he  made  friends  of  the  yoting 
man  for  life.  Nor  was  he  the  only  one  who  carried  oft*  Avith 
him  these  sentiments  of  personal  love  and  gratitude.  He  is 
forever  enshrined  in  the  hearts  of  many  who  are  now  them- 
selves ornaments  of  the  Presbyterian  Church. 


CHAPTER   XXIX. 

Dr.  Alexander's  visits  to  his  brothers  in  New  York  wero 
now  more  frequent  than  ever.  At  this  time  he  had  the  addi- 
tional inducement  of  the  expected  concourse  of  able  ministers 
and  ruling  elders  who  this  spring  were  to  dignify  the  city 
with  their  presence,  and  entertain  and  impress  it  with  their 
discussions. 

Sunday,  May  the  eleventh,  was  the  communion  at  Nine- 
teenth Street.  In  the  evening  the  pastor  pi-eached  at  the  installa- 
tion of  his  brother,  the  Rev,  S.  D.  Alexander.  The  Assembly- 
men were  beginning  to  come  in.  Dr.  James  Alexander's  weekly 
lectures  to  his  congregation  were  now  at  the  zenith  of  their 
popularity,  from  which  they  never  declined.  The  house  on 
Eighteenth  Street  was  full  of  company.  The  Supreme  Court 
of  the  Church  was  opened  with  a  great  sermon  by  the  Rev. 
Dr.  N.  L.  Rice,  from  the  text  "  Preach  the  Word." 

The  Assembly  was  dissolved  about  10  p.m.,  of  Wednesday 
the  28th.  "The  general  impression"  Dr.  James  Alexander 
records,  "  is  that  there  has  never  been  a  more  harmonious, 
judicious,  and  respectable  body,  or  a  more  grave,  courteous, 
wise,  aflectionate,  and  pious,  moderator." 

The  subject  of  these  biographical  sketches  was  now  in  the 
city,  and  though  very  much  secluded,  managed  to  hear  some 
of  the  notabilities.  He  had  the  satisfaction  of  listening  to  Dr. 
Thorn  well's  surpassing  effort  on  the  subject  of  Foreign  Mis' 
sions,  and  tranquilly  admired  it.  He  compared  the  structure 
of  the  discourse  to  that  of  the  French  preachers  of  the  school 
of  Massillon.  He  had  had  his  expectations  much  raised,  and 
was  not  as  much  carried  away  as  some  others  were.*  He  how- 
ever applauded  the  masterly  handling  of  the  theme.     He  was 

*  Dr.  Thornwell  used  to  say  that  the  Isaiah  was  a  "  miae"  of  learning. 


798  DIJ-    DABNET.  [1856. 

very  capricious  in  his  likes  and  dislilies,  or  rather  in  the  ve- 
hemence or  hikewarmness  of  his  emotions,  Avhile  listening  to 
a  sermon.  An  ordinary  man  would,  in  some  moods,  excite 
him  to  ecstasy,  while  the  most  elaborate  efforts  of  the  celebrat- 
ed preacher  would  often  fail  to  impress  his  feelings.  He 
could  only  be  taken  by  surprise. 

The  other  Assembly  Avas  meeting  at  the  same  time,  at  Dr. 
Adams's  Church,  and  I  accompanied,  or  met  with  him,thcre 
more  than  once.  He  sat  in  the  corner  of  one  of  the  galleries. 
The  great  debate  on  slavery,  which  resulted  in  the  secession 
the  following  year  of  the  Southern  Presbyteries,  interested 
him  vastly.  Among  the  strong  speakers  in  this  body,  were 
Dr.  Asa  D.  Smith,  and  Dr.  Joel  Parker,  of  New  York ;  Dr. 
Ross,  of  lluntsville;  Judge  Jessup,  and  others,  v/hose  names 
were  not  communicated  to  me.  Dr.  Beman  was  present,  and 
I  think  Dr.  Cox,  but  I  do  not  think  that  eitlier  took  much 
part  in  the  heated  controversy. 

It  was  probably  soon  after  the  adjournment  of  the  two  As- 
semblies,  that  Dr.  Dabney  of  Virginia  was  again  in  company 
with  Dr.  Alexander,  and  spent  a  day  in  his  house  at  Prince- 
ton. This  was  the  last  time  they  ever  met.  The  interview 
was  a  most  agreeable  one.     Dr.  Dabney  writes  : 

"  He  received  me  with  quiet,  but  genuiue  kindness.  I  ascerfcained 
that  he  was  suffering  with  an  aching  touth,  and  was  much  struck  wiih 
the  self-sacrificing  spirit  in  wliicli  lie  declined  to  retire  (as  I  urged 
liim),  and  knowing  tiiat  I  had  but  the  one  day  which  I  could  possibly 
spend,  devoted  himself  to  my  entertainment,  without  belriiying  his  an- 
noying pain  in  any  manner.  Our  talk  was  cliiefly  of  matters  pertain- 
ing to  our  own  profession  and  the  Church.  I  ascertained  that  he  was 
a  man  who  thought  for  himself,  and  had  original  views,  many  of  them 
far  from  harmonious  with  prevalent  and  fashionable  ecclesiasticism. 

"  I  was  much  struck  with  the  fact  tliat  one  who  was  so  much  a  man 
of  the  closet  as  he,  should  have  so  much  practical  knowledge  of  society 
and  human  nature.  During  the  day  I  remarked,  that  there  seemed  to 
be  a  great  difficulty  in  conibining  practical  knowledge  of  men  and  af- 
fairs with  thorough  scholarship,  in  our  young  men  ;  because  the  study 
which  secured  the  latter  necessari'y  shut  them  out  of  the  publicity  which 
taught  the  former.     lie  very  quietly  replied,  that  there  was  a  way  by 


^T.47.]  WEITING    m   NEW   YOEK.  799 

■which  the  recluse  in  his  study  might  acquire  a  correct  knowledge  of 
huinau  nature;  by  the  study  of  his  Bible  and  his  own  heart.  I  have 
no  doubt  that  this  remark  gave  the  key  to  his  own  character,  as  con- 
cerned this  trait  of  it.  There  was  a  remarkable  absence  of  egoti-sm  and 
dogmatism,  for  one  who  must  have  been  conscious  of  powers  and  ac- 
quirements, and  who  had  been  so  much  complimented  and  applauded. 
This,  unhappily  for  me,  happily  for  him,  was  my  last  interview ;  for 
'  the  good  man  was  taken  away  from  the  evil  to  come,'  " 

The  early  part  of  tliis  summer  Dr.  Alexander  spent  in 
travelling.  He  left  Princeton  on  the  12th  of  June,  and  I 
find  him  in  Washington  on  the  16th,  where  he  spent  a  day  or 
two,  dividing  his  time  between  the  Court  of  Claims  and  the 
Senate  and  House  of  Representatives.  Returning  to  New 
York  on  the  20th,  he  proceeded  directly  to  New  England, 
sjoending  Sunday,  the  22d,  in  Boston  where  he  heard  N.  Adams, 
D.D.,  preach,  and  Sunday,  the  29th,  in  New  Haven,  listening  to 
Prof.  Fisher,  Dr.  Bacon,  and  Dr.  Winslow.  He  returned  to 
New  York  on  the  30th,  stopping  at  Blancard's  on  the  Fourth 
Avenue,  where  he  insisted  on  a  front  room,  that  commanded 
the  picturesque  hubbub  of  the  highway.  This,  he  said,  was  a 
large  part  of  the  pleasure  he  had  when  in  town,  seeing  and 
hearing  what  was  passing.  Here  he  spent  the  months  of  July 
and  August,  chiefly  absorbed  in  writing  his  commentary. 

But  on  this  occasion  he  must  have  sometimes  drawn  up  his 
chair  to  his  brother  James's  table,  for  the  latter  informs  Dr. 
Hall,  July  28th,  "  Addison  is  writing  on  Acts  in  my  study, 
and  printing  too."  *  His  love  of  freshness  and  novelty  protnpt- 
ed  him  to  exchange  one  place  for  the  other  frequently,  and 
his  diary  is  sometimes  made  up  of  the  list  of  the  different  hotels 
where  he  often  took  his  meals.  On  the  31st  he  writes  from 
Fourth  Avenue  f  to  the  Rev.  C.  W.  Hodge  of  Princeton,  the  let- 
ter which  is  placed  below.  This  letter  sufficiently  implies  that  it 
Avas  here  his  main  work  was  done.  His  habit,  it  seems,  was 
to  write  from  six  to  eight  hours  a  day,  in  full  view  of  the  cars 
and  omnibuses,   on   the   ground-floor  of  Blancard's   i^rivate 

*  Fam.  Letters,  Vol.  II.  p.  227. 

t  This  was  in  the  study  of  his  brother,  Rev.  S.  D.  Alexander. 


800  A   GEAPHIC   LETTEE.  [1S06. 

boarding-house.  Ilis  meals  wex'e  either  brought  to  his  room, 
or  he  went  abroad  to  get  them.  The  letter  is  graphic  and 
pleasant.  The  object  of  the  writer  was  to  obtain  certainty 
about  a  Greek  word. 

"238  Fouimi  Avenue,  N.  Y.,  July  31st,  1850. 
"  Mt  Dear  Fkiexd  : 

"  As  I  hear  you  are  in  Princeton,  and  I  fear  still  at  leisure,  I  mako 
bold  to  occupy  your  thoughts  with  a  small  commission,  Mliich  I  hope 
you  will  find  ntitlier  troublesome  nor  imcongenial.  Without  further 
preface,  what  I  want  is  this,  to  know  with  tolerable  certainty,  whether 
the  Greek  word  ISidirrjs,  ■which  occurs  in  Acts  i.t.  13  ever  has  the  sense 
of  its  derivation  idiot  or  ideot  in  English.  I  can  find  no  trace  of  such 
a  use  in  any  of  the  ordinary  lexicons,  but  do  not  like  to  assert  a  nega- 
tive on  their  authority.  All  that  I  would  ask  of  you,  and  that  of  course 
only  if  entirely  convenient,  is  to  look  at  Stephens's  Thesaurus  for  rae. 
If  it  is  not  there,  I  shall  be  i^retty  safe  in  saying  that  it  is  not  anywhere. 
I  am  led  by  my  work  here  into  many  philological  inquiries  which  can- 
not be  put  into  a  popular  comment,  save  as  bare  results,  but  which 
may  serve  some  useful  purpose  at  another  time.  I  write  from  six  to 
eight  hours  per  diem,  in  a  situation  which  Avould  drive  you  mad,  or 
make  you  as  seasick  as  you  were  that  day  between  Dover  and  Calais 
— I  mean  at  a  front  window  on  the  level  of  Fourth  Avenue,  with  all 
the  cars  and  omnibuses  in  full  blast  day  and  night.  It  is  the  noisiest 
place  I  ever  occupied,  except  Madame  Le  Close's  lodgings  in  the  Eue 
ISTeuve  Saint  Roch.  I  find  it  agrees  well,  however,  both  with  ray 
health,  and  with  my  work  which  is  advancing  slowly  but  a  mile  ahead 
of  the  poor  printers.  Did  your  father  get  the  plate-proofs  which  I  or- 
dered for  him  ?  I  think  the  volume  will  look  very  well,  although  I 
care  less  and  less  for  tyi^ographical  appearance.  This  I  know,  will 
shock  you.  Accept  this  gentle  criticism  as  my  payment  in  advance 
for  the  favour  I  have  asked,  and  believe  me  to  be  ever, 

"  Most  sincerely  yours, 
"  Rev.  C.  "W,  IIoDGE.  J.  A.  Alexander." 

He  was  at  home  by  the  first  of  September,  as  I  learn  from 
the  following  record.  The  subject  whicli  now  took  njo  most 
of  his  time  was  the  chequered  story  of  Christianity. 

"  September  18.  Lectured  to  all  the  classes  on  the  Ancient  and 
Mediaaval  Church  historians.    Walked.    Reduced  my  two  first  lectures 


-Et.47.]  PEOFESSOR   HEPBURN.  801 

(those  of  last  week)  to  a  written  form,  making  seventy-three  para- 
graphs. This  I  propose  to  do  every  week,  after  delivering  the  lecture 
once  from  notes,  and  then  examiolDg  three  classes  separately  on  them. 
"Wrote  on  Acts  vii.  19." 

These  lectures,  in  the  abbreviated  form  of  the  first  draught, 
were  subsequently  printed  in  a  volume  of  posthumous  essays 
on  Church  History  and  New  Testament  Literature,  which  was 
put  forth  by  Mr.  Scribner. 

The  admirable  remarks  of  Professor  Hepburn,  of  Miami 
University,  will  be  interesting  to  all  old  students  of  this 
course : 

"  During  my  Seminary  course.  Dr.  Alexander  lectured  upon  Old 
Testament  History,  the  Harmony  of  the  Gospels,  the  book  of  Acts, 
and  on  Ecclesiastical  History.  He  interpolated,  as  I  believe  was  his 
custom,  special  courses  of  lectures ;— one  on  Joshua  and  anotlier  on  the 
book  of  Revelation.  The  course  on  Old  Testament  History  was  the 
most  popular,  and  I  think  was  Dr.  Alexander's  favourite  course.  He 
told  me  that  he  intended  to  prepare  a  text-book  on  that  subject ;  I  fe  ir 
he  has  left  no  portion  of  the  work  in  a  condition  fit  for  publication. 
Many  of  his  views  on  these  subjects,  iu  fact  the  summary  of  many  of 
his  lectures,  are  contained  in  some  of  his  articles  in  the  Repertory, 

"It  was  characteristic  of  his  whole  course  of  lectures  that  they 
were  not  so  much  intended  to  impart  full,  detailed  information  on  the 
subjects  discussed  as  to  recommend  methods  of  study,  to  give  sugges- 
tions for  the  prosecution  of  the  study  hereafter.  This  he  continually 
stated  to  us.  His  views  of  teaching  history  were  substantially  those 
of  Professor  Smyth  of  Cambridge,  of  whose  Lectures  on  Modern  His- 
tory he  once  said  in  class,  'I  owe  more  to  that  book  than  to  any 
other  one  book,  as  to  method  in  historical  study.'  He  urged  upon  the 
students  to  use  the  material  given  them  in  this  course  in  their  pulpit 
preparations,  remarking  that  it  seemed  that  most  of  the  students  after 
spending  years  at  the  Seminary  in  study,  when  they  went  to  preach- 
ing fell  back  upon  something  or  other  which  they  learned  before  enter- 
ing. He  laid  great  stress  on  the  fact  that  in  Scripture  the  historical 
form  of  presenting  the  truth  is  so  prevalent,  and  urged  that  this  divine 
model  should  be  more  observed  iu  preaching. 

"  He  did  not  often  recommend  books  to  us.    -He  once  said  to  me, 
that  jje  never  recommended  a  work  to  the  students  which  he  did  not 
regard  as  entirely  evangelical.     I  remember  his  once  remarking  in 
34* 


802  FOIST)    OF   EXPERIMEISTTS.  [1853 

class  that  it  was  a  paradox  of  liis.  Hint  lie  preferred  an  inferior  booi 
by  a  great  mau  to  a  better  book  by  an  inferior  tme.  Edwards's  His- 
tory of  rieJeinpticn  was  one  most  highly  commended  by  Lim.  llo 
stated  that  he  had  when  young  read  Uie  work  and  tlionght  it  a  good 
kind  of  book,  but  without  being  specially  struck  with  its  merits;  but 
that  lately,  after  having  read  largely  in  all  the  languages  of  wliich  he 
was  master,  he  had  taken  up  the  work  again,  and  was  surprised  to  find 
in  it  what  he  had  been  seeking  for  in  such  remote  quarters. 

"The  lectures  delivered  in  class-room  weie  models  of  their  kind. 
They  never  failed  to  keep  the  attention  even  of  the  more  negligent, 
and  to  impress  themselves  on  the  memory.  They  were  not  writttn. 
He  stated  once  that  he  held  that  there  was  a  great  difference  between 
spoken  and  written  style,  and  proceeded  to  ilhistrate  his  views  by 
reading  us  some  of  his  leel:ures  on  Church  Ilisro'y  as  he  wrote  tlum 
after  delivery.  The  ditference  was  marked.  In  the  ordinary  lecture 
I  never  failed  to  secure  every  thought — but  so  condensed  was  this 
specimen  read,  that  althougli  familiar  with  the  matter  from  previous 
lectures,  I  had  to  ab;indon  my  attempt  to  take  notes. 

''He  was  fond  of  making  experiments.  One  that  he  made  for  a 
few  weeks  hns  not  been  without  its  results.  In  onr  first  year,  when  as 
yet  we  were  unacquainted  with  Hebrew,  he  instituted  a  series  of  lec- 
tures on  the  book  of  Joshua,  for  the  purpose  of  seeing  whether  lie 
could  give  to  those  unacquainted  with  the  original  language  (making 
the  English  text  the  basis  of  the  lecture)  the  results  of  a  critical  study 
of  the  book  in  the  original.  I  do  not  know  how  he  was  pleased  with 
the  results  of  his  experiment ;  I  suspect  not  very  well.  A  few  years 
a''ter,  Dr.  Broadus,  who  was  one  of  the  Committee  for  organizing 
the  Baptist  Theologic;;l  Seminary  at  Greenville,  S.  C,  inquired  of  me 
what  I  thought  of  the  possibility  of  communicating  to  a  class  ignorant 
of  Greek  and  Hebrew  the  results  of  exegetical  study  of  the  Scriptures. 
I  gave  him  at  full  length  an  account  of  Dr.  Alexander's  exper  mcnr. 
lie  was  delighted  to  hear  it,  and  t(dd  me  some  months  afterwards  that 
he  had  laid  it  before  the  Committee,  who  aho  were  pleased  with  it, 
and  intended  to  introduce  the  feature  into  their  Seminary.  By  tlieir 
Catalogue  which  I  received  afterwards  from  Dr.  Broadus,  I  ?ee  that 
critical  lectures  on  the  Old  and  New  Testament  with  English  text  as 
basis,  constitutes  a  part  of  the  course. 

"  I  wish  I  could  have  communicated  this  to  Dr.  Alexander.  He 
was  always  pleased  to  hear  of  the  results  of  his  labours  outside  of  the 
Seminary.  I  once  told  him  I  had  taken  a  class  in  my  country  churcL 
through  his  course  of  Old  Testament  History.     He  said  that  it  always 


^T.47.]  PEOPOSED    JOUENEY.  808 

gratiSed  him  to  hear  of  such  experiments.  That  his  only  mode  of  be- 
coming useful  in  a  more  extended  sphere,  was  through  those  who  un- 
derstood him  and  could  j^opularize  what  tli^y  had  received  from  him. 
"We  went  on  thea  to  discuss  text-books  for  this  study,  lie  criticized  a 
number,  and  then  added,  "  "Well,  sir,  I  will  write  you  one ; "  and 
then  proceeded  to  explain,  by  saying  that  he  had  long  intended  to  pre- 
pare such  a  book  for  his  classes,  and  would  be  glad  to  have  it  used,  as 
I  proposed,  in  popular  instruction  in  Bible  classes." 

The  October  -weather  was  fine.  Dr.  Addison  Alexander 
left  New  York  on  the  30th.  The  city  was  on  the  eve  of  the 
national  election.  Dr.  James  Alexander  prays,  "May  God 
turn  all  to  the  good  of  our  great  yet  sinful  country !  Amen." 
He  had  dark  forebodings  for  the  future,  having  always,  like 
his  father,  predicted  that  the  quarrel  between  the  North  and 
South  would  probably  turn  out  to  be  irreconcilable.  He  felt 
that  the  atmosphere  was  charged  with  war.  He  however 
prayed  ardently  for  jDcace.  His  brother  Addison  seldom  re- 
ferred to  the  subject  of  politics,  but  like  his  more  despondent 
brother,  had  devoted  himself  to  the  interests  of  that  "  king- 
dom which  is  not  of  this  world,"  and  which  amidst  all  the 
commotions  of  earthly  change  and  revolution,  can  "  never  be 
moved." 

In  the  following  letter  to  his  brother  Samuel,  he  talks  of 
more  journeying  and  more  writing  : 

"  Peincetoit,  Oct.  23,  1856. 
"Eet.  and  Dear  Samuel: 

"I  expect  to  finish  my  first  course  of  lectures  this  week,  and  to 
give  next  week  to  the  classes  for  revision,  and  to  myself  for  change  of 
air,  &c.  I  cannot  determine  whether  I  will  merely  change  my  place 
and  spend  the  week  in  New  York,  writing  Acts,  or  whether  I  will 
take  a  journey.  What  do  you  think  of  visiting  Quebec  and  Montreal 
with  me  ?  If  you  cannot  do  thi>-,  what  do  you  think  of  my  spending 
next  week  at  the  Family  Hotel?  Is  my  old  room  still  vacant,  and 
will  Blancard  let  me  have  it  and  my  board  at  the  old  price?  Whether 
I  hear  from  you  or  not,  I  expect  to  be  in  town  on  Saturday — pei-haps 
at  No.  30  West  18th  Street — and  shall  probably  bring  my  box  of  books, 
and  then  determine  whether  I  will  stay  iu  New  York  or  go  further. 
If  I  do  this  I  may  send  my  books  to  your  house,  and  will  thank  you  to 


804  EXTEACT   FEOM   JOUllNAL.  [i856 

let  them  lodge  in  one  of  your  rooms  till  the  question  is  determined. 
I  should  not  like  to  stop  Acts  for  a  week,  if  the  printers  were  not  so 
far  behind  me.  I  have  had  no  proof  this  week,  though  I  expected 
ine  every  day.  I  make  nt>  complaint,  however,  as  I  do  not  wish  them 
to  go  faster. 

"Accept  the  assurance  of  ray  high  consideration. 

"J.  A.  Alexander." 

Dr.  James  Alexander  went  to  Princeton  on  the  16tli  of 
December  to  attend  the  meeting  of  the  College  Trustees,  and 
returned  the  next  day.  During  this  visit,  bis  brother  Addi- 
son, whose  mind  was  astoundingly  fertile  in  new  projects, 
proposed  to  him  a  plan  of  authorship  which  embraced  the 
scheme  of  writing  and  printing  a  succession  of  letters, 
"  v/hich,"  Avrites  the  elder  brother,  "  in  humble  reliance  on 
Providence,  I  think  of  attempting."  I  never  heard  of  his  ac- 
tually doing  so.  How  little  did  his  people  suspect  that  he 
had  but  three  years  more  to  live  !  His  light  Avas  now  flaming 
near  the  socket,  and  its  lustre  was  transient  and  delusive. 
Oh  !  how  we  should  all  prize  the  possibilities  of  to-day,  if  we 
did  but  forecast  the  certainties  of  to-morrow. 

Meanwhile  Dr.  Addison  Alexander  was  moving  steadily 
on  in  his  various  courses  of  technical  and  discursive  reading. 
I  give  an  extract  or  two  from  the  journal.  They  reveal  the 
fact  that  he  was  as  usual  studying  various  foreign  languages, 
and  reading  Acts,  Genesis  and  Mark,  in  a  course  of  scriptural 
exegesis. 

"  December  9.  Read  the  Scriptures  in  Arabic,  Portuguese,  Swedish, 
and  English.  Began  the  11th  book  of  Mariana's  Ilistoria  de  Espafia. 
Lectured  to  the  2d  class  on  Acts  ii.  1-9.  Began  Acts  xi,  (writing). 
Continued  Brandt,  Gibbon,  and  the  Edinburgh  Eeview. 

"December  30.  Eead  Ohrysostom,  Ammonius,  Cyril,  Erasmus, 
Calvin,  Grotius,  Bengel,  Lightfoot,  Whitby,  Gill,  Rosenmiiller,  01s- 
Iiausen,  Meyer,  De  Wette,  Baumgarten,  Neander,  SchafF,  Lange,  Bloom- 
field,  Humphrey,  Hackett,  Alford,  Trollope,  Barnes  and  Ripley  on 
Acts  xiv.  Genesis  in  Arabic,  Matthew  in  Portuguese,  Mark  in 
Swedish." 

The  year  had  been  well  spent,  and  was  now  ended. 


^T.  47.]  DEEP   EST   HIS    WOEK.  805 

We  have  scarce  a  glimpse  of  him  from  the  beginning  of 
the  year  1857  until  May.  He  Avas,  as  his  journal  shows,  con- 
tinuing his  immense  circuits  in  literature  and  Biblical  science. 
As  the  spring  opened,  he  became  anxious  to  transfer  his 
papers  to  New  York. 

The  following  letter  to  Mr.  Scribner  is  all  that  can  be  re- 
covered of  his  labours  during  this  winter.  He  Avas  at  this 
time  deep  in  his  commentary,  and  in  the  study  of  the  Apoca- 
lypse ;  both  of  which  are  referred  to  in  the  letter. 

,,  ^         ^  "Princeton,  Jan.  2Gth,  1857. 

"  Deae  Sib  : 

"I  liave  made  considerable  progress  in  my  second  volume,  and  as 
soon  as  I  have  filled  the  book  in  which  I  am  now  writing,  will  send  it 
on.  In  the  meantime,  please  to  order,  by  the  next  steamer,  a  copy  of 
the  '  Voyage  and  Shipwreck  of  St.  Paul,'  by  Smith  of  Jordanhill,  which 
I  shall  need  in  writing  on  the  last  chapter.  I  have  heretofore  used  a 
copy  of  the  first  edition,  presented  by  the  author  to  my  brother  when 
in  Scotland,  but  I  see  that  the  work  has  been  reprinted  with  some  new 
discoveries.  I  should  like  a'so  to  obtain  a  sij?ht  of  Lord  Lyttleton 
before  I  finish.  Perhaps  a  standing  order  on  your  English  correspond- 
ent, or  on  some  importing  house  at  home,  would  bring  it  here  in  time, 
if  it  is  actually  published.  I  wish  to  ascertain  the  author  of  a  book 
called  "  Hypoia,  or  Thoughts  on  a  Spiritual  Understanding  of  the  Apoc- 
alypse," a  large  octavo  pubfL-^bed  by  Leavitt,  Trow  &  Co.  in  1844. 
The  copyright  is  in  the  name  of  John  E.  Hurd,  but  whether  he  is  the 
author  I  am  not  aware  and  should  be  glad  to  know.  I  presume,  that 
by  inquiring  either  up  or  down  stairs,  you  can  easily  obtain  the  infor- 
mation, and  thereby  oblige, 

"  Yours  truly, 

"  J.  A.  Alexandee." 

The  little  volume  of  the  elder  brother  entitled  the  "  Ameri- 
can  Sunday  School  and  its  Adjuncts,"  was  now  in  the  hands 
of  the  booksellers  and  their  customers.  It  is  addressed  to 
teachers,  and  is  chiefly  aimed  at  the  correction  of  certain  prac- 
tical evils.  The  foreign  newspapers  were  deeply  studied  by 
the  younger  brother.  Now  and  then  he  saw  what  startled 
and  often  pleased  him.  At  this  time  he  noticed  (what  few 
other  Americans  would  have  noticed)  that  there  was  a  whole 


806  BIBLICAL   HISTORY.  [1S57. 

some  change  going  on  among  tlie  English  bishoprics.  His 
brother  to  whom  he  mentioned  it,  brings  the  matter  before 
Dr.  Hall.  "  Addison  calls  my  attention  to  the  remarkable 
revolution,  which,  under  the  Palmerston  rule,  is  going  on  in 
the  English  Sees,  in  favour  of  evangelicalism.  Both  Arch- 
bishops and  three  leading  bishops  are  now  on  that  side."  * 

The  overtasked  brain  and  nerves  of  the  city  pastor,  how- 
ever, needed  rest  rather  than  stimulus.  His  throat  also 
began  to  .cause  him  profound  uneasiness.  In  this  state  of 
things  he  often  called  upon  his  brother  for  help.  Late  in  April 
he  writes,  "  Addison  preached  for  me  yesterday,  though  I 
think  I  could  have  preached  once  myself."  f  The  trouble 
grew,  until  matters  came  to  a  crisis,  and  the  sorrowful  and 
heavy-laden  minister  had  to  stop  work  for  a  time. 

Professor  Alexander  was  now  lecturing  on  the  history  con- 
tained in  the  later  part  of  the  historical  scriptures,  and  the 
prophets  of  the  Exile  and  the  Restoration  ;  as  may  be  gather- 
ed from  the  following  extract : 

"  March  25. — Lectured  to  the  tliird  das3  on  the  Babylonish  Con- 
quest and  Captivity,  the  Restoration  and  the  foreign  Domination. 
Closing  the  course  in  Old  Testament  History  pro  hie  vice.  Read  Acts 
xxi.  in  Syiiac,  Latin,  and  old  English  versions — wrote  on  verses  1-8." 

His  lectures  on  Biblical  Histoiy  can  be  only  guessed  at 
from  the  volume  of  published  notes,  which  are  a  mere  epitome. 
A  better  idea  of  them,  in  some  respects,  may  be  culled  from 
parts  of  his  commentaries  and  from  some  of  his  later  articles 
in  the  Repertory.  They  showed  a  wonderful  acquaintance 
Avith  the  facts  and  structure  of  the  scriptural  books,  and  of 
collateral  authorities,  and  were  given  in  the  most  nervous  style 
of  graphic  extemporaneous  English.  The  classes  were  delight- 
ed with  them ;  having,  indeed,  but  one  ground  of  complaint 
against  their  teacher,  and  that  was,  that  he  so  often  changed 
his  plans.  But  he  had  his  reasons  for  his  movements,  which 
many  of  them  did  not  understand. 

*  Fam.  Let.  II.  p.  284. 
f  Ibid  II.  p.  235. 


^T.48.]  COMMENTAEY    OlST   ACTS.  SOT 

Professor  Hepburn  says,  "I  have  always  regretted  that 
Dr.  Alexander  gave  himself  so  exclusively  to  Exegesis.  lie 
v/ould  no  doubt  condemn  such  a  sentiment,  I  observed  while 
studying  under  him  that  it  was  hard  for  him  to  leave  the  in- 
terpretation of  Scripture,  for  the  other  parts  of  his  course. 
lie  gave  two  years  to  Bible  History,  the  second  year  being 
given  entirely  to  Exegesis  (on  Acts),  and  endeavoured  to  crowd 
the  whole  of  Ecclesiastical  History  into  one  year.  In  addition 
he  gave  several  short  special  courses  on  portions  of  Scripture, 
as  on  Joshua,  and  on  Revelation. 

"  There  was  one  lieculiarity  about  him,  which  you  may  have  no- 
ticed—the students  often  coraplaineil  of  it,  and  I  have  heard  the  same 
complaint  from  many  who  have  read  liis  Isaiah— that  is,  that  he  fre- 
quently gives,  as  I  have  heard  it  expressed,  'Every  one's  opinion  on 
the  pa'^sage,  except  his  own.'  Some  of  Meander's  pupils  have  told  me 
that  he  was  frequently  guilty  of  the  same.  But  is  it  a  fault?  I  have 
been  told  that  Neander,  while  go  reticent  often  in  his  public  lectures, 
was  very  free  in  expressing  his  views  in  privat?.  I  suspect  this  was 
true  also  of  Dr.  Alexander.  This  reserve  was,  however,  very  charac- 
teristic of  him  ;  he  passed  over  many  subjects  without  indicating  his 
views,  yet  on  all,  he  held  very  decided  ones;  e.g.  on  Church  Govern- 
ment and  on  Ordination  of  Ruling  Elders." 

I  learn  from  the  next  entry  in  his  journal,  that  he  was  still 
busily  engaged  upon  the  Acts. 

"  May  14.— Read  Acts  xxviii.  in  the  Peshito,  Vulgate,  Luther, 
Meyer,  De  Wette,  Erasmus,  Calvin,  Wolf,  Bengel,  Wetstein,  Lightfoot,' 
Lardner,  Winer,  Bloomfleld,  Olshausen,  Von  Gerlach,  Humphrey, 
Ilackett,  Ti-ollope,  and  Lyttleton." 

The  class  got  the  benefit  of  these  studies,  and  when  his 
book  was  published  had  it  for  a  text-book.  At  one  time  he 
examined  them  on  the  Harmony  of  the  Gospels,  using  Dr. 
Robinson's  convenient  synoptical  arrangement  of  the  Evange- 
lists in  Greek.  The  lessons  were  vastly  interesting,  but  were 
soon  discontinued.  He  used  to  ask  questions  in  Etymology 
and  construction,  just  as  if  he  had  been  handling  a  Greek 
classic.     His  questions  in  Biblical  History  were  written  down 


808  AFFAIES   EST  NEW    YOEK.  [1857 

and  copied  by  the  students,  and  were  plain  enough  for  the 
older  scholars  in  a  Sunday  school.  To  miss  them  was  dis- 
graceful, and  sometimes  incurred  a  reprimand.  In  general  he 
was  meek  and  tolerant. 

In  New  York,  matters  were  much  as  formerly.  Dr.  James 
Alexander's  people  had  been  for  some  time  talking  of  sending 
their  pastor  to  Europe.  The  step  was  now  determined  upon, 
and  a  liberal  provision  for  the  trip  was  voted  by  the  congrega- 
tion. This  proposal  was  the  more  agreeable  to  him,  as  it  in- 
cluded his  wife  and  youngest  child,  both  of  whom  needed  rest 
and  healing.  Plis  own  bronchial  cough  had  become  very 
troublesome  and  even  a  little  alarming.  The  Session  acted 
promptly  in  the  matter,  and  the  Trustees  unanimously  agreed 
to  give  the  ailing  pastor  a  vacation  till  the  cool  weather.  His 
consent  to  the  arrangement  was  after  all  a  reluctant  one.  He 
did  not  like  the  thought  of  intermitting  his  labours  for  any 
but  the  most  serious  cause,  and  his  sensitive  spirit  shrank  from 
the  generosity  of  his  friends  and  parishioners.  He  neverthe- 
less fell  in  with  the  wishes  of  his  best  advisers. 

Meanwhile  he  took  a  sea- voyage  to  V^irginia,  in  the  steamer 
Roanoke.  He  touched  at  City  Point,  and  visited  Petersbui'g, 
Richmond,  and  the  University.  The  interval  between  his  re- 
turn and  his  sailing,  which  took  place  after  the  middle  of  May, 
was  spent  in  shopping  and  preparations.  The  passage  across 
the  Atlantic  Avas  taken  under  Captain  Scott,  and  was  very 
beneficial  to  him. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  vacation  of  1857,  the  subject  of 
this  memoir  went  to  New  York,  intending  to  Avrite  a  book  on 
Old  Testament  History.  His  journal  will  give  the  result  of 
these  expectations : 


"June  1. — Began  my  book  ou  Old  Testament  history. 

"June  2. — Broke  clown. 

"  June  3. — Eesumed  my  experiment. 

"  June  4. — Broke  down  again. 

"June  16. — Began  a  book  on  Mark;  wrote  i.  1-4. 

"Aug.  29. — Finished  Mark  between  one  and  two  o'clock.    Collapse. 


^T.48.]  METHOD    OF   TEACHmG   HISTORY.  809 

"Aug.  31.— Revised  four  chapters  of  Mark."* 

An  account  of  Dr.  Alexander  as  a  teacher,  given  by  one 
of  his  pui^ils,  f  is  here  inserted. 

"  There  are  a  great  many  >vho  bj  no  means  agree  with  me  in  pro- 
nouuemg  Dr.  Alexander  a  great  teacher.     Those  who  deny  his  merits 
as  a  teacher  refer  invariably  to  his  course  on  Ecclesiastical  History.   It 
was  the  fashion  in  the  Seminary  to  complain  of  that  course      '  Dr 
Alexander  was  so  fickle '-that,  I  believe,  was  the  word.      He  did 
change  his  method  frequently  with  our  class:    he  commenced  tlie 
course  with  a  general  view  of  the  various  mod'es  of  treatin-  Church 
History,  criticizing  all.     Mosheini's  he  regarded  as  most  defective  (the 
centurial  method).     He  gave  ns  then  his  own,  commenced  on  it,  soon 
abandoned   it,   and   ended   by  falling  back   on  Mosheim's   centurial 
method.      I  had  no  sympathy  with  this  clamour  about  his  frequent 
changes,^  and  was  as  ready  to  hear  of  a  new  method  as  Dr.  Alexander  was 
to  give  it:  my  experience  since  has  shown  mestUl  more  how  senseless 
It  was.     The  fact  is  that  the  proper  method  of  teaching  history  re- 
mains to  be  discovered.     No  method  adopted  in  the  limited  time  al- 
lowed the  study  in  our  country,  has  satisfied  either  instructor  or  pupil 
Dr.  Alexander  was  continually  stud^  ing  methods  of  instruction.     He 
frequently  mentioned  and  criticized  different  methods  in  class.     He 
thought  once  of  introducing  Gieseler  as  a  text-book.     Had  he  done  so, 
the  disgust  of  the  majority  with  his  course  would  have  increased  a 
thousand-fold.     The  conclusion  he  came  to  when  lecturing  to  us  was, 
that  a  course  of  history  in  a  literary  institution  can  give  only  the 
method  of  study— directions  for  the  prosecution  of  the  study  after- 
wards.    Besides  this  difliculty  inherent  in  the  subject,  he  had  an  addi- 
tional one  to  contend  with,  in  the  limited  time  allotted  the  subject 
His  strong  predilection  for  Biblical  studies  led  him  to  devote  a  laro-^r 
proportion  of  time  to  them,  and  he  found  himself  compelled  to  fintsh 
eighteen  centuries  in  one  year's  course.     This  was  aU  the  more  embar- 

*  The  following  table  gives  the  time  occupied  in  writing  each  chapter  of 


Mark 


"Wrote  Mark,  Chap.  i.  June  18-24;  Chap.  ii.  June  25-29;  Chap.  ill.  Juno 
SO-JuIy  4;  Chap.  iv.  July  '7-10;  Chap.  v.  July  11-14;  Chap.  vi.  July  15-18  • 
Chap.  v.i.  July  21-23;  Chap.  viii.  July  24,  25;  Chap.  ix.  July  27-31;  Chap' 
X.  Aug.  3-5  ;  Chap.  xi.  Aug.  6-8;  Chap  xii.  Aug.  10,  11  ;  Chap.  xiii.  Aug.  14 
15  ;  Chap.  xiv.  Aug.  19-22  ;  Chap.  xv.  Aug.  25,  26  ;  Chap.  xvi.  Aug.  28,  29.   ' 

f  Professor  Hepburn. 


810  LETTER    TO    DR.    SCIIAFF.  [1857. 

rassing,  ns  lie  di^approverl  of  severing  so  completely  ns  is  iisnally  done, 
Church  history  from  profane.  lie  frequently  expressed  tliese  views  in 
class.  If  1  rememher,  they  are  also  contained  in  an  article  iu  the  Ke- 
pertory. 

"  If  Dr.  Alexander  failed  as  a  teacher  of  liistory,  he  had  for  com- 
panions every  otlier  professor  of  the  same  science  in  our  country.  I 
do  not  think  he  failed.  He  did  not  give  a  detailed  outline  of  the  facts 
of  modern  history,  such  as  the  students  could  commit  to  memory  and 
repeat  at  examination  before  Presbytery;  but  those  who  received  and 
improved  his  instructions  as  he  intended  they  should  be  received  and 
improved,  he  gave  an  impulse  to  study,  and  furnished  directions  for 
study,  of  far  more  value  than  all  the  information  he  could  have  packed 
in  a  three  years'  course.  If  we  arc  to  judge  of  a  teacher's  success  by 
this  test,  the  strength  and  permanence  of  the  impulse  he  gives  to  the 
minds  which  hiive  yielded  themselves  to  his  influence,  then  can  we 
pronounce  Dr.  Alexander  a  great  teacher.  I  believe,  though,  that  he 
himself  was  never  satisfied  with  this  department,  and  was  even  in  our 
day  anxious  to  get  rid  of  it.  The  chairs  were,  if  I  am  not  m'stakcn, 
reorganized  shortly  before  his  death,  and  to  him  more  congenial  studies 
were  assigned. 

"I  received  the  impression  from  Dr.  Alexander's  instructions  that 
he  had  no  respect  for  abstract  speculation,  for  metaphysical  discussions 
either  in  history,  theology,  or  language.  At  any  rate,  he  evidently 
thought  the  place  for  such  discussions  was  not  in  a  preparatory  course 
of  education.  He  expressed  himself  slightingly  of  what  is  called  the 
Philosophy  of  History.  The  name,  at  any  rate,  he  did  not  lilie.  So 
in  the  study  of  languages,  it  was  a  means  not  an  end." 

The  following  letter  to  Dr.  Schaff  asks  for  the  names  of 
some  German  authors  on  Church  History  : 

"New  York,  July  14,   1857. 
"Kev.  and  Deap.  Sik: 

"Wishing  to  prepare  a  course  of  lectures  on  the  rise  and  progress 
of  existing  churches,  I  find  myself  at  fault  in  reference  to  the  national 
Protestant  establishments  of  Germany.  As  to  some  of  them,  I  meet 
with  no  descriptions  or  titles  of  special  histories,  while  in  the  case  of 
OLhers  I  experience  the  embarrassment  of  riclies.  As  my  object  is  tc 
asf^ertain  as  few  names  as  would  answer  my  immediate  purpose,  I  can- 
not rely  upon  the  ordinary  bibliographical  authorities,  much  less  upon 
the  information  of  booksellers.     Even  where  no  special  history  exists. 


^^•^8.]  SUMMER   WOEK.  811 

T  should  be  glad  to  learn  the  fact  from  some  one  wlio  can  speak  upon 
the  subject  ez  cathedra.     In  this  emergency  I  turn  of  course  to  you 
^^Ull^ut  apology  for  troubling  you,  but  with  a  particular  request  tha^. 
you  will  give  yourself  as  little  trouble  as  yuu  can  in  shedding  light 
upon  my  darkness.    I  have  no  hope  of  ever  being  able  to  return  the 
favour  in  specie,  but  can  promise  my  sincere  thanks  for  any  help  you 
can  give  me.     What  I  want  is  simply  a  few  names  of  books  or  authors 
to  be  afterwards  procured  from  Germany,  or  information  that  there  a-e 
none  in  any  given  case,  which  is  the  next  best  thing  to  gettino-  them 
I  presume  tl.at  Dr.  Schaeffer  has  consulted  you  in  reference  to  the  new 
edition  of  Kurtz's  smaller  work.     I  could  not  conscientiously  advise 
hi;n  to  attempt  the  translation  of  the  book  in  its  enlarged  f.rm   but 
shouLI  not  regret  to  learn  that  lie  had  been  encourag  d  so  to  do  from 
other  quarters.     I  am,  however,  more  and  more  persuaded  tluit  no 
German  history,  in  its  crude  sta^e,  will  answer  for  tliis  country   but 
that  bonks  of  th^s  kind  must  be  manufactured  for  us  and  among  us 
In  default  of  such  helps,  I  am  tempted  to  dispense  with  text-books  in 
the  ordinary  sense  of  tlie  expression,  and  to  content  myself  vvitli  lec- 
tures and  reference  to  the  standard  works  of  Gieseler  and  Ne.mder 
Whetlier  this  is  all  that  we  require  to  elevate  the  standard  of  instruc- 
tion, and  if  not,  what  more  can  be  accomplished  in  the  way  of  supply- 
ing the  deficiency,  are  questions  which  I  beg  you  to  consider  seriously 
and  once  more  remain,  ' 

"  With  great  respect, 

"Your  friend  and  servant, 
"^^-  S^^^^^-  J.  A.  Alexander." 

I  was  living  in  the  same  house  with  Dr.  Alexander  during 
a  part  of  this  summer,  and  was  an  attentive  observer  of  his  Avays! 
His  brother's  f'xmily  were  in  Europe,  and  we  had  the  range  of 
the  building  to  ourselves.  It  was  hot  weather,  and  any'^time 
between  breakfiist  and  dinner  I  was  sure  to  find  him  in  his 
brother's  study  with  his  coat  off,  and  the  indispensable  pitcher 
of  ice-water  by  his  side,  writing  on  his  Commentary.  The 
long  table  was  partly  covered  with  manuscript,  and  his  hand 
was  going  like  a  race-horse,  I  seldom  disturbed  him :  never, 
unless  it  was  necessary  for  me  to  enter  the  room  to  get  a  book 
or  ask  a  question.  He  never  said  anything  about'  his  work 
except  ill  reply  to  such  queries.  We  took  our  meals  in  differ- 
ent quarters  of  the  city.     One  day  I  encountered  him  at  the 


812  A    MEMOKABLE   IITTEKVIEW.  [185^. 

front  door  just  as  he  was  sallying  out  after  his  morning's  task 
was  over.  He  asked  me  Avhere  I  was  going,  and  I  said,  "To 
dinner."  "  Then,"  said  he,  "  we  are  aiming  at  the  same  object. 
Suppose  you  go  and  take  your  dinner  with  me  ! "  I  saw 
he  was  in  a  fine  humour,  so  nothing  loth  I  acceded  to  the 
proposal,  and  we  made  our  way  to  the  dining-room  of  the 
*  *  *  House,  on  the  Fifth  Avenue,  then  one  of  the  most 
sumptuous  and  recherche  of  the  New  York  salles.  The  small 
round  tables  Avere  covei-ed  Avith  the  Avhitest  damask,  and  orna- 
mented with  the  most  Aveighty  silver.  The  company  was 
aristocratically  select,  and  as  silent  as  the  images  of  Thebes 
or  Persepolis.  The  day  before,  it  is  likely  he  had  supplied  his 
needs  at  one  of  the  cheapest  of  the  restaurants  down  toAvn. 
The  foreign  ministers  and  clergymen  in  Avhite  cravats  aud 
roundabouts,  wlio  condescended  to  carry  the  joints,  glided 
noiselessly  about,  and  placed  before  each  stranger  the  custo- 
mary French  roll,  pat  of  butter,  and  decanter  of  Croton 
water.  Soft  breadths  of  purple  twilight  gleamed  in  the  dis- 
tance. We  sat  down  under  the  south  Avail,  and  hung  up  our 
hats  on  the  rack.  It  was  evident  to  me  at  once  that  he  was 
in  one  of  his  best  moods.  His  face  Avas  genial  and  bright, 
and  his  eyes  twinkled  like  the  pendants  of  the  chandeliers. 
He  charged  me,  and  insisted  on  it,  that  I  should  order  what  I 
pleased.  He  himself  partook  heartily  of  Avhat  was  set  before 
him,  and  talked  with  uninterrupted  volubility.  I  never  saw 
him  appear  to  greater  advantage.  Sometimes  his  face  had 
the  fine  Napoleonic  look  that  it  often  wore  when  in  repose : 
there  Avas  the  light  and  fire  of  genius  in  it.  He  struck  me  as 
having  again  the  dew  of  his  youth.  He  seemed  reluctant  to 
leave  his  seat,  and  talked  some  time  with  his  hat  on  his  head 
before  he  would  turn  toAvards  the  door.  Of  his  own  accord 
he  carried  me  among  the  German  Universities,  and  gave  me 
pen  and-ink  portraits  of  the  Berlin  and  Halle  professors.  He 
drcAV  a  ludicrous  picture  of  Neandcr  on  his  way  to  the  lecture- 
room  with  great  coat  over  his  study-gown  and  a  slipper  on 
one  foot,  and  actually  delivering  a  lecture  to  the  wall.  He 
Lad  not  seen  the  great  Church  historian  in  any  of  these  dis- 


^T.  48.]  BEILLIANT  -  COI^TEESATIOlSr.  813 

plays,  but  like  all  others  had  heard  of  thein.  He  laughed, 
he  chatted,  and  jested,  like  a  man  who  was  supremely  con- 
tented. He  compared  the  European  and  American  modes  of 
education,  giving  the  palm  to  the  former,  but  pointing  out 
many  deficiencies  even  in  the  European  system.  He  also 
rambled  away  on  other  matters,  and  Coleridge  himself  could 
not  have  communicated  more  instruction  and  delight ;  though  it 
would  have  been  in  the  Orinoko  style  of  private  eloquence 
which  is  commended  by  De  Quincey,  and  was  carefully  shunned 
by  Dr.  Alexander.  We  walked  home  a  different  way  from 
the  one  by  which  we  had  come,  and  in  a  short  time  he  was 
once  more  pouring  the  overflowings  of  his  mind  into  his  book. 
We  both  relapsed  as  if  by  instinct  into  the  former  silence. 

I  have  since  thought  that  he  had  probably  solved  some 
great  difficulty  or  made  some  extraordinary  advance  in  his 
labours  that  day,  and  that  this  is  the  true  explanation  of  his 
uncommon  spirits  and  of  the  brilliant  conversational  outburst 
to  which  I  have  referred.  He  seemed  to  understand  that  there 
was  no  danger  of  his  being  invaded  at  ordinary  times,  and  I 
never  afterwards  broke  in  upon  his  seclusion  unless  he  himself 
gave  the  signal  which  invited  me  to  do  so.  Then  I  followed 
the  bent  of  his  humour,  and  enjoyed  with  all  the  greater  zest 
the  cream  of  his  rich  talk  and  delightful  badinage.  Yet  he 
was  so  shy,  that  a  strange  glance  or  an  unconsidered  word 
might  scare  him  into  his  studious  reserve  again.  He  was 
sometimes  as  mysterious,  if  not  as  dark,  as  Milton's  cloud, 
but  like  it,  was  forever  turning  a  silver  lining  on  the  night. 

In  another  letter  to  Dr.  Schaff,  he  refers  to  a  proposed 
work  by  the  former,  and  urges  him  to  adapt  it  to  American 
readers, 

"PEINOETo^-,  Sept.  loth,  1857. 
"  Rev.  aitd  Deae  Sie  : 

"I  ought  to  have  thanked  you  long  ago  for  your  obliging  answer  to 
ray  troublesome  inquiries,  and  your  friendly  though  unnecessary  warn- 
ing against  wasting  time  and  money  on  the  infinitesimal  Church  liisto- 
ries  of  Germany,  as  to  which  I  am  content  to  share  your  docta  igno- 
rantia.     My  question  ought  to  have  been  more  distinctly  limited  to  the 


814  FOR   WHOM   HE   WROTE.  [1857 

leading  national  estriblishments.  With  respect  to  your  proposed  work 
I  can  (inly  .^ny  tliat  I  have  always  thought  such  a  hook  peculiarly  de- 
siraliie,  and  ynn  peculiarly  (jualifieu  to  write  it,  and  am  still  cnnvinred 
that  if,  in  adJit'on  to  its  intfllcctnal  and  1  terary  merit — whi.h  I  take 
fi>r  granted — it  maintains  ihe  good  old  Protestant  [)iin  -iples  avowed  ia 
several  of  your  earlier  publications,  there  can  be  no  doubt  of  its  [irov- 
ing  eminently  popular  and  useful,  1  have  nothing  to  suggest  as  to  i:s 
plan  or  execution,  beyond  what  I  have  intimated  heretofore  in  refer- 
ence to  the  barrenness  of  all  German  histories  on  the  subject  of  Eng- 
lish and  American  theology;  the  inexpediency  of  substituting  foreign 
modes  of  printing  and  arrangement  for  those  with  which  our  public  is 
familiar;  and  the  danger  of  your  English  being  made  too  good,  by  the 
sacrifice  of  all  original  expression  to  the  mere  conventionalities  of  hack- 
neyed usage.  Sincerely  wishing  that  you  may  be  able  to  provide  us 
■with  a  text-book  universally  acceptable, 

"I  am,  &c., 
"  Eev.  Dr.  SonAFF.  J.  A.  Alexander." 

Two  days  after  lie  writes  to  Dr.  Hall : 

"Princetox,  Sept.  17th,  1857. 
"I  am  much  enconrnged  by  yonr  first  impressions  of  my  book,  and 
interested  in  ilie  test  to  which  you  arc  ahout  to  put  it.  As  I  have  a 
volume  on  one  of  the  Gospels  nearly  ready  for  the  press,  I  should 
rea'ly  be  thankful  for  suggestions  even  as  to  small  external  milters, 
mode  of  piinting  and  arrangement,  esegetical  forumlis,  re'erence  to 
authors,  use  of  Greek,  &c.  I  could  settle  all  this  for  myself  on  merely 
literary  grounds,  but  want  the  help  of  'PASTORS  and  Teachers'  in 
determining  what  will  suit  the  greatest  number,  without  defrauding 
tlie  class  for  which  I  write  especially,  viz.,  that  of  ministers  and  stu- 
dents. Very  truly  yours, 

"  J.  A.  Alexander. 
"Rev.  Dr.  Hall." 

I  return  to  the  journal. 

"  Sept.  30.  Lecture  to  the  Seniors  on  the  Origin  of  Churches  since 
the  Reformation  ;  and  to  the  Juniors  on  the  Noachic  Period.  Sinca 
the  beginning  of  this  month  1  have  finished  the  revision  of  my  book  on 
Mark,  written  during  the  last  summer;  written  one  scm.on  (on  Mark 
i.  1.)  and  one  aiti;;le  for  the  Biblical  Repertory  (a  review  ot  Saath'a 
Gieseler).     I  have  preached  eight  times ;  four  old  sermons,  one  new 


iET.  48.]  AEEIVAL    OF   DE.    JAMES   ALEXANDEE.  815 

written  one,  and  three  new  unwritten  ones  (on  passages  of  Mark  which 
I  liave  lately  studied)." 

He  bad  also  begun  six  courses  of  instruction  in  the  Semi- 
nary, and  had  already  given  five  lectures  on  Old  Testament 
History,  four  on  Apostolic  History,  four  on  Introduction  to 
Ecclesiastical  History,  and  four  on  the  Origin  of  Existing 
Churches,  and  three  on  Ecclesiastical  Biography  ;  making  a 
total  of  twenty-three. 

Dr.  James  Alexander  arrived  in  the  Baltic,  Capt.  Com- 
stock,  on  the  25th  of  October.  They  touched  the  wharf  at 
five,  and  the  minister  was  among  his  "  bairns  "  by  seven.  The 
trip  had  apparently  done  him  good,  and  he  was  in  ecstacies 
to  be  once  more  at  home.  ]\Iany  friends  rejoiced  with  him. 
"Through  God's  infinite  mercies,"  as  the  invalid  pastor 
writes  himself,  he  "  returned  Irom  his  foreign  journey  on  the 
one  hundred  and  fiftieth  day,  in  the  steamship  Baltic,  which 
touched  the  wharf  about  7  p.  m.  of  the  Sabbath,  Oct.  25." 
One  of  his  brothers  and  one  of  his  sons  were  ready  to  receive 
him.  Another  son  and  two  more  brothers  awaited  him  at  the 
liouse.  The  whole  party  was  in  improved  health  and  spirits. 
It  was  a  season  of  high  gratulation  and  pleasure.  Hands 
were  vrarmly  clasi^ed,  bosoms  were  jn-essed,  and  laughter 
struggled  vainly  with  tears.  "Hope  bright,  but  to  be  over- 
cast !  "  "  It  was,"  records  the  happy  traveller,  "  almost  like  a 
foretaste  of  heavenly  rest,  when  from  the  dark  and  dingy  and 
uneasy  ship  I  came  to  our  sweet,  clean,  light,  cheerful  home, 
and  after  six  months'  absence  sat  down  among  the  beaming 
faces  of  those  wiio  loved  us." 

The  night  of  tlie  city  pastor's  return  Avas  made  memorable 
by  the  presence  and  unusual  brilliancy  of  his  brother  Addison. 
The  family  were  soon  gathered  in  the  back  parlor,  and  the 
brothers  were  both  of  them  in  the  highest  gale  of  animation. 
The  budget  of  travel  was  unfolded,  and  recollections  and  de- 
scriptions of  every  kind,  pious  wishes,  playful  sallies,  prompt 
demurrers,  keen  exposures  of  folly,  generous  bursts  of  feel- 
ing, scraps  of  criticism,  bits  of  politics,  learned  allusions  and 
fine   hon  mots,  followed  each   other  in  quick  succession,  like 


816  JOUEIS^AL.  [1867 

the  flashes  of  sheet  lightning  over  the  summer  heavens.  The 
laughter  excited  Avas  now  and  then  almost  boisterous.  Most 
of  the  intercourse,  however,  though  highly  enthusiastic,  was 
very  grave  and  sober.  Ah,  when  shall  such  talk  he  heard 
a^ain  in  the  like  circumstances !  O  that  it  could  have 
been  taken  down  with  a  pen  of  iron,  and  preserved  like  that 
of  Johnson  !  O  for  an  hour  of  these  intellectual  and  theolo- 
gical convivia  !  The  mutual  contact  seemed  to  brighten  the 
wits  of  both.  Nothing  that  either  of  the  brothers  has  left  in 
print  can  take  the  place  of  their  joyous,  ever  copious,  ever  in- 
structive, ever  inimitable  dialogue  !  It  is  gone  forever.  Lateat 
scintillula  forsan.     The  rest  is  a  mere  echo. 

A  return  to  the  memorials  of  the  younger  brother,  carries 
us  back  to  the  middle  of  autumn.  The  following  may  serve 
as  a  specimen  of  these  records  : 

"  Oct.  28. — Examined  the  Senior  Class  on  Acts  viii.  :  1-9.  Finislied 
Daniel  in  Hebrew,  Greek,  Latin,  and  German  ;  at  the  same  time  finish- 
ing the  Vulgate  version  of  the  Old  Testament,  which  I  have  been  read- 
ing in  course  but  with  many  interruptions  since  the  first  of  February, 
1852.  Resumed  Ezekiel  in  Hebrew  and  Chaldee,  which  I  laid  aside  on 
leaving  liome  last  spring." 

"Oct.  31. — Lectured  to  the  Second  Class  (and  many  of  the  others) 
on  Ecclesiastical  Biograpliy,  closing  the  course  for  the  present.  Ex- 
amined the  Juniors  on  the  Ante-Mosaic  History,  and  lectured  on  the 
Mosaic  Legislation." 

"Since  the  end  of  the  last  month  I  have  preached  eight  times: — 
seven  unwritten  sermons,  and  one  partially  so.  I  have  lectured  sis 
times  on  the  Life  of  Olirist ;  five  times  on  Old  Testament  History ; 
three  times  on  Ecclesiastical  Biography  ;  four  times  on  the  History  of 
the  Church  of  Rome;  and  four  times  on  the  Periodology  of  Ecclesias- 
tical History.  I  have  finished  my  exposition  of  Luke  ii. :  36-52,  and 
my  reading  of  the  Vulgate  (6,  V).  I  have  read  the  concluding  part  of 
Hengstenberg's  Christology." 

"Dec.  1.— No  lecture.  "Walked.  Read  Ezekiel  xxv.  in  Chaldee. 
Read  Gieseler,  on  the  History  of  the  Reformed  Churches  and  made  notes 
thereon.  Laid  aside  Lule  and  toolc  irp  Mattheic.  Read  Erasmus, 
Calvin,  Kuinoel,  and  Robinson,  on  parts  of  Mat! hew  i.  Coverdale's 
Bible,  Genesis  x.  and  Matthew  i.     Hansard,  1828." 

"During  the  year,  I  have  lectured  in  the  Seminary  one  hundred  and 


^^•48.]  PEOFESSOR    CAMEEON.  817 

fifty  time?,  and  examined  classes  without  lecture  thirty  times— spoken 
at  Contei-euce  and  Montbly  Concerts,  twelve  times— preached  here  and 
elsewhere,  thirty-two  times— heard  others  preach,  seventy-five  times 
—written  a  commentary  on  the  last  fifteen  chapters  of  Acts,  on  the 
whole  of  Mark,  and  on  the  first  chapter  of  Matthew.  Eead  &  multi- 
tude of  authors  on  these  parts  of  Scripture— also  Smith,  of  Jordanhill, 
on  St.  Paul's  Shipwreck  (second  edition  and  second  time).  Smith's 
Students'  Gibbon  ;  several  commentaries  on  the  hook  of  Revelation— 
besides  parts  of  other  books,  completed  or  begun  within  the  year.  I 
have  visited  New  York  twenty  times  (besides  spending  the  whole  sum- 
mer there);  Philadelphia,  seven  times;  and  Trenton,  four  times." 

It  is  not  commonly  supposed  that  his  preaching  was  pro- 
ductive of  much  visible  good  if  measured  by  external  sigus. 
The  testimony  now  to  be  given  upou  this  point  is  valuable. 

"I  think  itwns  in  1856,"  writes  Professor  Cameron,  "there  was 
considerable  religious  interest  in  the  College,  and  a  wish  wns  expressed 
tliat  Dr.  Addison  should  preach.  I  accordingly  paid  him  a  visit,  stated 
to  hun  the  condition  of  aff^airs  in  the  College,  the  religious  interest 
among  our  students,  &c.  and  concluded  by  requesting  him  to  preach 
for  us  on  the  next  Sabbath.  He  declined:  but  I  would  not  take  a  re- 
fusal, and  urged  him  to  come.  He  advised  me  to  get  Dr.  Hodge;  as 
much  better  qualified  than  himself  for  the  peculiar  circurastancet  then 
prevailing  in  the  College,  as  his  religious  life  had  begun  there,*  as 
he  therefore  understood  the  matter  better,  could  sympathize  more'with 
them  in  their  actual  state  of  feeling  than  himself,  and  thus  could  exert 
a  better  and  more  powerful  influence  than  he.  I  confess  I  began  to 
despair  of  success;  when  at  last  I  ventured  to  remark,  'Doctor,  Excuse 
me  if  I  say  I  think  you  underrate  your  influence  with  our  students: 
This  seemed  to  decide  him,  for  he  consented  to  preach,  excused  him- 
self from  a  partial  engagement  in  Trenton,  and  was  at  our  College 
Chapel  on  Sunday.  He  preached  one  of  his  great  sermons,  that  on  the 
Gospel  Feast,  '  Come,  for  all  things  are  now  ready.'  Our  students 
hung  upon  his  words,  and  I  know  of  at  least  one  minister  of  the  Gos- 
pel who  traces  his  conversion,  under  the  providence  of  God,  to  that 
sermon.  He  had  not  preached  in  the  Chapel  for  some  years,  but  was 
so  much  gratified  that  he  expressed  his  pleasure  and  remarked,  to  our 
agreeable  surprise,  as  he  was  going  away,  that  he  would  be  happy  to 
come  down  and  preach  again  if  desired." 

*  That  is,  as  a  student. 
35 


818  FEUITS   OF   inS   MINISTRY.  n857. 

Dr.  Alexander  himself  often  spoke  mournfully  of  the  bar- 
renness of  his  ministry.  Yet  here  wc  read  of  a  minister  of 
the  GosjDel  converted  through  his  instrumentality,  and  if  the 
truth  were  known,  it  would  probably  appear  that  in  the  great 
day  many  will  "  arise  up  and  call  him  blessed."  His  sermons 
were  singularly  fitted  to  awaken  the  deepest  conviction  in  the 
most  intelligent  minds.  Many  such  heard  him  who  cared  to 
hear  no  other.  During  the  exercises  which  attended  the  in- 
auguration of  President  McCosh,  a  lady  present  remarked  to 
a  friend  that  a  sermon  of  Dr.  J.  A.  Alexander  in  Philadelphia 
had  been  the  means  of  her  salvation. 


CHAPTER  XXX. 

We  now  go  once  more  to  the  pages  of  Dr.  Alexander's 
journal,  which  exhibits  the  same  woudefful  industry  and  a 
greater  concentration  of  power  upon  one  point  than  almost 
ever  before. 

"Jan.  31,  1858.  During  tliis  month  I  have  lectured  twenty  times, 
with  a  short  examination  on  each  lecture.  I  have  examined  four  times 
(without  lecture)  on  my  exposition  of  Acts.  I  have  preached  twice, 
besides  speaking  once  at  Conference  and  once  at  Monthly  Concert.  I 
have  also  written  on  the  second  chapter  of  Matthew  and  begun  the 
third.  I  have  heard  nine  sermons  from  other  preachers.  I  have  fin- 
ished Pinnoclc's  Analysis  of  English  Church  History,  and  the  first  vol- 
ume of  Middieton's  Cicero." 

Nothing  could  restrain  the  propensity  of  this  incessant 
student  towards  the  indulgence  of  a  harmless  quizzical  hu- 
mour, such  as  has  often  been  illustrated  in  these  pages.  The 
main  conduit  for  these  effusions  was  his  correspondence  with 
Dr.  Hall.  Trifling  as  most  of  the  letters  are  in  themselves, 
they  yet  show  the  kindliness  and  real  humanity  of  his  feelings, 
and  abound  in  laughable  exaggerations,  jocose  censures,  mys- 
terious allusions,  and  whimsical  irony.  They  continue  to  re- 
late chiefly  to  ministerial  proposals  and  arrangements,  and  are 
not  devoid  of  a  certain  aroma  of  fine  clerical  suavity,  which 
pervades  even  those  which  are  couched  in  terms  of  pompous 
hiei'archical  pretension. 

He  was  off,  as  usual,  during  part  of  the  summer.  I  find 
from  his  journal  that,  on  the  9tli  of  June,  he  sailed  for  Virginia 
in  the  steamer  Roanoke.  His  aim  was  Norfolk  and  Richmond. 
He  says  he  saw  Norfolk,  touched  at  Portsmouth,  and  visited 
Richmond,  Staunton,  and  Waynesboro'.     While  in  Augusta,  he 


820  VISIT   TO   KICIIMOND.  [1858. 

fell  in  with  liis  sister,  who  returned  with  hira  as  far  as  New 
Jersey.  Dr.  Alexander  himself  proceeded,  via  Washin^iton, 
Baltimore,  and  Philadelphia,  as  far  as  New  York ;  where  I  find 
him,  at  a  somewhat  later  date,  busy  correcting  the  proof-sheets 
of  his  Mark.  On  the  12th  of  the  following  month  he  returned 
to  Princeton,  after  an  absence  of  two  months ;  where  he  re- 
cords that  he  ascertained  a  great  improvement  in  the  arrange- 
ments of  liis  liouse  and  study.  He  Avas  still  following  the 
printei-s.  The  Introduction,  which  he  had  begun  to  write 
July  21,  he  finished  on  the  23d.  In  the  meanwliile  he  was 
pursuing  his  usual  studies.  On  the  IGth  of  August  he  com- 
])leted  his  Labours  upon  Mark,  and  records :  "  (g.  f.  f.  s.)." 
The  day  following  he  set  out  on  a  journey  to  Canada;  passing 
through  Saratoga.  He  returned  from  this  trip  August  the 
30th. 

The  siibjoined  letter  is  about  the  trip  to  Richmond. 

"RionMOXD,  May  17th,  1858. 
"  My  Dear  Sister  : 

"I  need  not  say  that  I  was  received  here  with  cordiafity — almost 
with  joy.  I  have  been  very  stationary  since  I  came.  I  never  more 
enjoyed  the  clolce  far  niente.  Dr.  Moore  took  me  to  the  cemetery  and 
other  points  of  interest  yesterday.  Last  night  I  preached  at  his  weekly 
lecture  to  a  crowded  room.  Tlie  singing  was  delightful.  This  is  really 
a  charming  family.  I  onght  to  he  most  thankful  for  su^h  friends.  I 
received  your  letter  yesterday  at  dinner  time,  and  while  at  tea,  another, 
directed  hy  yonr  hand,  which  made  me  fear  that  something  was  amiss, 
nntil  I  found  it  was  from  F.  A.  P.  about  that  everlasting  Doomed  Man. 
I  am  glad  that  you  are  getting  on  so  well,  and  liope  you  do  not  over- 
work yourself.  Do  not  put  my  long  table  by  the  front  windows,  but 
along  one  of  the  book-cases. 

T  o-ive  an  extract  from  another  letter  to  his  sister  describ- 

to 

ing  more  fully  his  visit  to  Dr.  Moore's  : 

"Washington,  May  21st,  1858. 
"  My  Dearest  Jane  : 

"If  you  have  enjoyed  yourself  as  much  as  I  have  since  we  parted, 
I  have  nothing  to  desire  or  regret  for  either.  I  had  a  very  plea- ant 
journey  to  Eichraond.     I  saw  the  great  sight  of  the  African  Church, 


^T.49.]  MES.   McCLUNG.  821 

and  henrd  the  greater  sounds.  They  sang  "  Tarn,  sinner,  turn,"  which 
impressed  me  more  than  any  sin:;ing  I  ever  heard.  At  night  I  preached 
for  Moore,  and  again  on  Mondiy  and  Tuesday  nights.  1  was  made  as 
comfortable  as  post^ible  at  Moore's.  He  seems  to  understand  my 
very  whims  intuitively,  and  prevents  everything  that  would  be  un- 
pleasant." 

While  in  Staunton,  Dr.  Alexander  had  not  neglected  to  see 
much  of  his  venerable  aunt,  Mrs.  McClung,  who  has  since  en- 
tered into  the  heavenly  rest.  Just  here  I  am  permitted  to 
take  the  following  extracts  from  a  touching  letter  which  Dr. 
Moore  wrote  at  the  time  of  this  event  to  Mrs.  William  Max- 
well of  Staunton.  It  is  fitting  that  the  words  of  the  two 
friends  should  be  placed  side  by  side. 

"  I  see  by  my  papers  of  this  morning  that  dear  oIJ  mother  McOlung 
has  gene  to  her  rest.  I  am  not  surprised  to  see  it,  and  yet  I  feel  sad- 
dened to  tiiink  that  this  blessed  tie  binding  to  the  past  is  snapped. 
She  was  linked,  by  so  many  associations,  to  my  dearest  and  most 
revered  friends  of  other  years,  that  the  love  I  fe'.t  for  them  seemed  to 
centre  on  her. 

'•  As  I  gazed  in  th:it  placid  face,  with  its  deep  and  searching  eyes, 
and  listened  to  that  voice  so  strangely  tuned  to  the  very  pitch  and  in- 
tonanon  of  her  match'ess  brotber,  my  Princeton  days  and  Piincetou 
friends  always  came  thronging  around  me;  and  as  I  sat  again  at  the 
feet  of  that  man  whom  I  shall  ever  regard  as  the  wisest  man  I  ever 
met,  and  listened  to  the  electric  flashes  of  Addison's  wit  and  learning, 
and  enjoyed  the  silver  flow  of  James's  ripened  scholarship  and  piety; 
I  lived  over  again  tho=e  days,  the  brightness  and  value  of  which  I  have 
on  y  learned  in  ihese  times  <  f  degenei-acy  and  wrong. 

"I  lovel  to  look  at  Iier  face,  even  aside  from  tlmse  associations; 
f  >r  the  seal  of  God  seemed  to  be  in  her  forehead — its  motto  "Peace'" 
being  imprinted  there  in  letters  of  a  light  not  born  of  earth. 

"  Dear  old  mother  in  Israel !  She  never  knew  what  a  sweet  homily 
her  facs  ofcen  was  to  me,  and  how  much  good  she  did  me  by  her  warm 
and  hearty  greeting." 

The  author  of  the  following  letter  wilfully  confounds  his 
correspondent  with  one  of  his  namesakes. 


822  LETTER   TO    DE.   HALL.  [1858. 

"New  York,  Oct.  4,  1858. 
"My  Dear  Sir: 

"  Having  been  absent  from  my  post  on  Frida}^,  Saturday,  and  Sun 
day  in  fulfilment  of  an  old  engagement  on  the  aSTorth  Shore  of  Long 
Island,  I  do  not  feel  at  liberty  to  leave  the  dear  young  brethren  to 
tliemselves  for  one  or  two  more  days  this  weelc,  and  shall  therefore 
rely  upon  your  intercessions  to  make  my  apology  acceptable  to  tiie 
Venerable  Company  which  meets  to-morrow,  as  well  as  to  yourself 
and  Mrs.  H:dl,  for  declining  your  re^pecdve  hospitalities.  Should  I  be 
able  to  attend  the  higher  court  of  review  and  control,  I  have  agreed  to 
tarry,  tabernacle,  make  my  home,  and  occupy  the  prophet's  cham- 
ber with  an  old  friend  and  classmate,  in  your  neighbourhood,  who, 
though  belonging  to  another  liberal  profession,  is  a  great  friend  to  the 
clergy,  or  at  least  to  some  of  them.  This  will  enable  you  to  house  a 
greater  number  of  Synodical  guests  without  putting  more  than  two  or 
three  in  a  bed.  As  to  the  other  delic.ite  matter  upon  which  you  have 
consulted  me,  I  regret  that  I  shall  notliave  the  opportunity  of  personal 
communication  thereabout,  and  I  hesitate  to  write  about  it  too  expli- 
citly. I  can  only  sny,  therefore,  that  I  would  not  advise  a  public 
confession  in  the  great  congregation,  nor  even  in  the  Presbytery  with 
closed  doors,  but  rather  an  auricular  communication  to  some  eminently 

spiritual  father  or  brother,  such  as or ,  through  whom  it 

might  afterwards  be  niiide  as  public  as  would  be  desirable  and  safe  for 
you  and  all  the  interested  parties.  By  this  means  scandal  might  be 
wholly,  or  in  a  great  degree,  avoided,  and  your  ministry  continued  in 
some  secluded  spot  with  tolerable  comfort.  "With  my  best  thanks  for 
your  hospitality,  &c..  Yours, 

"  J.  A.  Alexakder. 

"  Rev.  Dr.  Hall." 

The  publication  of  liis  works  on  the  Acts  and  the  2d  Gos- 
pel called  forth  many  expressions  of  delight  from  discrimi- 
nating judges  of  what  had  been  done,  and  what  was  needed, 
in  this  department  of  Biblical  exposition. 

The  posthumous  appearance  of  his  work  on  Matthew 
heightened  this  feeling  of  admiration. 

The  Commentary  on  Mark  came  out  in  the  early  part  of 
October.  It  was  judged  by  not  a  few  competent  minds  to  be 
the  best  treatise  he  had  as  yet  produced  on  Scripture  subjects. 
Among  these  was  his  own  brother  James.     Writing   to  the 


^T.49.]  A   HIGH   COMPLIMENT.  823 

commentator  soon  after,  he  indulges  in  the  following  strain 
of  refined  critical  praise  : 

"  October  14,  1858. 

"  I  pronounce  this  [his  Commentary  on  Mark]  by  far  your  best 
work.  It  is  eminently  readable.  It  contains  episodical  passages  very 
agreeable  to  a  purist  in  language.  Especially  have  you  hit  off  the  ren- 
dering into  happy  equivalents  in  sound  English.  The  diction  is  better 
tlian  in  any  of  yonr  opera.  Two  qualities  are  quite  unusual :  1.  You 
place  the  reader  (and  this  more  than  any  expositor  known  to  me)  near 
the  standpunct  of  a  Greek  scholar ;  and  2,  You  give  vividness  to  the 
narrative  and  remove  the  integument,  or  rusty  coating,  of  custom  and 
daily  use." 

• 

This  letter,  the  recipient  was  wont  to  say,  was  in  his  esti- 
mation, the  highest  compliment  ever  paid  him. 

What  is  here  said  of  the  surprising  success  which  has 
attended  the  efforts  of  Dr.  Alexander  to  make  the  English 
reader  acquainted  with  the  living  meaning  of  the  Hebrew 
and  Greek  orignals,  has  often  been  said  by  others,  and  will 
probably  continue  to  be  said  so  long  as  this  species  of  talent 
continues  to  be  noticed  and  prized.  The  correspondence  of 
idioms  is  sometimes  so  exact,  and  yet  seemingly  unsought, 
that  the  translated  sentences  or  phrases  communicate  a  pleas- 
ure as  sudden  and  delightful  as  that  of  wit.  The  version  is 
commonly  quite  liberal,  and  yet  the  transfusion  of  the  thought  is 
often  perfect.  The  mastery  of  both  languages  that  is  evinced  in 
all  such  cases,  is  something  that  might  appear  beforehand  to 
be  unattainable.  Nothing  in  Dr.  Alexander  has  ever  more  as- 
tonished me  than  his  seemingly  universal  knowledge  of  idioms 
and  words,  and  the  fluency  and  deftness  with  which  he  used 
them.  The  same  thing  excited  the  surprise  of  Dr.  Tholuck 
Avhen  Dr.  Alexander  was  in  Halle. 

Light  has  been  thrown  on  this  narrative  from  time  to  time 
by  those  who  were  personal  acquaintance  of  the  subject  of 
these  memoirs.  I  am  indebted  just  here  to  the  recollections 
of  his  brother  the  Kev,  Dr.  Samuel  D.  Alexander  of  New  York, 
whose  intimate  and  constant  association  with  him  at  this  time 
lends  great  weight  to  the  following  words: 


824  WEITING   IN    NEW   YORK.  tissa 

"  The  greater  part  of  tlio  commentaries  on  the  Psalms,  the  Acts,  and 
Jtlark,  were  written  in  New  York.  During  the  winter,  amidst  tlie 
pressure  of  professional  labour,  he  found  time  to  read  and  digest  all 
known  commentaries  on  the  book  in  hand ;  and  then,  when  his  vaca- 
tion began,  he  would  proceed  to  New  York,  leaving  his  books  behind 
him,  and  in  his  room  iu  a  hotel  or  in  my  study,  would  write  from  eight 
o'clock  in  the  morning  until  five  in  the  afternoon.  Of  course,  human 
nature  could  not  endure  this  long  stretch  of  intense  mental  action.  So 
at  intervals  he  would  throw  down  his  pen  and  take  up  some  book  of 
light  literature,  which  he  would  read  for  twenty  or  thirty  minutes,  and 
then  resume  bis  pen.  Dickens,  especially  his  Sketches,  was  his  favour- 
ite in  these  moments.  In  my  library  I  have  a  collection  of  the  early 
history  of  the  ditferent  States  of  the  Union  and  early  travels  in  America, 
and  in  looking  over  these  books,  which  amount  to  a  hundred  or  a  hun- 
dred and  fifty  volumes,  I  find  his  marks  in  nearly  all  of  them ;  showing 
that  in  the  intervals  of  labour  he  had  beguiled  himself  in  this  way. 

"  Sometimes,  on  some  hot  day  in  August,  I  would  find  him 
at  his  table  with  his  coat  off,  toiling  away  at  his  work.  One  day  in 
particular,  I  remember,  he  had  been  for  several  hours  considering 
a  most  difiicult  passage,  and  as  I  entered  he  threw  down  his  pen  say- 
ing, with  a  glow  upon  his  face  that  I  shall  never  forget,  '  Well,  this  is 
the  most  delightful  and  exciting  occupation  that  I  can  conceive  of,  it  is 
better  than  any  novel  that  I  ever  read.' 

"  It  was  just  this  exalted  delight  that  stimulated  him  in  all  his  work. 
At  times  this  spirit  would  flag;  and  I  have  known  him  to  cease 
from  writing  for  two  or  three  days,  spending  the  time  in  walking  the 
streets,  or  looking  over  the  volumes  in  some  of  the  libraries  ;  and  then 
the  work  would  suddenly  begin  again  with  new  ardour. 

"  The  table  at  which  he  wrote,  was  generally  placed  at  a  window  in 
my  study  looking  out  upon  one  of  the  noisiest  streets  in  the  city,  but  he 
has  often  told  me,  that  when  engaged  in  writing,  he  was  absolutely 
deaf  to  the  noise  of  cars  and  omnibuses  that  were  continually  passing. 
In  Princeton,  while  preparing  his  subject,  I  have  seen  thirty  commesta- 
ries  open  before  him  at  once.  But  in  New  York  he  would  have  nothing 
but  his  Hebrew  Bible  and  Greek  Testament :  and  I  have  never  seen 
him  use  a  Lexicon  at  these  times.  I  once  asked  him,  '  How  can  you  get 
along  without  your  commentaries  on  these  diflicult  points  ?  '  He  answer- 
ed, '  I  know  what  they  all  liave  said.' 

"On  one  occasion  he  was  talking  to  me  about  some  most  obscure 
point  in  a  passage,  mentioning  the  different  explanations  that  had  been 
given  of  it,  and  stating  the  reasons  why  he  considered  them  all  unsound. 


^T.49.]  j^   ADJOURNED    MEETENTa. 


825 


when  suddenly  he  said,  '  I  hare  it! '  and  seizing  his  pen,  wrote  down 
a  clear  and  natural  explanation  of  the  doubtful  passage. 

"  He  never  put  pen  to  paper  on  the  Lord's  day;  never  even  read  on 
subjects  connected  with  the  work  in  hand:  hut  employed  his  time  in 
reading  hymns  and  devotional  works,  and  while  in  New  York  attended 
church  three  times  a  day.  He  heard  all  the  ministers  then  settled 
here,  prominent  and  obscure,  but  I  never  heard  him  once  make  an  un- 
favourable criticism.     One  Sunday,  coming  in  from  church,  he  said,  'I 

heard  Mr. ,  preach  on  the  First  Psalm :  he  used  my  exposition  very 

fully  ;  that  is  what  I  like ;  that  is  what  I  write  my  commentaries  for." 

Among  his  many  ardent  admirers  was  the  Rev.  Paul  Eu- 
gene Stevenson,  of  Paterson,  K  J.,  who  has  kindly  contributed 
the  following  genial  account  of  the  last  interview  he  ever  had 
with  him. 

"  On  the  evening  preceding  the  morning  of  my  departure,  he  had 
told  me,  of  his  own  accord,  that  he  meant  to  take  a  trip  and  visit  me 
at  my  hou^e.  As  I  rose,  with  a  lamp  in  my  hand,  to  retire,  and  stand- 
ing near  the  door  of  his  study  was  about  to  bid  him  good-night,  he 
said,  '  Well ;  the  docket  is  not  yet  exhausted :  we  will  take  it  up 
again  :  this  is  only  an  adjournment.'  '  Yes,'  I  replied,  carrying  out  his 
pleasant  figure,  'Adjourned,  to  meet  at  the  house  of  the  Kev.  Mr. 

,  at ! '    '  Agreed !  '  was  his  animated  answer.    How  little 

we  know  of  the  future.  How,  little  I  thought,  when  greeting  him  in 
the  Synod  and  at  once  noticing  how  gray  he  had  grown,  that  he 
was  whitening  and  ripening  for  a  near  translation  to  the  society  of 
heaven !  " 

The  new  year  opened  with  vernal  softness.  The  laborious 
city  pastor  reckoned  these  spring-like  days  amono-  his 
choicest  mercies.  He,  too,  was  nearing  his  goal,  which  he  was 
destined  to  reach  before  the  blazing  chariot  of  his  younger 
brother  was  wrecked  in  mid  course. 

On  the  17th  of  January,  Dr.  Addison  Alexander  preached 
for  his  brother  James  in  the  morning,  and  Dr.  James  Alexan- 
der for  his  brother  Samuel  in  the  afternoon.  The  brothers 
James  and  Addison  sat  together  in  the  Nineteenth  street  pul 
\nt.  ^  The  former  of  these  records  that  he  ffelt  the  solemnity 
of  sitting  in  the  pulpit  with  one  brother  in  the  morning  and 


826  A   MUSICAL   FESTIVAL.  [1859. 

witli  the  other  in  the  afternoon.  He  also  gave  vent  to  a  wish 
or  sigh,  that  he  could  preach  with  more  simplicity  and  nature 
— less  of  the  conventional,  less  regard  for  rule,  less  care  for 
criticism,  less  notice  of  the  literary  element,  less  regard  for 
custom,  more  as  Calvin,  as  Luther,  as  Paul  preached.  "As 
life  runs  on,"  he  says, "  I  feel  the  seriousness  of  my  situation  as 
a  minister,  but  oh,  how  little  imj)rovement !  Oh,  my  ascended 
Lord  and  Master !  be  pleased  to  anoint  me  afresh  for  my  minis- 
try, send  me  some  new  and  special  grace,  and  cast  me  not 
aside  as  a  useless  instrument:  for  Christ's  sake.  Amen." 

This  fear  was  becoming  an  increasing  anxiety  to  him.  He 
had  a  dread  of  growing  old  and  worthless,  and  of  being  inca- 
pacitated for  the  service  of  his  Master. 

Dr.  Addison  Alexander  spent  ISTew  Year's  day,  and  several 
days  succeeding,  in  New  York. 

This  is  his  entry  for  Saturday,  January  the  2d. 

"■Wrote  (at  238  Fourth  fivenne)  on  Matt.  ii.  1-4.  At  night  went 
with  J.  A.  and  S.  L>.  A.  to  the  Thalberg  Festival  at  tlie  Academy  of 
Music.  Heard  several  pieces  of  Beethoven  performed  by  the  orches- 
tra, solos  by  Thalberg,  Vieuxteraps  Formes,  Caradori,  D'Angri,  and 
Brignoli,  and  Mozirt's  Requiem  by  the  choir  and  orchestra.  Lodged 
at  the  Clinton  Place  Hotel." 

On  the  4th,  he  lodged  at  the  Dey  Street  House. 

On  the  5th,  he  was  in  his  place  in  the  lecture-room,  making 
his  class  acquainted  with  the  Persian,  Macedonian,  and  Ilas- 
monean  dynasties,  and  in  his  study  reading  Calvin  and  Heth. 
erington. 

It  was  my  privilege,  from  the  autumn  of  1855  to  the  spring 
of  1858,  to  attend  the  regular  instructions  of  Dr.  Addison 
Alexander  in  the  Seminary,  and  it  gives  me  pleasure  to  testify 
to  the  singular  union  of  impartiality  and  kindness  which 
marked  his  treatment  of  me.  His  lectures  on  Biblical  and 
Church  History  delighted  and  stimulated  his  classes  to  a  de- 
gree that  I  could  hardly  exaggerate.  The  only  objection  they 
ever  raised  to  his  plans  was  their  excessive  and  bewildering 
diversity ;  and  I  once  signed  and  presented  a  round-robin  re- 


■^T  49.]  MAISTY   STUDIES.  827 

questing  him  to  adhere  to  one  of  them  to  which  the  class  had 
become  accustomed.  This  he  received  with  complacent 
courtesy,  and  pursued  the  scheme  suggested. 

During  the  early  months  of  the  spring  of  1858,  he  was  lec- 
turing to  different  classes  on  the  Gospels  and  on  Apostolic 
History,  and  on  Scottish  Church  History  (using  Hetherington 
as  a  text-book) ;  reading  books  in  various  languages,  includino- 
Swedish    and   Portuguese,   on  Matthew^  and  many  more  on 
Church  History  and  philology;    writing  some  on  Matthew; 
reading  such  books   as  Middleton's  Cicero,  St.  Simon's  Me- 
moirs, Hansard's  Debates,  Mirkhoud  in  Persian,  Fiirst's  smaller 
Hebrew  lexicon,  the  Koran  in  Arabic,  with  Maricci,  Cover- 
dale,  and  Jonathan,  a  good  deal  in  German,  and  unknown 
quantities  in  English  books;  besides  roaming  over  an  indefi- 
nite number  of  periodicals   and   pamphlets   in   various  lan- 
guages.    Among  his  linguistic  studies  were  parts  of  Wilkin- 
son's Greek  Testament  (London,  1855)  and  of  the  4th  edition 
of  Liddell  &  Scott's  lexicon  (Oxford,  1855) ;  also  parts  of  dic- 
tionaries in  Latin,  German,  Dutch,  Flemish,  French,  and  Per- 
sian.    He  perused  for  the  second  time  a  number  of  writers  on 
Mark,  with  a  view  to  his  introductory.     The  book  he  most 
loved  to  talk  about  at  this  time  was  the  "Voyage  and  Ship- 
wreck of  St.  Paul,"  by  Smith  of  Jordanhill ;  M'hich  helped 
him  greatly  in  his  commentary,  and  excited  his  admiration  as 
the  performance  of  one  who  was  at  once  a  scholar  and  a  nau- 
tical expert.     He  also  read  a  great  deal  in  many  works  on 
einleitung,  and  especially  archaeology. 

This  grand  sweep  of  research  in  many  fields  and  various 
languages  was  continued  with  but  slight  intermission,  except 
Avhere  interrupted  by  illness,  to  the  day  of  his  death  ;  and  was 
made  to  bear  mightily  upon  his  proper  work  of  Biblical  in- 
struction. 

The  mind  of  a  strong  and  healthy  man,  of  good  parts  and 
many  acquirements,  Avould,  it  is  likely,  be  sometimes  baffled 
in  the  attempt  to  trace  out  the  innumerable  footprints  of  this 
extraordinary  adventurer  through  his  daily  readings. 

Yel.  at  the  time  we  have  now  arrived  at,  though  thin,  he 


828  ERASMUS.  [1858. 

looked  well,  was  fall  of  spring  and  vivacity,  and  found  time 
for  many  a  gay  bout  with  liis  friends  and  many  a  peal  of 
hearty  laughter. 

I  find  him  in  the  month  of  February  writing  in  his  com- 
mentary on  the  First  Gospel,  and  enchanted  with  Erasmus's 
Paraphrase  of  the  Gospels,  which  he  px-onounees  to  be  "  more 
tlian  the  Life  of  Christ  by  Cicero."  This  he  does  in  the  fol- 
lowing: striking  letter  to  his  brother  in  New  York  : 

"  Prixceton,  Feb.  20,  1858. 
"My  Deab  Brother: 

"  I  am  slowly  advancing  with  St.  M  itthew.  The  reading  is  de- 
liglitful:  the  writing,  less  so.  Tha  richest  treat  of  all,  when  I  have 
fagged  through  every  commentary  (Poid's  included),  is  to  read  the 
exquisite  paraphrase  of  Eras;niis,  whicli  is  more  t!ian  the  Life  of  Christ 
by  Cicero.  There  is  a  cla^sicality,  without  a  tinge  of  modern  affecta- 
tion, that  is  perfectly  delicious  as  to  style;  and  then  the  tiiste,  the 
sense,  the  ele;,'ant  insinuation  of  the  finest  exegetical  ideas,  without 
one  violation  of  the  narrative  or  periphrastic  form!  Tn  depth  and  or- 
thodoxy, he  is,  of  course,  not  Calvin,  but  neither  Calvin  nor  anybody 
else,  before  or  after,  could  have  made  such  a  parai)hrase.  It  ought  to 
be  used  as  a  Latin  classic  in  our  schools  and  Presbyterial  examina- 
tions. I  know  not  how  much  of  my  admiration  is  occasioned  by  the 
printer ;  as  my  copy  is  from  Froben's  press,  and  dated  1535.  How 
much  is  crowded  into  this  one  sentence  as  the  exemplary  do-ign  of 
Christ's  temptation :  '  VicU  ilium  Chrlstus  tit  no^ls  ostenderet  viei 
posse  etvincendi  rationem ;  docuit  nobis  ;  vicit  non  sibi  per  nos  eundem 
victurus.''  What  a  lesson  this  would  furnish  on  the  forms  of  '  vinco ; ' 
and  how  truly  anti(pie  is  the  lusus  verborum !  Now,  for  a  sample  of 
rhetorical  embellishment,  but  exquisitely  simple — speaking  of  what  fol- 
lows our  Lord's  baptism,  Desiderius  saith :      '  Nox  memixit  Betule- 

HEM,  NON  EEPETIT  NaZAUETH,  NOX  REDIT  AD  MATKEM  AUT  NUTEIOEM, 
SED    IMPETU    RAPTUQUE     SPIRITtJ    VETEEUM    PBOPHETARUM    EXEMPLOQDE 

MORUM  DESERTA  PETIT.'  Still  better  is  the  following  on  Christ's  com- 
ing to  Jolm's  baptism :  '  Per  medias  peccatorum  turmas  is  qui 
solus  ommium  nulld  peccati  lale  contactus  fueraty  imo-qui  solus 
tolleret  peccata  rmmdi  vehit  peccator,  adit  Joannem  ad  haptismum : 
flagitat  qui  solus  haptismum  sanctificat.''  And  again,  in  answer 
to  the  question  why  he  underwent  the  rite  at  all :  'sic  haptizatus  est, 
tit   circumcism,    ut    purificatus    in     templo    cum    matre,    ut   fiagel- 


^T.  48.1  A   LATIN   CLASSIC.  829 

latus^  ut  crucijixtis,  nobis  haec  omnia  passiis  est  non  sihi.''  Noth- 
ing strikes  me  more  than  his  simple  and  perspicaons  constructions, 
which  are  Ljw  enough  for  any  school-boy  to  parse,  and  yet  too  high 
for  any  pedagogue  to  imitate.  I  admire,  also,  his  entire  fi'e.;dom  from 
the  late  Dutch  and  German  affectation  of  avoiding  scriptural  expres- 
sions when  scriptural  ideas  are  to  be  conveyed.  He  never  calls  bap- 
tism tincture  in  a  sacred  font,  nor  uses  any  of  those  hideous  elegancies 
"which  Kuinoel,  et  id  genus  omne,  clioke  you  with  on  every  page. 
Should  th  s'cram'  have  the  same  effect,  I  plead  your  own  example  in 
excuse,  as  I  have  often  been  refreshed  with  the  overflowings  of  your 
recent  lectures.  (Lesen  nicht  Vorlesung.)  I  shall  be  glad  to  follow 
you  in  your  St.  Simnnian  reminiscences.  I  fear  you  will  not  find  the 
Abbe  Le  Dieu  quite  so  racy.  But  then  you  have  the  Senesclial  de 
Joinviile  }et  before  you — that  naive  but  noble  knight  who  told  St. 
Louis  he  would  rather  commit  thirty  mortal  sins  than  have  the  leprosy. 
"  To  the  Eev.  James  W.  Alexandee,  D.D." 


CHAPTER  XXXI. 

We  may  well  pause  here  and  take  a  look  backwards  and 
forwards.  The  half  century  covered  by  the  career  I  am  sketch- 
ing was  now  almost  complete.  The  intellectual  labours  of 
Dr.  Alexander  had  been  interrupted  only  during  his  journeys 
from  home,  and  not  always  then.  He  had  been  scarcely  ever 
ill,  and  his  zeal  and  capacity  for  work  had  been  such  as  to  ex- 
cite wonder  in  the  breasts  of  his  most  accomplished  pupils, 
and  indeed  all  who  came  near  him.  His  talents  were  singular 
and  commanding.  Versatility  and  mobility  of  mind  were  the 
law  of  his  being.  His  attainments  were  by  this  time  so 
numerous,  varied,  exact,  and  thorough,  and  his  readiness  in 
using  them  was  so  remarkable,  that  I  know  not  in  what  terms 
to  speak  of  them,  and  am  glad  to  believe  this  will  not  be  ex- 
pected of  me.  He  was  withal  an  humble,  pious,  childlike 
worshipper  of  the  man  Christ  Jesus,  and  had  laid  all  the  tro- 
phies of  his  far-sought  learning  at  His  feet.  Enough,  perhaps, 
has  already  been  said  on  these  jDoints  for  effect  upon  the  mind 
of  the  inquisitive  reader,  but  I  desire  to  accumulate  the  evi- 
dence. 

His  harsher  qualities,  if  they  may  be  called  such,  were  at 
the  time  we  have  now  reached  much  softened  and  toned  down, 
and  if  not  in  all  respects  so  dazzling  a  character  as  in  the  days 
of  his  youth  and  early  manhood,  he  was  a  more  simple-hearted 
and  lovable  one.  But  it  could  not  be  denied  that  with  this 
change  there  was  also  observable  a  diminution  of  his  wonder- 
ful physical  strength,  though  not  in  the  vivacity  of  his  animal 
spirits.  There  was  the  old  light  in  his  eye,  and  the  bees,  ac- 
cording to  the  pleasing  fancy  of  the  Greek,  still  visited  his 
lips ;  but  his  complexion,  though  still  delicate,  and  in  mo- 
ments of  excitement  tinged  with  colour,  Avas  becoming  ])ale, 


^T.48.]  DECLmE    OF   HEALTH.  831 

and  his  immense  bulk  hncl  been  gi'adually  reduced  to  some- 
thing like  ordinary  proportions.  Friends  who  looked  back  to 
former  periods,  when  he  was  in  the  flush  of  his  golden  prime, 
were  shocked  at  the  change  in  his  appearance,  though  his 
habitual  associates  did  not  take  much  notice  of  it.  One  of 
his  old  pupils  encountered  him  on  Broadway,  and  was  fairly 
startled  at  his  looks.  His  rosy  cheek  and  massive  ro- 
tundity of  person  were  gone.  An  eminent  physician  and  dis- 
tinguished professor  of  medicine  has  since  told  me  that  he 
saw  him  about  this  time  and  was  impressed  just  in  this  way. 
His  experience,  he  says,  taught  him,  moreover,  that  so  marked 
and  steady  a  decline  in  weight  in  one  who  was  naturally  cor- 
pulent, sadly  betokened  some  grave  organic  lesion.  The 
diagnosis  was  not  erroneous,  as  events  have  since  proved. 

The  incautious  student  was  now  very  near  the  bottom  of 
the  hill,  but  though  he  sometimes  suspected  that  all  was  not 
well  with  him,  he  did  not  seem  to  know  it.  He  toiled  on  as 
earnestly  and  uninterruptedly  as  ever.  Little  did  he  think, 
in  the  midst  of  his  fascinating  study  labours,  that  they  were 
to  be  so  soon  abruptly  suspended  and  then  merged  in  the 
active  and  ceaseless  rest  of  heaven ! 

Professor  Jacobus  and  Di*.  T.  V.  Moore  have  much  to  say, 
the  one  of  "his  Napoleonic  rapidity"  in  the  recitation-room, 
and  the  other  of  his  magnetic  delivery  in  the  pulpit.  The 
latter  gives  us  the  following  description  (which  he  derived 
from  another)  of  his  manner  of  preaching.  Speaking  of  his 
sermons,  he  writes : 

"A  distingnishecl  minister  of  onr  churcli  who  heard  one  of  them 
("  The  "Word  of  God  is  not  bound  ")  said  he  seemed  to  him  in  the  dis- 
course, like  an  immense  locomotive  rushing  along  and  laying  its  own 
track  as  it  ran."* 

*  An  anonymous  writer,  from  Owensboro',  Kentucky,  in  the  Free  Christian 
Commonwealth  for  Dec.  17,  1868,  in  a  letter  belonging  to  a  series  which  is 
entitled  "Reminiscences  of  Princeton,"  after  speaking  in  the  most  exalted 
terms  of  Dr.  Addison  Alexander's  genius  and  learning,  and  power  as  a 
preacher  and  commentator  and  writer,  says  of  the  massive  introduction  to 
his  first  great  work:  "Although  written  when  comparatively  young,  his  ititro- 


832  VERSATILITY.  [1858. 

Accumulation  of  evidence  as  to  his  brilliant  talents  is  no 
longer  wanting.  I  may,  however,  call  in  two  or  three  more 
witnesses  to  the  stand.  The  llev.  James  Turner  Leftwich,  of 
Alexandria,  Virginia,  a  grandson  of  the  celebrated  "  Father 
Turner"  that  burning  and  shining  light  in  the  Presbyterian 
pulpit  of  a  former  day,  has  furaished  the  following  additional 
testimony  on  several  points  already  brought  out  in  these 
memoirs  : 

"  I  heard  Dr.  Alexander  preach  only  a  few  times,  and  tliongli  my 
impressions  of  him  are  vivid,  still  they  are  of  that  general  character 
which  would  impart  no  interest"  to  an  account  of  them.  "Ills  rapid 
sentences;  his  style,  flowing  lucid  as  a  mountain  brook,  and  yet  deep 
and  noiseless  as  a  river;  his  wonderful  expositions,  laying  the  passage 
open  in  its  interior  recesses;  his  masterly  grasp  of  the  inspired  thought, 
in  its  multitudinous,  most  delicate,  and  far-reaching  relations;  his  voice, 
melting  into  the  inmost  souls  of  his  hearers;  his  affections,  kindling  at 
times  almost  like  those  of  a  seraph,  the  sweep  and  edge  of  his  ap- 
peals: who  that  has  ever  had  opportunity  to  know  this  prince  in  Israel 
will  ever  forget  these  characteristics  of  his  preaching?  The  vuid 
created  by  his  death  will  remain  long  unfilled." 

The  versatility  of  the  man  in  everything  calling  for  bright- 
ness of  mind,  mastered  knowledge,  ready  wit,  dazzling  retort, 
pathetic  or  imaginative  eloquence,  feats  of  memory  or  tours  de 
force  of  intellectual  genius  in  any  form,  has  amazed  every- 
body. Of  him  it  could  be  written  as  of  Buckingham  (whom 
he  resembled  in  nothing  else,  unless  it  was  his  fickle  fancies) : 

"  Some  of  their  chiefs  were  princes  of  the  land  ; 
In  the  first  ranks  of  these  did  Zimri  stand ; 
A  mail  so  various  that  he  seemed  to  be 
Xot  cue,  but  all  mankind's  epitome." 

Such  encomium  is,  I  think,  not  extravagant.  lie  verily 
seemed  to  know  everything.  There  were  a  few  subjects  that  he 
shunned,  or  treated  somewhat  cavalierly,  and  all  others  he 
appeared  to  have  mastered.     He  was  like   W  he  well,  in  the 

duction  to  his  commentary  on  Isaiah  deserves  to  be  ranked  among  the  few 
great  prolegomena  of  the  world." 


^T.49.]  CONVEESATION   IN   THE   CARS.  833 

range  of  his  tastes  and  his  resources.  His  articles  in  the 
Princeton  Review  are,  after  all,  perhaps  chiefly  noticeable  for 
the  breadth  and  nicety  of  the  acquisitions  without  which 
they  could  never  have  been  produced,  and  the  consummate  ease 
and  good  taste  with  which  those  acquisitions  are  made  to  con- 
tribute to  the  instruction  of  the  reader. 

Professor  Cameron,  of  Princeton,  gives  the  following  ac- 
count of  a  notable  day  with  him  in  the  cars.  Hundreds  can 
remember  similar  conversation. 

"  There  is  particularly  one  day  of  my  intercourse  with  Dr.  Alex- 
ander, which  is  marked  with  chalk,  {Cressci  ne  caveat  pulchra  dies 
nota).  This  was  Sept.  the  13tli,  1851.  Dr.  Alexander  happened  to  be 
at  the  depot,  then  on  tlie  canal  bank,  and  while  we  were  waiting  for  the 
arrival  of  the  train,  I  approached  him  and  asked  him  tlie  precise  mean- 
ing of  the  word  Urevangelium.  He  very  kindly  informed  me,  com- 
paring it  with  UrgescMchte,  &c.,  and  then  remarked,  'I  observed  tliat 
you  used  that  word  in  your  recitation  the  otiier  day :  I  did  not  emphjy 
it  in  my  lecture! '  '  No,  doctor,'  I  replied,  '  but  you  used  it  in  an  arti- 
cle which  you  wrote  some  time  since,  upon  the  Gospel  Hi  tury,  and 
published  in  the  Repertory.'  He  seemed  pleased  to  find  tliat  his 
students  were  not  satisfied  with  simply  hearing  his  lectures  but  wei-e 
incited  to  further  investigation.  We  talked  for  some  little  time,  until 
the  arrival  of  the  cars.'  When  we  entered  the  ivAn  I  was  about  to 
take  a  seat  in  a  distant  part  of  the  car  and  was  astonished  to  hear  him 
invite  me  to  take  a  seat  beside  him. 

"We  naturally  got  upon  the  subject  of  Theological  Seminaries, 
European  Universities,  and  American  Colleges,  the  advantages  of  study- 
ing Theology  at  home  and  abroad,  &c.  He  gave  me  an  account  of  his 
own  experience  in  Germany ;  the  mode  of  ffe  among  the  students,  which 
he  said,  would  not  generally  suit  young  Americans;  compared  the  Ger- 
man and  English  Universities,  &c.  He  said  he  was  in  Germany  only  a 
short  time  and  did  not  approve  much  of  studying  Theology  in  Germany, 
and  remarked  that  Dr.  Hodge,  who  had  spent  two  years  there,  con- 
demned the  custom  more  strongly  than  he  did."' 

He  expressed  a  very  favourable  view  of  the  English  Uni- 
versities. 

The  same  gentleman  was  always  well  received  by  him  in 
his  study. 


834  KNOWLEDGE   OF   THE   EEVIEWS.  n858. 

"I  never  went  to  see  him  unless  for  some  good,  reason,  and  I  al- 
ways remained  longer  tlian  I  intended.  As  soon  as  I  had  despatched 
the  object  for  which  I  came,  I  would  rise  to  leave,  but  he  often  request- 
ed me  to  remain,  and  would  keep  up  the  conversation  until  the  last 
minute.  I  liave  frequently  stood  like  a  school-boy,  holding  the  knob 
of  tlie  door,  unable  to  get  away  without  rudene-s,  because  he  had  not 
finished  talking :  or  he  would  come  and  lean  against  one  door-post 
while  I  was  at  the  other. 

''Sometimes  you  would  find  him  standing  at  his  little  desk,  writing 
rapidly ;  then  again  at  his  table  with  many  books  open  before  him  or 
upon  the  floor ;  sometimes  seated  by  tlie  open  fire,  which  he  seemed 
to  like  when  he  had  a  friend  to  talk  to,  or  at  the  desk  which  I  think 
your  father  gave  him,  and  which,  if  I  mistake  not,  could  be  raised  or 
lowered  at  pleasure. 

"I  cannot  forget  the  kindly  manner,  the  warm  pressure  of  the 
hand,  the  cordial  welcome  I  always  received  from  him,  and  how  he 
would  sit  beside  the  cheerful  fire  of  Cannel  coal  (I  never  knew  him  to 
use  any  other  fuel),  and  talk  of  books,  of  men,  of  students,  &c." 

He  must  s:iy  that  in  an  acquaintance  often  years,  and  with 
an  opportunity  of  judging  such  as  students  do  not  generally 
enjoy,  he  never  found  him  other  than  kind  and  considerate  to 
an  unusual  degree,  putting  one  completely  at  one's  ease  if  one 
were  disposed  to  treat  him  as  one  gentleman  should  and  does 
treat  another. 

He  was  never  brusque  or  crusty  to  those  who  evidently 
sought  him  out  from  a  reasonable  motive.  A  member  of  his 
very  latest  classes  *  recalls  to  mind  an  interview  he  had  with 
him  on  the  subject  of  the  Reviews  of  Great  Bi-itain.  His 
simple  wish  was  to  know  the  exact  status  of  the  London  Quar- 
terly at  that  time.  Dr.  Alexander  immediately  begged  him 
to  be  seated,  and  proceeded  to  say  that  he  was  paying  very 
little  attention  to  the  Reviews,  and  to  give  the  reason  why ; 
and  then  poured  forth,  for  an  hour,  the  most  minute  and  com- 
prehensive information  about  all  the  Reviews,  stating  the  cir- 
cumstances of  their  origin,  the  schools  of  thought  they  sever- 
ally represented,  their  chief  contributors  from  the  beginning, 
and  their  past  influence.     The  writer  listened  in  astonishment, 

*  The  Rev.  Wm.  C.  Stitt,  of  New  York,  formerly  of  Maryland 


fir.  49.]  HIS    PIETY. 


835 


and  left  fully  determined  never  in  future  to  hesitate  to  ap- 
proach the  kind  professor  on  any  subject  on  which  he  wanted 
light. 

A  kinswoman  writes,  that  she  has  often  heard  a  gentleman 
of  great  intelligence,  Avho  was  in  the  habit  of  visiting  at  her 
house,  remark,  when  Dr.  Alexander  "  was  '  carrying  on '  in 
such  a  funny  way  for  the  amusement  of  the  children,  that  he 
for  his  own  part  always  felt  as  if  the  inhid  of  the  great 
scholar  was  at  Avork  upon  some  profound  subject,  and  only 
the  physical  man  was  at  play." 

But  this  was  far  from  being  the  case.  He  entered  into  his 
recreations  with  as  much  heartiness  as  into  his  studies. 

I  remember  meeting  him  myself  once  in  Staunton,  and  the 
delight  and  admiration  his  visit  awakened.  One  reason. of 
this  (which  has  been  faintly  hinted  above)  was  his  flow  of 
animal  spirits,  and  irresistible  glee  and  drollery.  He  was  cer- 
tainly, at  times,  one  of  the  most  amusing  men  in  private  that 
has  appeared  since  the  days  of  the  incomparable  jester  of 
Combe  Florey.  Yet,  xmlike  the  wise  wit  of  Holland  House, 
he  never  for  an  instant  sank  his  character  as  a  sincere  and  dig- 
nified minister  of  Jesus  Christ.  His  unquestioned  piety  did 
not  forbid  a  spirit  of  lightsome  and  innocent  gaiety.  The 
impression  his  religious  character  made  upon  one  of  his  most 
intelligent  visitors  was,  that  it  was  remarkable  for  its  depth 
and  earnestness.  Pie  seemed  to  have  fathomed,  in  his  own  ex- 
perience, all  the  practical  exercises  of  the  unregenerate  and 
of  the  regenerate  heart.  A  profound  reverence  pervaded  all 
his  public  services,  and  governed  him  in  all  sacred  things. 
He  could  never  tolerate  lightness  or  irreverence,  even  in  re- 
mote connection  with  religious  matters.  His  great  circum- 
spection in  this  respect  was  the  more  remarkable,  from  the 
fact  that  his  natural  disposition  turned  readily  into  the  chan- 
nels of  wit  and  humour. 

"  He  gave  evidences,  especially  in  liis  intercourse  with  children,  and 
in  some  playful  freaks  of  his  pen,  which  have  been  preserved  by  his 
friends,  that  he  possessed  a  vein  of  fancy,  which  if  indulged  would  have 
made  him  distinguished  among  the  most  celebrated  and  popular  hu- 
mni;n-:ts  of  the  age." 


836  EAEE  HUMOUR. 


[185& 


The  possession  of  this  rare  talent,  in  such  an  extrorrlinary 
degree,  involved,  he  thinks,  the  necessity  for  much  self-control, 
and  required  the  exertion  of  a  strong  v/ill  and  much  watchful- 
ness to  subdue  the  disposition  to  the  limited  measure  in  which 
he  indulged  it. 

"  Some  of  us  who  knew  and  admired  his  powers  in  these  re:=!pects  as 
well  as  in  others,  cannot  but  regret  the  severe  restrictions  he  imposed, 
and  believe  that,  without  induL-ing  the  license  of  Dean  Swift,  or  even 
Sydney  Smitli,  he  might  have  left  much  to  enliven  and  amuse,  without 
detracting  from  the  dignity  of  his  reputation,  or  from  the  serious  and 
instructive  character  of  his  severer  and  more  learned  productions." 

But  if  he  did  not  choose  to  79?'/;?^;  much  of  this  nature,  his 
common  talk  at  home,  with  children,  and  especially  with  his 
brcJther  James,  and  his  humorous  friend  the  Trenton  pastor, 
abounded  in  quips,  and  jests,  happy  turns,  and  pranks  of  wit, 
and  every  sort  of  delightful,  rational  fun.  The  same  disposi- 
tion, as  we  have  seen,  occasionally  breaks  out,  and  even  runs 
riot,  in  his  familiar  correspondence.  This  is  a  side  of  his 
character  tliat  some  may  not  regard  with  special  favour.  But 
it  is  precisely  this  union  of  high  intellectual  abilities  and  at- 
ta'nraents  Avith  a  rare  vein  of  humour^  which  has  made  such 
reputations  as  those  of  Montaigne,  Le  Sage,  and  Fuller. 

A.  A.    Rice,  M.D.,  of  Wyoming,  Ky.,  observes  justly  : 

"If  you  would  put  the  man  before  the  world  as  he  was,  it  will  be 
but  the  truth  if  you  say,  that  for  keen  wit  and  gonial  humour  he  was 
surpassed  by  none,  and  equalled  by  few,  who  were  so  great  as  he  in 
other  directions." 

Joseph  Addison  Alexander  was  indeed  a  Coryphaeus  of 
literature  and  a  Mercury  of  eloquence.     And  yet 

"  A  merrier  man 
Within  the  limits  of  becoming  mirth, 
I  never  spent  an  liour's  talk  withal." 

Dr.  Rice,  gives  the  account  which  follows  of  the  most 
elaborate  of  the  thousand-and-one  mystifying  jokes  which  Dr. 
Alexander  ever  practised    upon  his  friend  of  Trenton.     The 


^^•*01  LIFE   OF   HALL.  837 

document  here  referred  to  was  lately  in  my  possession;  but  is 
of  too  i^ersonal  a  character  to  bear  publication,  though  the 
subject  of  the  amusing  portrait  once  kindly  consented  that  so 
characteristic  a  production,  and  one  so  full  of  laughable  inge- 
nuity, should  be  committed  to  print.  The  Kentucky  writer 
says: 

"  The  last  time  I  ever  saw  him,  which  was  at  his  own  house  ia 
Princeton  in  the  spring  of  1853,  he  was  amusing  himself  with  a  little 
joke  upon  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hall,  of  Trenton.  Dr.  Hall  had  said  that  he 
thought  his  own  name  was  a  very  uncommon  one,  in  fact  doubtino- 
whether  there  was  another  man  of  that  name  to  be  found.  Upnn  this 
Addis. II  undertook  to  write  the  'Life  of  Hall,  with  vouchers;'  and 
picking  up  advertisements  from  old  newspaper.-^,  lists  of  names,  cata- 
logues of  colleges,  &c.  &c.,  which  contained  the  name  'John  Hall,'  cut 
them  ()u%  pasted  them  at  the  bottom  cf  tlie  sheet,  and  then  proceeded 
to  wri'e  the  Life  ns  upon  the  supposition  that  there  was  only  one  roan 
John  Hall,  and  that  the  Rev.  John  Hall  his  friend.  When  lie  had  filled 
a  sheet  he  would  walk  into  the  sitting-room— it  used  to  be  his  father's 
study,  where  the  family  were  sitting— drop  the  paper  on  the  table,  and 
walk  out  without  a  word  as  to  what  he  left.  We  would  then  take  it 
up  and  enjoy  it.  I  should  not  be  surprised  if  Dr.  Hall  had  the  Life  of 
Hall  even  now.     It  was  a  jeu  cVesprit  well  worth  preserving." 

The  same  friend  communicates  the  following  additional 
illustration  of  his  droll  humours  : 

"Shortly  after  his  return  from  Europe,  my  mother  was  urging  him 
to  give  her  some  account  of  his  travels  abroad,  which  he  declined 
doing  at  the  time,  but  said  that  he  would  write  for  her  a  minu  e  and 
part'cular  account  that  should  K-ave  nothing  untold  that  she  could  pos- 
sibly wish  to  know.  A  few  days  afterwards,  he  sent  her  a  MS.  on  an 
immense  folio  sheet  nearly  as  large  as  a  newspaper,  and  closely  written, 
in  which  he  commenceJ  with  his  leaving  his  father's  house  in  order  to 
go  to  the  post  office  to  get  a  letter,  the  reception  of  which  decided  the 
time  of  his  starting  for  Europe.  The  who'e  of  the  paper  was  filled 
and  yet  at  the  close  he  had  got  no  further  than  to  the  post-office." 

The  vv^riter  of  the  words  gi^-en  above,  Avbo  knew  Dr. 
Alexander  from  a  boy  (or  rather  while  himself  a  boy),  furnishes 
still  another  example  of  his  "  whimsicalities."     He  says : 


838  A    EE  AD  ABLE   LETTEE.  [1868. 

"  Oonsiderinjf  liis  retired  mode  of  life,  and  the  little  intercourse  he 
had  with  the  inhabitants  of  the  village,  his  knowledge  of  all  the  little 
gossip  of  the  place,  minnte  and  particular,  was  perfectly  amazing. 
After  our  family  had  moved  back  to  Virginia,  a  letter  was  received 
from  Princeton  directed  to  '  The  Hon.  Matthew  0.  Rice,  care  of  the 
Rev.  B.  H.  Rice,  D.D.'  which  we  all  knew  to  he  in  Addison's  hand- 
writing, and  was  witliout  doubt  intended  for  a  member  of  the  family 
who  had  been  from  her  very  infancy  a  very  great  favourite  of  h's.  It 
was  filled  witli  the  sayings  and  doings  of  her  former  companions  at 
Princeton,  and  such  minute  accounts  of  changes,  the  gossip,  and  the 
small  talk  of  the  town,  as  would  be  most  interesting  to  her  and  indeed 
to  us  all.  The  doubt  would  sometimes  arise  in  my  mind  whetlier  it 
was  not  all  the  creation  of  his  own  brain;  as  it  seemed  almost  an  im- 
possibility for  him,  living  as  he  did,  to  have  learned  all  that  he  wrote, 
even  if  he  had  given  himself  up  to  that  line  of  inquiry  :  but  on  either 
supposition  the  letter  was  a  striking  evidence  of  his  amazing  versatility 
of  talent.  This  letter  ended  with  a  sentence  half  finished  and  without 
signature  of  any  kind.  After  a  few  weeks  another,  came,  directed  as 
before,  beginning  with  the  rest  of  the  sentence  that  was  left  unfinished 
in  the  former  epistle,  and  filled  with  the  same  sort  of  news ;  the  very 
perfection  of  what  a  friendly  letter  ought  to  be,  and  ending  witli  the 
first  part  of  a  word.  These  letters  came  for  some  months ;  and  at  last 
he  signed  at  the  bottom  of  the  last  page  a  perfectly  indecipherable 
hieroglyphic  for  a  name,  and  then  they  came  no  more.  My  sister 
Martha  had  at  one  time  enough  of  his  writings  in  this  style  to  make 
quite  a  volume  ;  all  written  for  her  amusement  and  edification." 

This  (wliich  I  get  from  Mr.  Cameron)  is  much  like  him : 
It  once  befell  that  they  were  speaking  of  an  author  of  high 

position  and  no  little  reputation,  wlio  bad  just  published  an 

important  work ;  the  professor  remarked  : 

"There  is  much  in  it  that  is  valuable,  but  I  would  not  give  a  six- 
pence for  an  original  idea  of  his." 

Here  is  another  of  his  mots^  which  has  been  preserved  by 
one  who  was  evidently  one  of  his  pupils : 

His  propensity  towards  facetious  and  satirical  epigram 
was  sometimes  indulged  in  the  lecture-room.  A  writer  in  one 
of  the  late  numbers  of  the  Princeton  Review  is  responsible 


^■^■i^-'i  WIT   AND   HUMOUE.  839 

for  the  following :  "  Speaking  to  his  class  on  this  theme,  (the 
nature  of  the  office  of  the  ministry)  he  once  said,  'The  pastor 
is  sent  to  feed  the  flock  of  Christ,  but  some  men  only  drive 
the  sheep  about  and  fleece  them.'  "  * 

He  laughed  heartily,  but  with  perfect  good  nature,  at  the 
blunders  people  sometimes  made  when  trying  in  vain  to  be 
thought  learned. 

"Any  one  who  recalls  the  keen  sense  of  the  ludicrous  displayed  in 
his  review  of  '  Colton  on  Episcopacy,'  published  iu  the  Biblical  Reper- 
tory for  1836,  will  readily  understand  his  amusement  when,  as  he  was 
preparing  for  a  voyage  to  Europe,  he  was  asked  by  a  would-be  literary 
man  whether  he  intended  to  visit  AlJgemeine  while  in  Germany.  Dr. 
A.  had  heard  of  the  AUgemeine  Zeitung,  but  not  of  the  city  where 
his  friend  evidently  supposed  it  to  be  published.  He  often  related  the 
joke  with  the  greatest  relish."  t 

The  truth  is,  he  had  as  nuich  of  the  spirit  of  mere  cama- 
radie  as  anybody ;  and  was  only  restrained  by  diffidence,  by 
odd  humour,  by  long  habit,  by  much  work,  by  deep  sorrows, 
from  showing  it  more  generally.  When  aroused  his  wit  flew 
like  foam-flakes,  or  like  a  gay  streamer  before  the  wind. 

Even  the  expressions  of  his  unafiected  humility  were 
sometimes  oddly  streaked  with  wit.  The  terse  point  of  some 
of  his  sayings  could  not  be  made  finer  than  it  is. 

At  a  time  when  the  Pre-Millennial  Advent  w^as  exciting  un- 
usual  interest  in  the  church,  one  of  his  former  pupils  expressed 
to  Dr.  Alexander  his  desire  and  that  of  others,  that  he  would 
take  up  the  discussion  of  the  subject  in  the  Biblical  Repertory. 
"  Well,"  said  he,  "  I  have  myself  been  thinking  that  the  Re- 
pertory should  engage  in  the  discussion  :  and  I  have  told  Dr. 
Hodge,  that  if  he  will  break  ground,  I  will  follow :  for  you 
know,  he  frames  our  constitutions^  and  we  make  the  laios.''^ 

*  See  an  article  on  "  The  Pastorate  for  the  Times,"  in  the  Princeton  Pteview 
for  .January,  1868,  p.  102. 

t  I  am  indebted  for  this  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hugh  N.  Wilson,  of  New  Jersey, 
who  was  one  of  Dr.  Alexander's  most  admired  pupils  in  the  Seminary,  and  a 
member  of  one  of  his  most  enthusiastic  private  classes  in  Arabic. 


840  A   POETEAIT.  [185*. 

"  On  another  occasion,  liaving  heard  a  rumour  that  he  had  discon- 
tinued all  work  upon  his  commentary  ou  Matthew,  I  wrote  l:im,  in- 
quiring whether  this  were  so,  and  urging  him,  in  case  lie  had  laid  aside 
his  work,  to  resume  it.  lie  replied  that  he  had  ceased  writing  hecause 
he  had  lost  his  zest  for  the  work,  and  that  it  had  heen  a  maxim  with 
his  father  (whom  he  always  religiously  revered)  never  to  prosecute 
such  work  vmhss  con  amo7'e ;  that  he  had  prepared  a  portion  of  the 
commentary,  and  had  accumulated  large  materials  for  more  of  it 
which  he  would  cheerfully  hand  over  to  rae,  to  he  put  in  order  to  he 
completed  hy  myself.  That  this  offer  was  made  in  perfect  good  faith, 
I  never  f  t  a  moment  doubted;  while  I  regarded  it  as  the  most  era- 
pKa'ic  proof  of  his  humility,  that  he  shuu'd  deem  me  fit  to  finish  a 
Avork  begun  hy  himself.  I  would  as  soon  have  contracted  to  com- 
plete the  Cathedral  of  Cologne,  as  to  finish  a  commentary  begun  by 
such  a  scholar  and  such  a  writer  as  Addison  Alexander.  I  therefore 
repealed  my  solicitations  that  he  would  resume  his  work;  and  have 
since  had  reason  to  believe  that  my  letters  were  one  means  of  securing 
a  commentary  which,  had  he  written  no  other,  will  place  hiin  among 
the  very  first  critics  of  any  age  or  of  any  land." 

The  strauge  combination  of  intellectual  gifts  wliicli  has 
given  so  great  a  traditionary,  as  Avell  as  historic,  eminence  to 
the  name  of  Joseph  Addison  Alexander,  had  its  signature  upon 
his  rosy  face  and  sparkling  eye,  and  has  been  discerned,  as 
they  at  least  fancy,  by  some  even  in  the  imperfect  engravings 
that  have  been  made  of  him.  A  writer  in  the  "  Christian  Ob- 
server," publislicd  in  Kichmond  Ya.,  who  is  understood  to  be 
the  Rev.  T.  "W.  Hooper,  of  Christiansburg,  in  a  pleasant  de- 
scription of  some  of  the  portraits  hanging  in  his  own  study, 
thus  hits  off  that  of  the  Princeton  scholar  and  humourist : 

"  The  next  picture  is  Dr.  Addison  Alexander.  It  seems  to  me  that 
the  face  is  a  little  too  round  and  full,  for  my  recollection  of  him — though 
I  never  saw  hira  but  once ;  and  then  the  wonderful  power  of  his  imag- 
inition,  and  his  peculiar  aptness  of  language,  and  beauty  of  conception, 
made  me  lose  sight  of  everything  but  the  sermon,  with  whose  gushing 
eloquence  I  was  enraptured.  The  countenance  itself  is  a  study;  a  rid- 
dle ;  an  enigma.  At  one  time,  you  see  the  shade  that  must  have  rest- 
ed there  when  he  ^va-ote,  '  There  is  a  time,  we  know  not  when.'  And 
again  there  is  the  merry  twinkle,  and  quaint  humour,  that  must  have 


^r.49.]  A  HAPPY   HOJIE.  841 

played  there,  when,  in  Wistar's  Magazine,^  I  think  he  called  it— he 
wrote  that  scathing  burlesque  on  'Illustrations; '  closing  witli  a  ficti- 
tious tale  about  some  man  who  proposed  to  illustrate  the  Shorter 
Catecliism,  but  who  found  an  impossibility  in  discovering  an  illustra- 
tion that  would  suit  the  first  question  and  answer." 

The  picture  of  the  elder  of  the  two  Alexanders,  by  the 
same  genial  pencil,  may  well  be  added. 

"  The  next  is  James  W.  Alexander,  D.D.,  one  of  the  kindest,  noblest, 
most  benevolent-looking  countenances  that  I  ever  saw.  It  does  me 
good  to  look  at  him  ;  and  I  feel  as  if  I  would  give  almost  anything  to 
have  conversed  with  him  one  day.  I  consider  his  'Thoughts  on 
Preaching,'  almost  invaluable,  and  his  'Forty  Years' Familiar  Letters  ' 
is  certainly  one  of  the  most  delightfully  entertaining  and  instructive 
books  that  I  ever  read." 

This  animated  and  affectionate  tribute  from  a  comparative 
stranger  has  brought  up  many  cheerful  and  delightful  recol- 
lections in  the  mind  of  the  present  biographer ;  some  of  them 
dating  back  to  a  very  early  period  in  his  own  life ;  when  the 
family  circle  was  unbroken  ;  when  the  hoar  hairs  and  uncer- 
tain steps  of  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  might  be  seen  at  well- 
known  hours  near  his  sash-door,  as  he  muffled  himself  more 
closely  in  his  warm  cloak  and  directed  his  course  towards  the 
oratory  ;  when  the  household  all  poured  into  a  common  room 
in  the  evenings,  and  the  happy  mirth  of  the  mother  of  his 
children  could  not  be  restrained,  as  she  turned  her  soft,  liquid 
eye  upon  the  laughing  group,  saw  her  husband  shaking  in  his 
chair,  and  listened  to  the  wit,  the  learning,  the  acumen,  and 
the  harmless  jollity  of  her  sons. 

Those  days  have  not  been  succeeded  by  better  ones.  The 
sunshine  of  that  vcmal  noontide  has  been  invaded  by  clouds. 

*  Mr.  Hooper  has  since  informed  me  that  he  was  mistaken  (as  I  had  ap- 
prized him)  in  thiuking  that  this  piece  is  to  be  found  in  Wistar's  Magazine. 
Upon  refreshing  his  memory,  he  says  that  the  gentleman  from  whom  be  had  the 
account,  told  him  the  thing  was  written  by  Dr.  Addison  Alexander,  for  some 
magazine  or  other,  under  a  fictitious  signature,  and  as  if  from  an  imaginary  town 
in  New  Jersey.  Nothing  could  be  more  in  keeping  with  the  habits,  or  rather 
the  occasional  coTOical  fancies,  nf  its  reputed  author. 

36 


842  AN   IN'STANCE    OF   HIS    KtNDXESS.  fl868. 

The  old  homestead  is  chanc^ed,  and  many  are  dead  and  gone 
-who  once  tilled  it  with  melodious  accents  or  with  honest  laugh- 
ter. The  dim  picture-gallery,  however,  still  remains,  with  it3 
evanescent  lights  and  storied  walls  :  and  there,  in  moments  of 
solitary  retrospection,  memory,  with  a  fond  heart  but  in  sober 
weeds  and  with  light  footfall,  may  walk  unobserved  and  un- 
attended ;  and,  as  she  sheds  those  "  tears,  idle  tears,"  of  which 
the  English  poet  speaks,  may  renew  or  forget  the  sorrows  of  the 
present  in  the  sweet  vision  of  the  past.  At  such  times,  and 
in  such  mournfully  pleasing  occupations, 

"  Ante  oculos  errant  domus,  *  *  et  forma  locorum  ; 
Succeduntque  suis  singula  fsicta  locis." 

There  was  one  who  could  say  of  him,  "  a  brother  is  born 
for  adversity,"  and  that  was  his  own  brother  James.  But  he 
looked  to  him  even  more  in  times  of  mere  perplexity.  The 
sorrowful  pastor  leaned  strongly  on  the  I'esolute  jjractical  wis- 
dom of  "Addison,"  and  seldom  found  it  an  unsafe  dependance. 
There  Avas  no  delay  and  no  hesitation  in  the  advice  he  gave 
his  friends,  and  he  seldom  swerved  from  opinions  rendered  in 
this  way.  One  of  these  was,  that  it  is  commonly  best  for  a 
man  to  leave  home,  in  order  to  the  attainment  of  the  highest 
success  and  usefulness  in  life.  His  own  case  was  a  peculiar, 
one  but  he  seemed  to  think  it  was  a  question  whether  even  he 
migiat  not  have  achieved  more  av/ay  from  the  comforts  and  en- 
dearments and  restraints  of  his  father's  house. 

I  give  below  a  single  but  touching  evidence  of  his  kindness 
to  his  near  relatives  : 

"  Peixcetox,  Dec.  23(1,  185G. 
"  Reverend  axd  Dear  Sam.  : 

"Please  find  enclosed  my  check  on  Princeton  Bank,  for  fifty  dol- 
lars, whicli  I  hope  you  will  be  able  to  cash  without  mucli  trouble  or 
expense.  Half  of  the  proceeds  is  to  pay  for  the  books  I  bought  of  you. 
Out  of  the  balance,  if  it  were  not  asking  too  much  of  you,  I  should  like 
to  present  books  to  the  following  individuals: 

1.  James  W.  Alexander,  Sr. :  2.  Elizabeth  0.  Alexander. :  3.  Ilenry 
M.  Alexander. :  4.  Susan  M.  Alexander. :  5.  Ilenry  C.  Alexander ;  and 


Mr.iS.i  HIS    AFFECTIOlSrATE   SOFTWESS.  843 

6.  James  "W.  Alexander,  Jr.,  unless  (as  I  suspect)  he  ehonld  prefer  a 
gift  in  money.  If  you  think  so,  could  you  not  puichase  a  gold  engle, 
put  it  in  a  pill  box,  or  wrap  it  in  white  paper,  as  from  me?  I  siiall 
send  a  picture-book  from  here  to  7.  William  Alexander;  but  ns  it  is  not 
very  fine,  I  should  like  very  well  to  give  him  something  else.  I  am 
perfectly  aware  of  the  atrocious  character  of  this  commission,  and  as- 
tonished at  my  own  audacity  in  sending  it.  I  would  not  venture  so  to 
do,  if  I  expected  to  come  on  during  the  holidays  ;  but  before  we  meet, 
I  hope  you  will  be  over  it  in  one  way  or  another.  For  my  last  word 
is  that,  if  you  choose,  you  may  omit  the  elders,  and  get  sometiiing  for 
the  juniors,  i.e. ;  H.  0.  A.,  J.  W.  A.,  and  "W.  A. ;  or  for  11.  and  J. ;  as  W. 
has  a  book  already.  I  do  wish  you  could  find  some  book  for  the  first, 
that  would  be  permanently  useful  and  yet  ornamental.  '  Excuse  my 
liberty,'  and  accept  the  compliments  of  the  season,  from, 

"Yours  affectionately, 

"  J.  A.  Alexandee." 
P.  S. — Pick  up  some  nice  book  at  your  leisure,  and  accept  it  for 
yourself,  both  as  commission  and  a  Christmas-box.     If  too  late  for 
Christmas,  you  can  do  something  before  New  Year. 

If  there  was  one  quality  of  which  he  was  little  suspected, 
it  was  affectionate  softness.  But  there  are  those  who  can  say- 
much  in  favour  of  an  opinion  on  this  point  that  is  the  reverse 
of  the  common  one.     Thus  Dr.  Hall  writes  : 

"  I  have  often  been  afifected  by  the  tenderness  of  his  nature.  I 
think  he  must  have  made  an  effort  to  repress  a  strong,  underlying,  dis- 
position in  that  direction.  It  sometimes  came  out  in  his  preaching,  in 
his  sentiments,  but  pariicularly  his  tones.  But  it  was  more  obvious  in 
private.  His  sensibilities,  I  think,  were  often  moved  when  it  was  not 
susperiel.  In  public,  in  compulsory  or  official  intercourse  with  men, 
i;e  may  have  appeared  to  assume  dignity — perhaps  tinged  with  pride; 
especially  with  presuming,  forward,  conceited  people ;  but  I  auj  sure 
he  had  a  tender  heart." 

He  never  did  anything  by  halves.  He  sends  one  of  his  ac- 
quaintance a  trunk  full  of  books  to  read,  and  offers  to  lend 
him  his  whole  library.  He  gets  one  of  his  students,  who  was 
poor,  an  admirable  place  vvhere  he  could  maintain  himself  and 
still  keep  up  his  studies,  and  this  without  solicitation  on  the 


844  MAl^^NER    OF   GIVESTG.  [1868, 

part  of  the  needy  scholar.  Ho  gives  up  his  precious  time  to 
another,  to  sympathize  with  him  and  encourage  hiui  in  a  sea- 
son of  mental  depression.  He  offers  another  to  give  him  the 
benefit  of  his  own  name  and  emoluments ;  promises  to  help 
him,  and  begs  him  to  finish  a  commentary  which  he  himself 
had  projected  (and  actually  begun)  on  a  scale  and  plan  that 
set  at  defiance  all  efforts  of  imitators  or  followers.  He  turns 
over  to  his  able  colleague  all  the  advantage  of  his  own  previ- 
ous researches  in  Hebrew  grammar  and  oriental  philology. 
These  are  but  illustrations  of  a  characteristic  trait  of  self-abne- 
gation. 

But  it  Avas  the  manner  in  which  these  and  a  thousand  like 
things  were  done,  that  showed  the  sensitive  and  noble-hearted 
Christian  gentleman.  It  was  the  refined  courtesy ;  the  exquis- 
ite way  in  which  lie  avoided  the  (Tppearance  of  doing  a  good 
turn  while  in  reality  he  did  it ;  the  almost  prescient  sympathy 
and  humanity  of  feeling  by  which  he  knew  beforehand  what 
■would  be  most  agreeable  to  the  feelings  of  his  friend  ;  it  was 
these  things,  that  proclaimed  him  to  the  chosen  number  who 
were  the  recipients  of  his  kind  words,  or  the  objects  of  his  still 
kinder  actions,  to  be  not  merely  the  man  of  generous  impulses, 
but  also  the  man  of  enlarged  New  Testament  benevolence  and 
the  possessor  of  a  v/arm,  constant,  tender,  though  manly  and 
uncringing,  human  heart. 

He  had  an  open  hand  for  all  who  were  in  real  want.  The 
number  of  his  silent  gratuities  will  never  be  known.  He  ob- 
served carefully  the  Bible  injunction  as  to  ostentatious  giving. 
We  know  enough,  however,  of  his  kind  offices,  to  enable  us  to 
pronounce  w^ith  confidence  on  his  disposition.  He  was  a  true 
friend  to  the  poor,  and  to  those  whose  "  heart  was  not 
haughty."  He  befriended  such  both  in  word  and  in  deed.  He 
reserved  his  invectives  for  the  wicked,  and  commonly  withheld 
his  rebukes  and  his  sarcasm  from  those  whom  be  did  not  con- 
sider presumptuous,  absurdly  or  culpably  ignorant,  foolishly 
conceited,  offensively  obtrusive,  or  arrogantly  proud. 

"  la  Israel's  courts  ne'er  sat  an  Abethdin 
With  more  discerning  eyes,  or  hands  more  clean ; 


^T.  49.]  SIJSrCEEITY   AND    AFFECTIOlSr.  845 

Unbribed,  unsought  the  wretched  to  redress, 
Swift  of  despatch,  and  easy  of  access." 

Witli  regard  to  his  feelings  towards  those  whom  he  loved  to 
associate  with  on  intimate  tertos,  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Hall,  of 
Trenton,  will  be  accepted  as  that  of  one  who  knew  him  well 
in  all  his  moods,  and  who  knew  him  in  his  lighter  moods  bet- 
ter, 23erhaps,  than  any  other  man  not  of  his  own  immediate 
kin.     Dr.  Hall  writes: 

"  I  can  only  answer  from  my  own  experience,  that  I  always  felt  the 
most  absolute  confidence  in  his  uniform  sincerity,  and  could  ask  him 
for  any  favour  with  perfect  assurance  that  he  would  do  everytliing  in 
his  power  to  meet  my  wishes,  If  I  had  not  discerned  affection  in^his 
character  in  this  respect,  I  could  not  have  felt  the  freedom  I  did.  But 
without  any  protestations  or  professions  from  him,  I  felt  all  the  time 
tliat  he  was  interested  in  my  welfare;  and  I  have  more  than  once  ac- 
cidentally discovered  that  he  had  been  contriving  to  bring  about  meas- 
ures tliat  he  supposed  would  gratify  me.  I  remember  his  offering  to 
lejd  me  his  whole  library  as  I  might  need  it,  and  actually  sending'" me 
on  one  occasion  a  trunk  filled  with  tlie  choicest  works  for  my  enter- 
tainment: and  so  he  would  have  continued  to  do  as  long  as  I  desired 
it.  He  was  more  disposed  to  rally  his  friends  than  flatter  them  ;  and 
my  knowledge  of  this  trait  caused  me  great  surprise  as  well  as  gratifi- 
cation when  I  received  from  him  a  note  of  commendation  which  must 
have  been  suggested  purely  by  the  impulse  of  friendship." 

He  despised  the  shows  and  hypocrisies  of  affected  worldly 
manners.  He  was  not  perpetually  telling  people  that  he  loved 
them,  or  signing  himself  their  affectionate  or  devoted  friend 
He  acted  on  the  maxim  of  Solomon,  that  "a  man  that  hath 
friends  must  show  himself  friendly."  Sometimes  in  moments 
of  depressed  spirits,  or  of  sudden  pique  or  irritation,  he  would 
accost  his  best  friends  rather  roughly.  But  who  so  ea-er  aa 
he  to  repair  his  fault,  and  to  "  render  unto  "  them  «  seven-fold 
into  their  bosom." 

"  His  mercy  e'en  the  offending  crowd  will  find  ; 
For  sure  he  comes  of  a  forgiving  kind." 


846  VISirrN-Q   THE   SICK.  [1858. 

ISTothing  coulil  exceed  the  assiduity  of  his  attentions  if 
any  of  his  friends  were  sick,  or  the  sincerity  of  his  concern  if 
any  of  them  were  "nigh  unto  death."  When  any  one  of  thera 
lay  upon  the  bier,  he  commonly  remained  silent ;  but  the  grav- 
ity of  his  demeanour,  and  the  solemnity  of  his  public  instruc- 
tions, could  not  fail  to  impress  one  with  the  conviction  tliat 
his  sympathies  were  in  the  house  of  mourning.  lie  would 
usually  under  such  circumstances  absent  himself  more  strin- 
gently than  ever  from  all  companionship;  sometimes  locking 
the  door  of  his  room.  The  reader  has  not  forgotten  his  stan- 
zas on  tlie  little  fatherless  girl,  which  are  enough  to  bring 
the  water  into  eyes  of  marble;  or  his  heart-searching  exercises 
on  occasion  of  the  death  of  little  Harriet  Patton ;  or  the  wild 
wail  of  pathos  that  came  bursting  up  out  of  his  heart,  as  he 
thought  of  his  own  preservation  and  loneliness  in  a  foreign 
land,  and  "  wept  when  he  remembered "  the  freshly-sodded 
grave  of  poor  Rezeau  Brown. 

It  would  be  an  error  to  suppose  that  these  feelings  were 
not  most  deeply  felt,  and  most  strongly  marked,  in  cases  of 
affliction  in  his  father's  or  brother's  household.  Never  shall  I 
cease  to  remember  his  appearance  and  manner  as  he  entered 
my  own  sick  chamber  one  morning,  and  presented  me  v/ith 
the  first  copy  of  his  "Mark"  that  had  left  his  hand.  That 
copy  is  still  on  my  shelves  ;  and  on  the  fly-leaf  are  inscribed, 
in  his  bold,  round  handwriting,  the  letters  of  my  name,  the 
words  "from  the  author," -and  the  date,  Sept.  7,  1858.  He 
sat  down  by  me  and  talked  to  me  in  tones  of  delightful 
sweetness,  almost  as  if  I  was  a  child  again.  While  thus  en- 
gaged, he  was  startled  by  a  peculiar  catarrhal  cough  from  the 
bed,  and  shrank  back  in  visible  alarm,  and  his  voice  trembled 
with  a  species  of  indescribable  sympathy  and  commiseration. 
It  Avas  evident  to  me,  even  then,  that  he  thought  my  situation 
^ar  more  dangerous  than  it  really  was;  and  it  occurred  to  me 
that  his  mind  was  roving  over  the  seas  in  search  of  liis  absent 
brother,  who  might  presently  be  called  upon  to  bear  the 
tidings  of  another  sorrow. 

Ah  !  how  much  might  be  added  in  tlie  way  of  description 


^T.  40.]  AT   HIS    OWN   FIEESIDE.  84*? 

of  Dr.  Alexander's  pleasing  relations  with  his  own  cherished 
household,  were  it  not  for  the  natural  feelings  of  those  of  them 
who  are  yet  living .  It  is  right,  however,  for  me  to  say,  that 
the  family  of  which  this  noble  man  and  sensitive  Christian 
gentleman  was  a  member,  feel  a  solicitude  that  I  should  do  no 
injustice  to  his  remarkable  domestic  character,  and  a  jealousy 
with  regard  to  this,  lest  it  should  be  overlooked  in  the  setting 
forth  of  his  purely  intellectual  parts  and  even  of  his  general 
moral  disposition.  He  was,  from  the  very  nature  of  the  case, 
so  little  known  in  this  respect,  as  to  give  rise  to  such  a  fear  in 
the  minds  of  those  who  knew  him  best  and  loved  him  most 
heartily.  The  impression  is  a  common  one  that  he  was  the 
same  recluse  in  the  bosom  of  his  family  that  he  was  to  the 
Avorld.  This  is  a  total  and  most  injurious  mistake.  1  have 
already  said  enough  of  his  impulsive  generosity  to  his  near 
kindred  and  to  some  of  his  friends  ;  of  the  delight  he  took  in 
bestowing  upon  others,  and  of  how  much  of  this  he  did  secret- 
ly and  quietly,  with  so  noiseless  a  movement,  indeed,  often 
as  to  baffle  observation.  But  I  have  not  said  much  (and  it 
would  be  hard  for  anyone  to  say  too  much)  of  the  unceasing 
pleasure  he  took  in  the  company  of  those  whose  presence 
graced  and  brightened  his  hearth  at  home ;  of  his  gentleness 
and  goodness  to  them,  interest  in  them,  and  affection  for  them. 
I  know  not  in  what  strong  language  to  tell  how  tender  and 
sympathetic  he  w^as  in  even  the  petty  household  cares  of  his 
family.  He  kept  what  he  called  the  "  Two-Penny  Book  ;"  and 
expressly,  if  not  simply,  for  the  amusement  of  the  children  ;  in 
which  for  several  years  he  was  in  the  habit  of  writing  daily, 
and  in  which  he  recorded  the  name  of  every  visitor  who  en- 
tered the  house  and  every  event  of  the  slightest  interest  con- 
nected with  the  little  fortunes  of  the  inmates.  One  Avho  was 
at  one  time,  and  for  years  together,  a  recipient  of  his  personal 
kindness,  lately  had  an  opportunity  of  looking  over  this  old  vol- 
ume, so  full  of  memories,  and  was  amazed  and  deeply  affected 
to  find  the  pains  he  had  taken  in  teaching  some  of  the  junior 
members  of  the  family  circle.  There  it  was  in  black  and 
white :  poetry  and  history,  and   languages,  and  what  not ! 


848  A   JOYFUL   TEIBUTE.  [1858. 

And  this,  too,  in  addition  to  all  his  other  burdens  and  recrea- 
tions !  His  delight  in  imparting  knowledge  was  truly  won- 
derful ;  and  was  only  exceeded  by  his  fondness  for  acquiring 
it  in  the  first  instance. 

One  who  seems  to  have  pierced  the  "  crust  of  reserve  "  which 
lay  upon  the  surface  of  his  manner,  and  found  out  the  peren- 
nial fountain  of  good  feeling  and  light-hearted  humour  which 
Avas  ever  bubbling  up  beneath  it,  has  said  that  in  him  he  dis- 
covered a  veritable  and  striking  confirmation  of  the  proverb 
that,  "as  ointment  and  jDcrfume  rejoice  the  heart,  so  doth  a 
man's  friend  by  hearty  counsel."  His  own  affection  for  his 
person  was  quite  as  great  as  his  awe  at  his  achievements, 
and  in  o-rateful  and  fitting  words  he  writes  : 

"My  heart  always  wakes  at  the  remembrance  of  liis  genial,  instruc- 
tive conversation,  and  his  loving  kindness  towards  me,  so  much  above 
any  merit  or  claim,  from  the  beginning  of  my  occasional  intercourse 
with  him  to  the  end." 

He  joyfully  adds  his  humble  tribute  to  the  memory  of  one 
of  the  noblest  men  and  Christian  philosophers  who,  by  their 
love  of  truth  and  consecration  of  their  powers  to  the  Saviour, 
have  ever  adorned  the  world. 

"After  leaving  the  Theological  Seminary  at  Princeton,  I  saw  him 
seldom,  as  my  professional  path  lay,  most  of  tlie  time,  far  away ;  but 
always  with  increasing  interest  and  profit:  till,  all  of  a  sudden,  we 
heard  the  affecting  news  that,  after  struggling  with  an  insidious  and 
capricious  disease  longer  than  any  of  us  had  thought,  he  had  laid  aside 
his  pen  ;  gathered  up  Lis  robes ;  stepped  into  his  chariot ;  and  with  a 
sublime  faith  in  tlie  Captain  of  his  salvation,  had  gone  up  to  his  IIomQ 
on  high."  * 

*  The  Kev.  Paul  E.  Stevenson,  Paterson,  N.  J. 


CHAPTER  XXXII. 

The  journal  for  the  new  year  opens  with  an  interesting 
allusion  to  that  grandest  of  even  Latin  obituaries,  the  con- 
cluding words  of  the  Agricola  of  Tacitus.  Many  were  soon 
to  join  in  doing  similar,  though  not  equal,  honours  to  the 
memory  of  the  cis- Atlantic  admirer  of  this  first  of  Roman  his- 
torians. 

"  Jan.  1.  Lectured  to  the  Seniors  on  the  Presbyterian  Church  of 
Ireland,  abridged  from  chapters  of  Eeid,  which  I  read  yesterday,  and 
my  own  paraphrase  of  Kurtz.  Finished  the  Agricola  of  Tacitus,  which 
I  liave  been  reading  slowly  and  with  great  delight  since  Dec.  14.  The 
conclusion  h;is  an  epic  grandeur,  clothed  in  the  severest  prose,  and  the 
closing  prophecy  is  made  sublime  by  its  complete  fulfilment. 

"Feb.  28.  Lectured  on  the  Apolcaypse  (closing  the  short  course 
begun  Jan.  24).  Double  lectures  to  the  Juniors  (Ezra,  ISTehemiah, 
Esther,  Chronicles),  closing  the  long  course  begun  Sept.  7. 

About  the  beginning  of  the  year,  he  procured  a  change  of 
chairs  in  the  Seminary,  for  reasons  which  are  thus  fully  and 
ably  presented  by  the  professor  who  succeeded  to  his  duties 
in  Church  History : 

"He  never,"  writes  Dr.  McGill,  "seemed  to  me  salisfied  with 
Church  History  as  a  department  of  labour ;  although  its  endless  variety 
of  methods,  in  periodology  &c.,  one  might  have  supposed,  would  suit 
well  the  incessant  pleasure  with  which  he  pursued  new  plans.  In- 
tensely active  as  he  was  in  changing  methods,  he  preferred  to  have  an 
immoveable  centre,  and  make  all  his  changes  at  the  circumference;  to 
study  one  thing,  ever  the  same  and  ever  certain,  and  range  with  his 
diversity  from  side  to  side,  only  to  show  new  beauties,  and  new  bright- 
ness of  evidence,  in  what  was  of  record  by  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  himself. 

"Hence,  about  the  beginning  of  the  year  1859,  he  proposed  to  me 
ob" 


850  A   nUMOEOUS   LETTEPw  [1S50 

that  Clmrcli  History  slioukl  be  reunited  with  Clinrch  Government  in 
my  department,  and  that  a  distinct  chai:-  of  New  Testament  Literature 
be  assigned  to  liim,  if  the  Board  of  Directors  and  the  General  Assem- 
bly wonld  sanction  it.  His  only  hesitnncy  in  urging  such  an  arrange- 
ment -was  the  appearance  of  devolving  on  me  a  disproportione<l 
amount  of  work  in  the  Seminary.  Mine,  was  the  apprehension  that 
the  students  and  the  Church  at  large  would  regret  to  see  any  depart- 
ment on  which  he  had  entered  with  his  strengtli,  relinquls'.ied  to  any 
other  man.  This  interchange  of  views  on  the  subject  seemed  to  termi- 
nate the  matter  at  that  time.  But  as  tlie  end  of  the  term  approached, 
he  spoke  of  it  again  ;  with  greater  solicitude  counselled  with  all  his 
colleagues  and  with  leading  friends  of  the  institution;  and  at  length 
it  was  arranged  by  the  Faculty  to  submit  the  question  to  the  Board  of 
Directors.  The  Board  approved  with  entire  unanimity,  and  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  ordered  the  change  to  be  made.  After  the  Directors 
had  agreed  to  this  measure,  and  just  before  the  Assembly  met,  and 
while  he  was  }et  apprehensive  that  opposition  might  be  made,  he  sent 
me  a  very  long  letter,*  which  I  greatly  prized,  and  have  kept  with 
carefulness." 

He  now  encloses  to  Dr.  Hall  a  poem,  "written  by  Sir 
Knight  Jolin  K.  Hall,  of  the  Boston  Encampment,  read  by 
Sir  Knight  Wyzeman  Marshall,  the  tragedian,  in  a  manner 
which  elicited  great  applause,"  with  the  following  letter : 

'  Noble  and  G  allaxt  Knight,  Most  Excellent  Sir  John  : 

"Allow  me  to  congratulate  you  on  your  happy  revival  of  the  old 
alliance  between  minstrelsy  and  knighthood.  If  your  prowess  is  but 
equal  to  jonr  lyric  inspiration,  there  is  not  a  windmill  that  can  stand 
before  you  for  a  moment.  But  although  my  primary  design  in  writing 
was  to  offer  you  the  tribute  of  my  humble  but  appreciative  admira- 
tion, I  do  not  deny  that  I  have  also  an  eye  to  bu.-iness,  and  respect- 
fully suggest  that  if  yon,  or  any  of  your  knights  or  squires,  shouM  be 
so  unhappy  as  to  soil  your  chivalrous  costume,  it  could  nowhere  be 
renewed  more  skilfully  or  cheaply  than  by  the  undersigned,  who  has 
recently  removed  to  the  great  West  to  carry  on  this  inteiestiug  busi- 
ness. 

*  The  letter  is  one  of  pvelmincDt  ability  and  friendlinofs,  but  turns  wholly 
on  imaginary  objections  to  his  wishes,  and  is  omitted  here  on  accouut  of  its 
extreme  length. 


<Et.  50.]  A    LONG   JOURNEY.  851 

DETROIT   STEAM   DYEIX'G   ESTABLISHMENT. 

KO.   16  CONGRESS   STREET,    EAST. 

A.  C.  Alexander  would  most  respectfully  intimate  that,  more  fully  to 
accommodate  the  wants  of  the  patronizing  public,  and  his  large  increase  of 
business,  he  has  adopted  the  improved  facility  which  STEAM  gives  to  the  Art 
of  DYEING,  having  recently  fitted  up  for  that  purpose.  He  now  di/es  by  steam 
every  description  of  Silks,  Satins,  Velvets,  Crapes,  and  Merinos,  pi-oduciug  the 
most  brilliant  colors  and  best  style  of  finish  that  every  article  will  admit  of. 
Shawls  of  every  variety  dyed  and  cleaned. 

gentlemen's  clothes  cleaning. 
A.  C.  A.  would  remind  the  public  that  he  dyes,  cleans,  and  repairs  coats, 
pants,  and  vests,  restoring  the  faded  lustre  so  as  to  improve  the  appearance 
of  such  garments. 

"Let  me  add  that  the  0.  in  the  advertiser's  name  is  cabalistic,  like 
the  K.  in  yours,  I  would  also  beg  leave  to  make  you  acquainted  with 
my  friend  Smith's  "Mammoth  Eectifying  Establishment,"  Chicago, 
where  any  of  your  order  who  have  mammoths  to  be  rectified  can  have 
it  done  on  the  lowest  terms,  and  at  the  shortest  notice.  Indeed,  I 
know  of  no  other  place  where  a  mammoth  can  be  rectified  at  all. 

"  Accept  my  salutations, 

"A.  C.  Alexandee. 
"SiE  J.  Iv.  Hall,  Kt.     May  30,  1859." 

The  following  epistle  be  yrrote  to  his  brotlier  James,  who 
was  then  in  Virginia  : 

"New  Yoek,  June  18th,  1859. 
"  Mr  Dear  Beothek  : 

"I  arrived  here  on  Friday  evening  on  the  very  day,  and  almost  the 
very  hour,  whicli  I  had  fixed  for  my  return  before  I  started.  I  have  liad  a 
very  pleasant  jriurney  of  I  don't  know  how  many  thousand  miles,  de- 
scribing a  gi'eat  circle  from  New  York  to  New  York  through  Boston, 
Portland,  Quebec,  Montreal,  Toronto,  Buffalo,  Detroit,  Chicago,  Spring- 
field, St.  Louis,  Vincennes,  Cincinnati,  Columbus,  Pittsburg,  Harris- 
burg,  Ea.-ton,  Somerville,  and  Elizabethport.  I  have  now  daguerreo- 
typed  upon  my  memory  a  number  of  new  cities,  with  a  good  deal  of 
the  intervening  country.  I  am  as  perfectly  at  home  in  the  streets  of 
Chicago,  St.  Louis,  Cincinnati,  and  Pittsburg,  as  in  those  of  Philadel- 
phia or  New  York.  By  keeping  a  look-out  for  tlie  peculiar  features  of 
eacli  new  place,  I  have  given  each  its  own  physiognomy  and  counte- 
nance. With  the  great  West  generally,  I  was  much  impressed.  The 
vastness  of  the  distances,  and  traversed  in  a  short  time,  and  the  rapid  sue- 


852  LOVE   OF    CHANGE.  [1859 

cession  of  largo  cities,  have  left  a  singular  effect  upon  my  memory  and 
imagination.  I  am  greatly  stricken  with  the  freshness,  large-soulnesa 
and  savoir  vivre  of  that  Western  world.  Travelling  conveniences  are  in 
the  first  style,  and  tlie  intensity  of  competition  carries  everything  of 
that  sort  to  perfection.  The  physique  of  the  pure  "Western  man  is 
certainly  imposing,  with  a  high  average  of  intelligence  and  spirit,  and 
a  curiosity  before  which  Yankeedom  must  pale  its  ineffectual  fires. 
Cincinnati  is  almost  a  model  of  a  perfect  city,  although  not  so  pic- 
turesque as  Pittsburg,  Avhich,  moreover,  is  a  little  London.  Daring 
my  absence,  I  have  read  a  volume  of  St.  Simon  (a  most  admirable 
road-book)  and  Arnoldi  on  Matthew ;  the  last  work  which  I  wish  to 
read  before  writing,  which  I  think  of  beginning  here  next  week.  I 
hope  to  hear  of  your  improved  health,  and  desire  to  be  remembered  to 
Elizabeth  and  Willy,  Dr.  and  Mrs.  and  Miss  C. 

"  lu  haste,  yours, 

"J.  A.  A." 

Dr.  Alexander,  if  not  vacillating  or  fickle  (as  was  oftea 
said  to  Lis  disparagement),  was,  as  is  well  known  to  those  who 
have  glnnced  over  these  memoirs,  amusingly  whimsical.  As 
has  been  well  observed  by  one  who  understood  his  character : 

"This  love  of  change  and  varietj'  in  everything  but  the  rock  itself 
on  which  he  rested  with  childlike  and  unchanging  simplicity,  extended 
to  his  recreations  as  well  as  methods  of  study  and  teaching.  His 
vacations  of  study,  during  tlie  recess  of  Seminary  exercises,  would 
hardly  ever  find  him  resorting  to  the  same  place,  in  summer  travelling, 
lie  would  turn  up,  sometimes  in  Canada,  sometimes  New  England, 
sometimes  Virginia,  and  sometimes,  though  seldom,  in  the  far  West. 
Nothing  but  old  doctrines  and  old  friends  could  he  adhere  to  with 
immutable  interest  and  fondness."  * 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  of  these  journeys  was  made 
this  year,  during  the  summer  recess,  when,  as  we  shall  pres- 
ently see  more  fully,  he  described  '  his  great  circle,'  having 
New  York  as  his  centre,  over  the  wide  area  which  includes  the 
pi-incipal  cities  of  the  West,  and  of  the  British  dominions  be- 
yond the  St.  Lawrence.     His  correspondence  with  the  friends 

«  Dr.  McGill. 


^T.50.]       '  A   MILITAEY   PAEADE.  853 

at  home,  and  with  a  Southern  newspaper,  enables  us  to  tell 
over  some  of  the  incidents  of  this  tour. 

I  append  a  fragment  of  another  contribution  he  made  that 
year  to  the  Staunton  Spectator.  It  was  written  from  Canada, 
describing  graphically  a  military  parade  on  the  Heights  of 
Abraham,  and  a  number  of  other  matters.  Following  this  is 
a  scrap  of  a  letter,  going  more  into  particulars,  and  giving  an 
account  of  a  picturesque  interview  with  a  Crimean  soldier. 

"  What  makes  Quebec  particularly  interesting  is,  that  it  presents  to 
you  a  glimpse  of  France  and  England  at  the  same  time,  in  a  proximity 
and  combinatioa  which  has  no  existence  in  the  mother-countries ;  the 
mass  of  the  people  being  French  Canadians,  the  under  stratum  Irish 
of  the  lowest  class  and  character,  the  upper  stratum  English  of  the 
highest  quality  and  cultivation.  As  a  general  rule,  and  one  with  few 
exceptions,  if  you  see  a  genteel  person  or  company,  even  at  a  distance, 
you  will  hear  them  on  approaching  you  speak  English ;  if  squalid  or 
in  tatters,  you  will  hear  the  Irish  brogue;  if  respectable  but  odd  and 
antique  looking,  you  will  certainly  hear  French.  I  tried  this  rule  a 
hundred  times  and  almost  always  with  the  same  result.  This  contrast 
and  confusion  of  the  races  is  presented  in  a  still  more  striking  manner 
by  two  very  numerous  classes  representing  them  respectively,  the 
soldiery  and  priesthood.  You  cannot  take  a  few  steps  or  look  out  of 
the  window  without  seeing  upon  one  side  the  rusty  black  petticoats  of 
the  Catholic  clergy,  and  on  the  other  the  bright  and  spotless  uniform 
of  the  British  army.  ...... 

"  I  was  fortunate  in  being  at  Quebec  on  Wednesday,  the  day  fixed 
for  the  weekly  trooping  of  the  column,  when  I  saw  a  fine  review  on 
the  noble  esplanade.  But  the  next  day  I  had  an  unexpected  and  still 
richer  treat,  that  of  following  the  regiment  to  the  Heights  of  Abraham 
and  seeing  it  drilled  in  sight  of  the  monumental  column  there  inscribed 
with  these  words,  '  Here  Wolfe  died  victorious,  1759.'  This  exercise 
included  a  lecture  by  the  Colonel  on  the  new  system  of  drill,  the 
whole  of  which  I  was  enabled  to  hear,  partly  by  the  singularly  clear 
enunciation  of  the  speaker,  partly  by  the  zeal  of  my  young  French  cab- 
driver,  who  kept  close  upou  the  horses'  heels,  and  once  or  twice  barely 
saved  me  from  the  ignominious  defeat  experienced  by  Mr.  Pick- 
wick."* 

*  From  the  "Staunton  Spectator,"  Juno  14th,  1859. 


854  A   CRBIEAN   SOLDIEE.  0869. 

Speaking  of  Quebec,  he  writes : 

"  Giving  an  order  for  my  bajrgnge,  I  liurried  back  to  the  parade 
frronnd,  and  saw  the  39th  Eegioaent  file  into  it,  to  the  sound  of  Belli- 
n  's,  '  All,  perche  non  po>so  adiarti,'  from  a  splendid  band.  The  inspcc- 
tiiiii  and  parade  were  the  same  as  at  Montreal,  but  with  surroundings 
far  more  interesting.  Say  what  you  will,  there  is  a  charm  in  listening 
to  such  music,  and  witnessing  such  movements,  by  a  part  of  the  finest 
army  and  in  siglit  of  the  strongest  citadel  and  noblest  river  in  America. 
The  parade-ground  is  an  extensive  and  lona;  green,  of  the  riche-t,  most 
hisuriant  grass  I  ever  saw,  viitli  an  elevated  terrace  upon  two  sides,  sur- 
jn  lunted  by  a  high  stonewall  with  embrasures,  cannon,  bombs,  and 
lieaps  of  ball,  all  ready  fir  use.  The  weather  had  been  perfect  ever 
since  I  left  Montreal,  and  the  sight  of  the  surrounding  country  was 
more  like  the  vale  of  Zurich  than  any  other  scene  I  could  remember. 
Insteid  of  a  wild,  barren  waste,  such  as  I  used  to  associate  with  Quebec, 
you  see  a  beautifully  rolling  country,  sloping  up  to  green  hills,  and 
beyond  them  to  blue  mountains,  dotted  all  over  with  villas,  cottages, 
farm-houses,  skirts  of  wood,  bounded  by  the  glorious  St.  Lawrence, 
which  is  worthy  of  its  office  as  the  mouth-piece  of  so  many  inland  seas, 
and  the  quaint  and  picturesque  old  town,  which  looks  larger  than  many 
greater  places,  because  you  see  so  much  of  it  at  once. 

"  After  the  parade  I  lingered  to  converse  with  the  sentry  on  the 
rampart  near  me,  who  answered  all  my  questions  very  civilly.  When 
I  asked  where  the  regiment  was  stationed  last,  he  said  iu  the  Crimea, 
and  I  then  observed  his  silver  medal  inscribed  '  Sebastopol.'  He  said 
they  had  been  fourteen  months  without  beds,  and  gave  me  some  ac- 
count of  the  French  and  Russian  armies.  The  musicians  buried  the 
dead.  All  the  musicians  are  enlisted  soldiers  under  the  same  discipline. 
The  regiment  at  Montreal  (the  l7th)  was  also  in  the  Crimea. 

"  It  takes  six  months  to  make  them  perfect  in  the  exercise.  The 
sentry  told  me  that  at  half-past  three,  I  could  see  a  much  finer  sight  in 
the  same  i)lace — the  drill  of  the  regiment  in  various  manoeuvres.  Of 
this  I  should  otherwise  have  known  nothing.  Going  back  to  lunch, 
(on  soup  and  cold  meat,)  I  returned  to  the  esplanade,  and  saw  a  sight 
which  I  cannot  describe,  except  as  the  continual  breaking  up  of  the 
body  into  parts  and  its  sudden  reconstruction,  the  men  running  at  full 
speed  across  the  ground,  dropping  on  their  knees,  lying  in  the  grass, 
then  jumping  up  again,  forming  into  squares,  wheeling  into  column,  all 
by  word  of  command  and  sound  of  trumpet,  no  other  nmsic  being  audi- 
ble except  at  their  a  rival  and  departure.     Meantime,  the  terrace  and 


^T.50.]  EEVIEW   AT    QUEBEC.  855 

the  railing  on  the  other  sides  were  crowded  with  spectators.  I  stood 
awhile  by  two  3'ouiig  hxdies  with  the  inevitable  round  hat  and  two  vol- 
umes of  the  Oxonian.  Twice,  as  I  leaned  upon  the  fence,  it  was  com- 
pletely lined  upon  the  other  side  by  red-coats  on  their  knees  with 
their  guns  pointing  through  the  rails  directly  at  us.  After  their  ma- 
noeuvres had  continued  some  time,  a  superior  officer,  covered  with  dec- 
orations, who  had  not  been  present,  came  to  the  fence  and  made  amo- 
ti(m  with  his  hand  to  some  one  on  the  ground,  wljerenpon  they  i:iime- 
diately  defiled  (or  whatever  means  '  marched  off' )  in  single  column,  five 
abreast,  about  eight  hundred  in  all,  the  officers  in  the  line  with  the 
men,  except  one  at  the  head,  and  one  in  the  rear,  both  on  liorseback, 
and  a  single  soldier,  who  shut  and  locked  the  big  gate,  and  deposited 
the  key  at  a  house  near  by,  perhaps  that  of  Col.  Monroe.  This  march 
of  the  whole  body  down  St.  Ann's  street  to  the  b.irracRs,  was  one  of 
the  most  striking  sights  I  saw,  and  none  the  less  because  so  different 
from  what  we  commonly  think  marti  il  or  military.  I  have  siid  before 
that  they  are  trained  to  march  with  a  firm  but  light  ?tep  and  without 
anything  like  stamping,  and  to  walk  without  the  least  approach  to 
swagger — even  when  off  duty.  Upon  this  occasion  they  carried  their 
guns  Iiorlzont.dly  with  perfect  eas3,  and  walked  with  a  sort  of  sway- 
ing motion,  indicating  freedom  from  restraint,  though  perfectly  alike 
in  the  whole  mnss,  and  therefore  the  result  of  drilling  and  long  practice. 
The  efi'ect  of  this  poetry  of  motion  was  enhanced  by  the  absence  of  all 
music,  except  a  gentle  tapping  on  the  small  drums  at  the  head  of  the 
column,  which  was  only  audible  enough  to  regulate  the  movement  of 
the  body." 


Thei'e  is  a  tender  allusion  to  his  brother  in  a  letter  headed 
"  Buffalo  and  Detroit,"  which  appeared  in  a  Southern  news- 
paper, July  5tli,  1859,  and  from  which  I  take  the  subjoined 
brief  extract.  His  fears  were  excited  by  a  friendly  inquiry 
Irom  a  stranger,  who  stopped  him  on  his  way  to  dinner.  This 
was  at  Buffalo.  These  qualms  of  affectionate  anxiety  were 
however,  soon  measurably  abated,  and  succeeded  by  feelings 
of  a  very  opposite  character.  The  occasion  of  these  new  emo- 
tions was  a  sudden  and  startling  demand  by  an  official  for  his 
self-identification.  Having  just  referred  to  something  which 
appeared  to  hitu  striking  proof  that  he  was  once  more  in  his 
native  land,  he  proceeds  to  say: 


^50  SELF-IDENTIFICATION. 


[1869. 


"Another  indication  of  the  same  kind  was  my  being  stopped  as  I 
went  in  to  my  dinner  by  a  gentleman,  unlvnown  to  me,  wlio  under  the 
form  of  an  inqniry,  no  doubt  prompted  by  the  kindest  motive?,  quite 
destroyed  ray  appetite,  that  is,  so  much  as  bad  survived  the  tooth- ache, 
by  suggesting  painful  apprehensions  as  to  one  of  my  nearest  relatives 
and  dearest  friends,  which  were  not  partially  relieved  until  I  bad  hur- 
ried, after  swallowing  a  mouthful,  to  the  post-office,  guided  and  ac- 
companied by  a  very  kind  countryman,  who  bad  been  present  at  the 
previous  interrogation,  and  now  eagerly  continued  it,  while  at  the  same 
time  be  most  civilly  escorted  me  as  far  as  his  own  place  of  business  and 
then  pointed  out  the  rest  of  the  way  to  the  post-office,  a  fine  stone 
edifice,  containing  also  the  United  States  Courts  and  custom-bouse.  I 
here  obtained  comparative  relief  from  my  anxieties,  but  at  the  same 
time  entered  Ai  a  new  adventure,  more  agreeable  as  past  than  present, 
which  may  serve  to  entertain  some  of  your  readers,  few  of  whom,  I 
reckon,  have  bad  occasion  to  go  through  the  bewildering  and  mystify- 
ing process  of  self-identification. 

"Having  changed  my  purpose  since  I  left  JSTew  York,  and  now  in- 
tending to  go  westward,  I  bad  written  from  Toronto  to  a  member  of  a 
well  known  New  York  firm,  with  which  I  have  intimate  relations,  re- 
questing him  to  send  by  mail  to  Buffijlo  a  cheque  on  some  bank  tliere 
for  a  sufficient  sum  to  carry  out  my  new  plan,  or  a  circular  letter  of 
credit  available  in  that  and  other  western  cities  which  I  thought  of 
visiting.  The  form  vx  which  my  correspondent  answered  ray  request, 
was  no  doubt  better  than  those  I  bad  proposed,  and  not  at  all  the  cause 
or  even  the  occasion  of  my  subsequent  experience,  as  either  of  the  others 
would  have  equally  required  the  awful  solemnity  of  self-identification. 

"The  same  letter  which  allayed  momentarily  the  fears  already 
mentioned,  brought  me  a  certificate  of  deposit  in  a  celebrated  bank  of 
the  great  commercial  city,  with  an  intimation  that  it  would  be  cashed 
by  any  bank  in  BuffiJo,  or  any  other  place  where  I  could  be  identified. 
Choosing  to  undergo  this  fearful  operation  Avith  the  least  delay,  and 
also  needing  an  immediate  augmentation  of  my  travelling  resources,  I 
crossed  the  street  to  the  nearest  bank,  the  hour  of  closing  being  now 
at  hand,  with  new  sensations  partly  owing  no  doubt  to  a  change  of 
weather  which  had  suddenly  become  oppressive,  but  in  part  likewise  to 
the  fearful  consciousness  that  I  was  for  the  first  time  to  be  put  upon 
the  proof  of  my  identity,  and  an  accompanying  half-delirious  doubt  of 
that  important  fact  upon  my  own  part,  solaced  only  by  the  query, 
which  I  urged  upon  myself  as  I  ascended  the  bank-steps,  '  If  I  am  not 
rayself,  who  can  I  be  ? ' 


^Et.  60.]  ALL   EIGHT.  857 

"I  ■wisli  to  be  distinctly  understood,  that  tlio  ofHcials  of  this  bank 
were  as  polite  and  kind  as  possible,  and  even  added  thirty  minutes  to 
their  ordin;iry  business  hours  for  my  sole  accommodation.  But  their 
kindness  only  aggravated  my  bewilderment  by  being  evidently  mixed 
with  a  tremendous  doubt  of  my  identity^  the  awful  watchword  of  this 
conflict  with  myself  about  myself,  in  which  I  had  enlisted.  It  was  in 
vain  that  they  professed  to  think  it  '  all  right,'  and  made  faint  advances 
towards  the  act  of  paying  down  the  money.  My  own  doubts,  as  well 
as  theirs  must  be  solved;  and  though  I  had  the  advantage  of  a  previ- 
ous acquaintance  with  the  subject  of  inquiry  stretching  over  half  a  cen- 
tury, I  could  not  as  a  rational  psychologist  or  lionest  man,  allow  them 
to  regard  me  as  myself,  when  vague  suspicions  had  arisen  in  my  own 
mind  as  to  that  point.  My  financial  correspondent,  warily  foreseeing 
this  contingency,  for  which  I  was  mysely  exclusively  responsible,  had 
named  two  friends  of  his  own  in  Butlalo,  to  whom  I  could  apply  for 
identification.  As  a  drowning  man  is  said  to  grasp  at  straws,  so  I, 
before  abandoning  the  long-L-herished  dream  of  my  identity,  informed 
my  unknown  banking  friends  of  this  suggestion.  To  my  great  joy  both 
names  were  familiar.  Might  they  look  at  my  letter?  Certainly.  And 
at  the  envelope  and  postmark.  This  increased  the  mystery ;  but  it 
was  now  too  late  to  hesitate.  Again  they  said  it  must  be  all  right,  and 
again  I  felt  that  it  was  all  wrong  and  insisted  upon  self-identification. 
I  would  find  the  gentlemen  referred  to.  They  were  not  far  off.  The 
cashier  kindly  pointed  out  their  ofiice,  and  proposed  to  wait  an  addi- 
tional half  hour  for  my  return. 

"I  shall  never  forget  the  hot  and  dusty  walk  that  followed,  not  so 
much  because  of  these  external  inconveniences,  as  on  account  of  tlie 
terrific  clouds  which  overliung  my  hitherto  unquestioned,  unassailed 
identity.  I  reach  the  building  pointed  out,  a  large  and  stately  one  of 
hewn  stone,  occupied  by  banks  and  offices.  Directed  by  a  number  of 
bright  signs  upon  the  wall,  I  climb  one  flight  of  stairs  and  then  an- 
other. An  open  door  displays  one  of  the  names  to  which  my  letter 
had  referred  me.  Its  owner  is  not  in,  and  may  not  be  for  several  hours. 
The  other  referee  no  longer  dwells  there. 

"I  retrace  my  steps.  Again  it  is  pronounced  'all  right,'  but  with 
an  evident  and  natural  misgiving,  and  again  I  declare  my  resolution  to 
take  nothing  till  identified.  My  feeling  during  that  night  of  suspense 
and  terror,  can  be  likened  only  to  those  of  the  old  woman  whose  real 
or  fictitious  sorrows  had  harrowed  but  amused  my  childhood.  But, 
alas !  my  case  was  even  worse  than  hers — I  could  not  say  as  she  did, 
with  a  groundless  but  consolatory  faith,  'If  I  be  I,  as  I  do  hope  I  be, 


^ 


358  TRAVELLING   rNCOGNITO.  [1869. 

I  have  a  little  dog  nt  home  and  he  knows  me.'  '"Whatever  little  do"-' 
I  may  have  had  '  at  home  '  I  certainly  had  Mone  at  the  American  Hotel 
in  Main  Street,  Buflalo,  and  as  I  read  a  number  of  'All  the  Year 
Round,'  the  dark  shadows  cast  by  the  early  chapters  of  the  'Tale  of 
two  Cities,'  were  surpassed  in  density  by  those  whicli  now  involved 
my  own  identity.  I  slept,  but  only  to  dream  of  somQalter  ego,  or  to 
start  murmuring  alter  et  idem  ! 

"  In  the  morning  I  must  wait  till  ten  o'clock  for  the  opening  of  the 
banks,  and  another  hour  for  the  appearance  of  my  referee,  a  handsome, 
courteous  gentleman,  -who  instantly  went  witli  me  to  another  bank 
down-stairs,  where  he  repeated  to  the  officers  the  mystic  phrase  that 
it  was  '  all  right.'  But  here  the  case  assumed,  at  least  to  my  bewilder- 
ed mind,  a  new  and  awful  complication.  This  kind  gentleman  was 
perfectly  acquainted  with  my  correspondent,  but  not  at  all  witli  me. 
So  far  as  I  knew,  he  had  never  seen  me,  nor  I  him.  How  then  could 
he  prove  my  ideniity,  as  bearer  and  receiver  of  the  letter,  anymore 
than  as  payer  of  the  certificate?  Before  me  opened  an  interminable 
vista  of  identifications,  at  the  sight  of  which  my  brain  had  well  nigh 
reeled  and  staggered.  I  have  only  a  confused  recollection  of  the  ques- 
tion being  put  to  my  companion,  'Do  you  know  that  this  is  the  right 
man? '  and  no  recollection  at  all  of  his  I'eply. 

"After  this  blank  in  my  memory,  the  money  was  paid  over,  and  I 
bore  it  off  with  thanks  to  my  endorser,  but  with  a  desperate  misgiving 
that  the  whole  process  was  a  failure  after  all,  and  that  my  paper  bad 
been  cashed,  not  because  I  had  identified  myself,  but  because  my  iden- 
tification liad  in  some  mysterious  manner  been  dispensed  with.  May 
no  Arcadian  denizen  of  Staunton  or  Waynesbciro',  Barterbrook  or  Fish- 
ersville  ever  experience  the  pangs  of  an  excruciating,  yet  abortive  ef- 
fort at  self-identification  !  "  * 

I  have  said,  in  another  part  of  this  work,  that  Dr.  Alexan- 
der loved  both  the  mystery,  the  protection,  and  the  amuse- 
ment that  are  involved  in  travelling  '  incognito?  In  this 
trait  lie  greatly  resembled  King  Alfred,  and  that  hero  of  his 
early  fancy  "  the  good  Haronn  Al  Rashid."  As  might  have 
been  expected,  this  propensity  of  the  whimsical  scholar  was 
often  the  occasion  of  much  secret  mirth,  and  now  and  then 
gave  rise  to  a  series  of  diverting  adventures. 

*  From  the  Staunton  Spectator,  of  July  5th,  1859.  That  journal  was  then 
edited  by  J.  Addison  Waddcll  and  Lyttlcton  Waddell,  Jr. 


2ET.50.]  THE   UNKNOWN".  859 

On  his  return  voyage  from  Europe,  in  1853,  he  thus  made 
the  acquaintance  of  three  fair  young  Canadians,  with  whom 
he  subsequently  kept  up  a  sort  of  epistolatory  correspondence 
both  in  prose  and  verse,  and  by  whom  he  was  recognized  as 

"  A a"  and  "  The  Unknown."     But  let  him  tell  the  story 

himself, 

"When  I  last  returned  from  Europe,  the  discomforts  of  the  voyage 
were  much  relieved  by  the  company  of  three  Canadian  cliildien,  little 
girls  returninir  home  from  England  witli  their  j^nrents.  Before  we  left 
the  Mersey  I  had  been  attracted  by  tlieir  gentleness  and  modesty,  the 
indications  of  refined  and  Chris: ian  culture.  They  suffered  greatly 
from  sea-sickness,  but  in  the  intervals  of  tlie  disejise  I  reneAved  my  ac- 
quaintance with  them,  and  pariicularly  with  the  second,  just  eleven 
years  of  age.  From  her  I  learned  without  interrogation,  th:it  her  father 
was  a  lawyer  of  Toronto,  and  I  afterwards  discovered  that  lie  was  a 
member  df  tlie  Canadian  Parliament.  He  has  since  that  time  held  a 
lu'ominent  place  in  the  conservative  administration  of  the  province. 
Wlien  I  parted  with  my  young  friend  in  Bo.-^ton  haibour,  I  promised  to 
write  to  her,  and  not  long  after  sent  her  a  poetical  description  of  our 
voyage,  which  was  received  so  well  that  I  added  a  second  canto  and 
promised  a  third  ,  but  never  wrote  it,  having  now  exhausted  either  my 
material  or  my  inspiration.  During  this  little  correspondence  I  had 
preserved  my  incognito,  having  never  told  the  cliilJrtn  who  I  was  or 
where  I  lived.  After  nearly  five  years'  silence,  I  was  preempted  by  a 
lady  friend,  to  whom  I  had  related  the^^e  part.culars,  to  write  again, 
intiuiring  if  Minnie  was  still  living  and  still  willing  to  receive  another 
canto.  ISTotwitlistanding  this  gratuitous  proposal,  and  the  cordial  re- 
sponse which  it  received,  I  shamefully  neglected  to  perf.)rm  it;  or 
rather  I  was  too  old  to  resume  the  sport  which  had  relieved  the  tedium 
of  a  sea  voynga  half  a  dozen  years  before.  I  was  not  even  roused  to 
action  or  impelled  to  composition  by  the  news  received  about  a  year 
ago,  that  my  liille  cori-espondent,  now  almost  a  woman,  had  returned 
to  England  to  complete  her  education,  which' she  had  begun  there. 
Remembering  the  childish  earnestness  with  which  she  had  declared 
that  she  would  never  cross  the  sea  again,  I  felt  disposed  to  remind  her 
of  this  declaration ;  bi.t  inertia  or  stupidity  still  conquered,  till  I  visited 
Toronto  for  the  first  time  in  my  course  of  summer  travel,  and  among 
other  residences  in  the  environs  was  shown  the  house  of  Minnie's 
father.  I  think  I  met  her  elder  sister  near  it,  although  six  years  at 
chat  time  of  life  effect  great  changes,  and  she  certainly  would  not  have 


860  THEICE   TEANSPLANTED.  0859. 

known  me  if  she  liad  seen  nie,  wliicli  she  did  not,  for  she  passed  me 
with  her  eye  upon  the  ground  in  a  profound,  but  not  (I  trust)  a  painful 
reverie.  But  even  tlie  supposed  ideniity  awakened  many  old  associa- 
tion.^, under  the  inflnence  of  v.-hich  I  scribbltd  at  tlie  very  moment  of 
departure,  a  few  iiues  intended  to  remind  them  of  me,  and  depos-ited 
them,  with  my  own  hand,  on  my  way  to  the  Niagara  steamer,  at  the 
ofBce  of  a  morning  paper — possibly  tlie  wrong  one.  Whether  they 
were  ever  publi?bed  I  am  still  uncertain,  as  I  do  not  often  see  Canadian 
journals;  but  as  authors  do  not  'willingly  let  die'  the  feeblest  of  their 
literary  offspring.  I  repeat  the  verses  from  memory,  and  therefore  pos- 
sibly with  some  diversity  of  text,  which  may  perplex  my  editors  here- 
after : 

THKICE    TEANSPLAl!fTED. 


Froin  a  Volume  of  Unpublished  Poems. 
I  knew  a  little  fresh  Canadian  flower, 
Transplanted  early  into  English  soil, 
And  fondly  nurtured  in  a  fragrant  bower, 
With  sleepless  care  and  unremitting  toil. 
Then  gently  moved  back  to  its  native  bed, 
There  to  take  root  forever — it  was  said. 
Since  that  day,  long  past,  I  have  seen  it  not, 
But  lately  visited  the  garden-spot. 
Where  it  had  twice  upreared  its  modest  head, 
Expecting  to  behold  it  in  full  bloom. 
But  it  was  gone— not  dead,  thank  God,  not  dead — ' 
Its  early  promise  withered  in  the  tomb — 
But  a  third  time  transplanted!     May  His  hand 
Spare  that  sweet  blossom  yet  to  blow  ia  its  own  land.* 
Toronto,  May  24,  1859.  A a. 

In  the  spring  or  summer  of  18G0,  a  letter  was  received  in 
Princeton  addressed  by  "  Minnie  "  herself  to  "  her  unknown 
friend,  A a."  The  hand  and  diction,  and  the  tone  of  sen- 
timent were  all  in  exquisite  good  taste;  and  the  letter 
breathed  a  spirit  of  respectful  and  delicate  regard,  and  of 
grateful  but  curious  desire.  It  wns  perused  with  high  satis- 
faction, and  yet  with  an  interest  that  Avas  at  once  keenly  ap- 

*  From  the  Staunton  Spectator  of  June  28,  1859. 


^T.50.]  AS   A   LINGTJIST.  861 

preciative  and  son-owfully  tender  and  pensive:  for  he  to 
whom  this  beautiful  expression  of  thanks  had  been  sent  had 
now  forever  hiid  aside  his  pen,  and  ceased  his  earthly  wander- 
ings; having  himself  gone  to  "another  country." 

From  Canada  Dr.  Alexander  removed  in  the  early  part  of 
July  to  his  brother  Samuers  study  in  New  York,  and  took  up 
again  his  unfinished  work  on  Matthew. 

The  great  miracle  among  mere  linguists  was  undoubtedly 
the  Roman  Cardinal,  Mezzofanti;  but  his  biographer.  Dr. 
Russell,  cannot  persuade  tlie  world  that  he  knew  philology. 
After  him,  perhaps,  comes  Jonadab  Almanar,  the  Jew,  and 
then  Sir  William  Jones  and  others.  Fev\^  have  ever  certainly 
known  upwards  of  twenty  languages  well,  and  fewer  still 
have  known  that  many  profoundly  or  even  somewhat  inti- 
mately. It  is  easy  to  count,  without  a  basis  of  fact.  Dr. 
Addison  Alexander  was  once  asked  by  an  acquaintance,  whose 
curiosity  got  the  better  of  his  discretion,  "  how  many  lan- 
guages he  knew."  The  reply  was  very  much  like  him:  "i" 
have  a  smattering  of  several !  "  In  order  that  the  reader  may 
know  what  was  the  number  of  tongues,  and  the  degree  of  ex- 
cellence, of  which  the  modest  scholar  spoke  so  lightly,  I  ap- 
pend below  a  catalogue  and  description  which  are  as  exact  as 
I  can  make  them,  but  are  in  part  conjectural. 

The  question  has  been  put  to  me,  whether  the  subject  of 
these  biograpliical  sketches  was  a  thorough  philologist  as  well 
as  a  mere  linguist ;  and  was  a  lover  of  comparative  etymology 
and  general  grammar.  The  ardent  lover  of  Jones,  the  friend 
of  Franz  Bopp,  the  pupil  of  Dr.  Pott,  the  early  admirer  of 
Grimm  and  Humboldt,  and  the  careful  student  of  the  more  re- 
cent effoi-ts  of  German  and  English  scholarship  in  this  depart- 
ment, as  well  as  of  such  authors  as  Freytag,  De  Sacy,  Ewald, 
Rosenmiiller,  Thiersch,  Buttraann,  Winer,  Wahl,  etc.,  was  not 
likely  to  be  indifferent  to  the  amazing  advances  of  "the  ncAV 
science."  The  Repertory  is  full  of  articles  from  his  pen  im- 
plying a  keen  relish  for  this  species  of  study  and  a  thorough 
acquaintance  with  the  labours  of  the  philological  experts. 
Even  his  magazine  articles,  newspaper  squibs,  and  letters  dis- 


862  LIST   OF  LANGUAGES.  0859 

close  the  same  thing.  His  distaste  for  metaphysics,  and  espe- 
cially Germon  metaphysics,  did  not  extend  (as  he  exi»ressly 
says,  in  an  article,  I  think,  on  Winer)  to  profound  experience 
and  common-sense,  to  original  thought,  to  refined  and  cogent 
logic ;  even  when  applied  philosophically  to  the  elucidation 
of  the  principles  of  language. 

1.  Arabic:  of  which  he  Was  a  consummate  master,  from 
a  child,  and  wrote  with  some  ease,  but  which  he  could  scarcely 
be  said  to  speak. 

2.  Hebrew:  ditto. 

3.  Latin:  which  he  knew  profoundly,  from  a  child,  and 
wrote  and  spoke. 

4.  Persian :  which  he  knew  intimately,  from  a  child,  and 
wrote,  but  did  not  speak. 

5.  Syriac :  which  he  knew  intimately,  from  a  child,  and 
perhaps  wrote,  but  did  not  speak. 

6.  Chaldee :  which  he  knew  as  well,  or  nearly  as  well,  as 
he  did  Hebrew,  and  read  with  rapidity  without  a  lexi- 
con. 

7.  Greek :  w]ii;j;h  lie  knew  profoundly,  from  a  child,  and 
wrote,  but  did  not  attempt  to  speak. 

8.  Italian:  which  he  read  -with  the  same  facility  he  did 
English,  and  spoke. 

9.  German  :  which  he  knew  profoundly,  from  his  youth, 
and  wrote  and  spoke. 

10.  Spanish:    which    he    knew  thoroughly,  and   probably 
wrote  and  spoke. 

11.  French:   which  he  read,  wrote,  and  spoke  with  ease. 

12.  English:  which   he   knew  no  less  profoundly  than  iii- 
railiarly. 

13.  Ethiopic  :  which   he  knew  philologically  and  profound- 
ly, and  could  read  without  difficulty. 

14.  Chinese:  of  which,  in  its  innumerable  details,  he   had 
but  a  smattering,  but  knew  pretty  well  philologically. 

15.  Romaic  :  which  he  read  and  wrote  with  ease. 

16.  Portuguese  :  which  he  read  with  ease,  but  perhaps  did 
not  attempt  to  speak. 


^T.49.]  SUMMARY   OF   LAN'aUAGES.  863 

17.  Danish  :  which  he  says  he  soon  "read  fluently  with  a 
dictionary,"  and  probably,  in  time,  without  one. 

18.  Turldsh;  and  .19.  Sanscrit:  which  (soon  after  he  ac- 
quired them)  he  says  were  "  becoming  quite  familiar,"  and 
doubtless  became  more  so. 

20.  Polisli :  which  he  read  with  ease,  though  probably  with 
the  aid  of  the  lexicon. 

21.  Malay:  which  he  began  in  connection  with  Chinese, 
and  probably  read  with  a  dictionary. 

22.  Coptic  :  which  he  knew  philologieally  and,  I  think, 
profoundly,  and  read,  though  perhaps  not  with  ease. 

23.  Swedish :  which  he  read  with  ease ;  at  least  with  the 
dictionary. 

24.  Dutch :  which  he  read,  perhaps  with  ease,  and  proba- 
bly without  a  dictionary,  and  perhaps  learned  to  speak. 

He  no  doubt  had  an  inkling  of  the  nature,  and  a  glimpse 
into  the  structure  of  many  others,  which  he  has  not  named, 
and  knew  part  of  the  vocabulary  of  others. 

Summary :  He  knew  profoundly,  not  only  philologieally  but 
linguistically,  i.  e.  read,  wrote,  and  spoke  well — 

1.  English. 

2.  Latin. 

3.  German. 

4.  French. 

5.  (Almost  certainly)  Italian. 

6.  (Almost  certainly)  Spanish. 

7.  (Probably)  Portuguese. 

It  is  quite  possible  that  he  knew  several  others  in  this  way. 
He  knew  profoundly  as  a  philologist,  and  read  without 
helps,  and  wrote,  but  did  not  speak — i.  e.  not  familiarly— 

1.  Arabic. 

2.  Hebrew. 

3.  Pei'sian. 

4.  Greek  (whish,  however,  he  may  have  spoken  a  little.) 

5.  Romaic :  ditto. 

6.  Chaldee :  which  he  knew  as  well,  or  nearly  as  well,  as 
he  did  Hebrew,  and  read  with  rapidity  without  a  lexicon. 


864  DIALECTS.  [1859- 

1.  (Probably)  Ethiopic,  which  he  certainly  read,  though 
perha])s  with  difficulty. 

8.  (Probably)  Dutch,  which  he  certainly  read,  though  per- 
haps not  with  case. 

9.  (Possibly)  Sanscrit,  which  he  certamly  read,  though 
perhajDS  with  some  difficulty. 

10.  (Possibly)  Syriac,  which   he  read  with  perfect  ease,  but 
probably  did  not  write. 

11.  (Possibly)  Coptic,  which  he  read,  and  I  think  easily, 
but  probably  did  not  write. 

12.  (Possibly)  Danish,  which  he   read  without  a  lexicon, 
but  probably  did  not  write. 

18.   (Probably)  Flemish. 
14.  (Possibly)  Norwegian. 

He  knew  profoundly  as  a  philologist,  and  read  with  ease 
with  the  help  of  lexicons — 

1.  Polish:  which  it  is  barely  possible  he  came  to  read 
without  a  dictionary,  and  even  to  write. 

2.  Swedish:  ditto. 

He  knew  well,  if  not  jirofoundly,  as  a  philologist,  and  could 
read  with  the  aid  of  a  lexicon,  though  perhaps  not  with  ease — 

1.  Malay. 

He  knew  philologically,  and  pretty  well  I  suppose,  but  had 
but  a  smattering  of  its  details  : 

1.  Chinese:  and  2,  I  think  he  had  some  knowledge  of  Hin- 
dostanee. 

He  also  had  a  masterly  acquaintance  with  the  Rabbinical 
Hebrew,  and  several  dialects  of  languages  which  are  mention- 
ed in  this  catalogue. 

He  no  doubt,  too,  had  some  slight  acquaintance  with  sev- 
eral other  proper  languages,  as  distinguished  from  mere  dia- 
lectical variations  of  one  language.  He  may,  indeed,  have 
acquired  a  few  languages  of  which  there  is  no  recoi'd. 

He  was  thus  a  perfect  master  of  probably  eight  or  ten  lan- 
guages ;  though  it  is  not  possible  to  determine  in  every  instance 
prei'isely  what  ones.  Dr.  Sears  testifies,  that  when  a  student 
in  Germany  he  spoke  about  as  many  as  Tholuck,  which  was  at 


■^r.49.1  FEW   EQUALS.  865 

least  six.  He  knew  profoundly,  as  a  philologist,  and  wrote, 
certainly  thirteen,  probably  fourteen  or  fifteen,  possibly  nine- 
teen, or  even  by  a  chance,  over  twenty.  He  knew  profoundly 
as  a  philologist  at  least,  and  read  with  ease,  with  the  help  of 
the  lexicons,  almost  certainly  twenty-one,  and  probably 
twenty-two.  He  knew  at  least  philologically,  and  well, 
probably  twenty -four.  He  knew  in  all,  at  least  slightly,  and 
in  one  way  or  other,  probably  between  twenty-five  and  thirty. 
He  knew,  at  least  well  enough  for  him  to  claim  to  know  some- 
thing of  them,  twenty-five,  including  English,  and  excluding 
mere  dialectical  variations  of  any  one  language. 

As  has  been  shown  in  these  memoirs,  he  did  not  in  later 
life  pursue  his  linguistic  studies  with  the  same  absorbing  as- 
siduity as  in  former  years ;  contenting  himself,  for  the  most 
part  with  refreshing  his  knowledge  of  the  stock  already  ac- 
quired, or  with  merely  philological  investigations,  as  bearing 
upon  questions  of  specific  or  comparative  grammar.  Had  he 
devoted  himself  wholly  to  strange  tongues,  I  think  he  could 
have  mastered  as  many  as  any  of  the  famous  linguists,  with 
the  solitary  exception  of  Mezzofiinti. 

He  now  knows  the  full  meaning  of  the  words,  so  constant- 
ly before  his  eyes,  tvoXXoI  ixlv  Ov-qTol'i  yXwrrat  jxia  8'  aOavaTOLCTLv* 

*  I  here  subjoin  a  list  of  the  articles  contributed  by  Dr.  Addison  Alexander 
to  the  Princeton  Review,  not  yet  credited  to  him  in  these  volumes,  but  on  his 
own  authorized  list.  Thia  includes  all  the  Repertory  articles  acknowledged 
by  him,  from  1S43  to  1855  inclusive,  when  the  list  wns  made. 


1843. 

PAGES. 

Barnes  on  Episcopacy ggg 

Smyth  on  do       (?)  [The  mark  of  interrogation,  is  J.  A.  A.'s] 650 

1844. 

(Part)  Free  Church  (Eodge) gg 

Junkiu  on  Prophecy 262 

Bush  on  Ezekiel 3gA 

Modoratism iqq 

High  low  Cliurch   g j/, 

37 


86G  LIST   OF   AKTICLES.  [1S59. 

1845. 

(Part)  Sacerdotal  Absolution ^^ 

rascal 252 

[Also  "  Concordances  "  on  Dr.  Ilall's  list,  and  probably  by  J.  A.  A.] 
(slight) 

184G. 

Coit's   Puritanism 122 

Kitto's  Cyclopaedia 562 

184Y. 

The  Eldership 42 

Historical  Theology 91 

University  Education 336 

Jewish  History 378 

Apostolical  Succession 539 

1848. 

Mosaic  Legislation '^4 

(Part)  Spring's  Power  of  the  Pulpit 463 

Gospels 592 

1849. 

Primitive  Presbyters 116 

Davidson's  Introduction  New  Test't 144 

Apostleship 335 

do         542 

["  Calcutta  Review — Khonds,"  given  by  Dr.  Hall,  but  not  on  the  au- 
thor (if  "J.  A.  A.")'3  list,  and  in  a  totally  different  style  from 
his.     Probably  "  A.  A.'s"  certainly  not  "  J.  A.  A.'s."] 

1850.  ^ 

Septuagint 541 

1851. 

Test  of  Ministry 202 

Falrbairn's  Typology 508 

Old  and  New  Dispensation 633 

1852. 

Hengstenberg  on  Revelation 59 

Parrhesia 312 

Haldanes CzY 

1853. 
Prophecy  and  History 290 

1854. 

Method  of  History 300 

Historical  Scriptures 484  (?) 


-^T.  49.]  IK  THE   EEPEETOET.  867 

1855. 

Patriarchal  History 24 

Koeppen's  Middle  Ages ^  ^  _  ^     g2 

The  Coptic  Language 338 

To  this  I  append  the  Piepertory  articles  by  Dr.  Alexander,  which  appeared 
after  1855,  when  he  made  the  authorized  list.  All  the  articles  on  the  present 
supplementary  list  are  on  Dr.  Hall's  list,  most  of  them  are  on  J.  "W.  A.'s,  and 
nearly  all  are  indubitably  ascertained,  on  other  evidence,  both  external  and  in- 
ternal, to  be  by  Dr.  Addison  Alexander.  Eli  Smith's  Arabic  Bible  (1856)  is  in 
his  unmistalcable  style. 

1856. 

Harmonies  of  the  Gospels 393 

EH  Smith's  Arabic  Bible 732 

1857. 
Gieseler's  Text-Book  of  Church  History 633 

1859. 

Praying  and  Preaching 1 

Sawyer's  New  Testament 50 

There  may  chance  to  be  others  by  his  pen,  but  they  have  not  attracted  my 
notice  or  that  of  my  informants. 

It  were  needless  to  describe  these  articles  seriatim.  They  are,  like  their 
forerunners,  on  a  diversity  of  subjects.  It  is  enough  to  say  of  most  of  them, 
ex  ungue  Iconem, 


CHAPTER  XXXIII. 

The  diary  of  the  elder  brother  for  the  spring  months  is  a 
reflex  of  his  feelings  during  a  season  of  profound  nervous  and 
mental  depression,  connected  no  doubt  with  the  gradual  decay 
of  his  physical  powers.  A  journey  to  the  Virginia  Springs 
was  determined  upon,  and  he  Avas  accordingly  taken  to  the 
residence  of  his  brother-in-law,  near  Charlottesville,  and  after- 
wards pursued  his  leisurely  way  through  the  ravines  and 
mountain-gorges  of  the  Great  Valley,  and  beyond  it,  lie  set 
out  with  a  part,  of  his  family  on  the  2d  day  of  June,  and 
arrived  at  Alexandria  "  amidst  a  beautiful  sunset "  on  the 
evening  of  the  3d. 

The  next  day  the  party  reached  the  University,  and  by  the 
5th,  which  was  the  Lord's  day,  he  could  write: 

*'  Clear  and  cool.  Strawberries  linger.  A  truly  delightful  night's 
sleep  ;  better,  I  think,  than  for  six  months.  I  have  not  coughed  since 
the  3d,  in  Philadeliihia.     Let  me  continue  to  praise  and  bless  God." 

But  these  appearances  of  improvement  were  not  the  signs 
of  a  radical  change  for  the  better.  His  warfare  was  now 
almost  accomplished ;  but  the  declining  slopes  of  the  hill  were 
at  length  irradiated  with  heavenly  sunshine.  If  his  sun  went 
down  while  it  was  yet  day,  it  sank  in  the  spotless  heavens. 
The  cloud  which  had  so  long  hung  over  his  propects  and  hap- 
piness was  now  forever  rolled  away,  and  the  remaining  weeks 
and  days  of  his  life  were  a  serene  contemplation  of  the  glory 
of  nature  and  the  more  resplendent  "glory  that  was  to  be 
revealed  in  him." 

On  the  7th,  after  a  better  night  than  common,  he  took  a 
ride  on  horseback  and  bore  it  well.     At  five  in  the  afternoon 


^T.  50.]  A   IIEAET-SEAECHING  PEAYEE.  869 

he  was  driven  to  the  mountain  near  Judge  Rives's.  He  rode 
out  again  the  next  day,  and  experienced  a  little  annoyance 
again  from  hia  cough.  His  third  ride  Avas  taken  on  the  9th. 
He  was  able  to  correspond  with  his  friends.  The  next  day  he 
was  visited  by  "the  venerable  Bishop  Meade,"  whom  ho 
describes  as  "  spare,  tall,  very  like  his  large  engraved  portrait. 
Perlect  manners.  No  assumption.  Easy  conversation.  More 
learned  talk  than  I  was  prepared  for." 

On  the  12th  he  was  again  kept  from  the  sanctuary,  and 
took  the  opportunity  of  writing  out  a  most  heart-searching 
prayer  for  help  and  comfort.     It  closes  thus  : 

"And  oh!  for  Jesus's  sake  make  me  sweetly  submissive  to  all  thy 
holy  will ;  cheerful  in  hope  ;  perfect  in  acquiescence  ;  setting  an  exam- 
ple of  Christian  peace  and  patience.  Oli !  that  my  discourse  may  be 
always  with  grace,  seasoned  with  salt,  that  it  may  be  for  the  edifica- 
tion of  the  hearers.  And,  O  my  ever  glorious  God !  condescend  to  lift 
up  thy  poor,  sunken  creature  from  the  earth,  and  deliver  him  from 
those  subduing  influences  which  oppress  both  body  and  soul.  JeJiovah 
Eophi,  stretch  out  thy  mighty  arm  for  cure.  Jesu  Iio2)hi,  vouchsafe 
to  heal,  as  of  old.  And  oh!  graciously  pardon  for  Christ's  sake. 
Amen." 

This  prayer  was  perfectly  and  Avonderfully  answered.  He 
received  what  was  better  than  "  cure,"  even  entrance  into  that 
land  where  "the  inhabitant  shall  not  say,  I  am  sick."  As 
soon  as  he  saw  he  Avas  not  to  become  a  useless  burden  on 
the  Church  and  on  his  friends,  the  weight  was  lifted.  His 
spiritual  hopes  had  never  been  obscured;  but  now  they  rose  as 
into  a  new  and  more  vital  atmosphere. 

June  15th,  he  records,  "  Warm.  Thunderstorm  last  evening,  beauti- 
ful in  the  mountains.  *  *  *  Waked  by  a  students'  charivari."  =^  *  * 

He  refers  in  another  entry  to  the  disappointment  of  the 
farmers  in  regard  to  their  wheat,  which  was  injured  by  the 
rams.  His  brief  record  one  morning  contains  this  abridged 
sentence,  "Vigils  and  fidgets."  Another  day  the  statement 
is,  "  Small  record,  because  unweU."    He  was  still  able  to  ride 


S10  THE   DEPARTING    SAINT.  [1859. 

out  in  the  carriage,  on  the  25111.  Two  clays  after,  his  soul  was 
refreshed  by  a  transient  glinij^e  of  one  of  his  brothers.  It 
was  their  last  meeting.  They  were  now  among  the  excite- 
ments of  the  "  Public  Day,"  which  was  as  usual  "  immensely 
hot."  He  felt  better  all  clay.  Monday,  the  eleventh  of  July, 
was  set  lor  the  mountain  journey.  Dr.  Cabell  and  his  family  ac- 
companied the  party  to  the  Warm  Springs,  where  everything 
that  is  grand  and  lovely  in  verdant  hillside  scenery  seemed  to 
meet  together  for  their  especial  gratification.  One  day  the 
sunrise,  out  of  creamy  mountain  mists,  Avas  transcendent.  It 
was  almost  celestial.  The  patient  sufferer  read  the  104th 
Psalm,  and  looking  abroad  over  the  enchanting  pinnacles 
cried  out,  "Oh,  how  it  lifts  the  soul !  " 

On  the  17th,  Avhich  was  the  Lord's  Day,  he  wrote  : 

"A  Sabbnth  quiet  in  this  lovely  spot.  Though  my  heal  I  h  is  less 
encouraging,  I  thank  God  that  I  have  so  lively  a  sensibi'.ity  to  the 
beauties  and  glories  of  his  creation.  The  sights,  sounds,  and  odours 
are  all  rural,  all  mountainous.  Every  bird  and  flo'.ver  and  tree,  and 
the  variety  is  great,  seems  placed  aright  in  a  beautiful  harmony  with 
the  whole.  Gentle  ascents  of  mountains  on  several  sides,  enclosing 
this  happy  valley  ;  grassy  up  to  a  certain  point  of  their  smooth  sides, 
then  merging  into  thick  forests,  the  line  of  junction  being  marked  v\ith 
beautiful  shades;  herds  and  flocks  ever  and  anon  emerging  into  the 
liglit.  It  is  a  country  of  springs,  and  tlie  sound  of  water  is  much  in 
our  ears.     Oh,  that  men  would  praise  the  Lord  lor  his  goodness,"  &c. 

The  last  entry  in  his  journal  was  made  the  next  day,  and 
is  the  following : 

"  Delightful  rains  in  the  night,  and  this  morning.  This  weak  sul- 
phur water  has  agreed  with  me  admirably.  To  God  do  we  commit  the 
journey  of  the  morrow  !  " 

While  at  the  warm  springs,  he  had  contracted  a  dysenteric 
affection  which  was  prevailing  in  those  valleys,  but  it  seemed 
to  yield  to  the  remedies.  But  on  their  arrival  at  the  Red 
Sweet  the  disease  returned,  in  a  modified  but  uncontrollable 


^T.  50.]  A   NEW   SORROW.  87l 

form;  and  on  the  31st  lie  fell  asleep  in  Jesus,  with  his  counte- 
nance visibly  illumined  with  the  hoj^e  of  a  blessed  immoi*' 
tality  and  the  sweet  consolations  of  a  precious  gospel.  Hia 
dying  confession  was  clear,  and  uttered  with  emphatic  calm- 
ness. "  I  know  whom  I  have  believed,  and  that  he  is  able  to 
keep  that  which  I  have  committed  unto  him  against  that 
day." 

The  body  was  conveyed  from  Virginia  to  Princeton,  and 
was  intei'red  by  the  side  of  other  precious  memorials  in  the 
old  graveyard  :  Dr.  Joseph  Addison  Alexander  stood  pale  and 
motionless,  as  the  words  of  victory  were  uttered. 

The  tidings  of  his  brother's  death  gave  him  a  shock  from 
which  he  never  recovered.  The  only  indication  of  his  feel- 
ings at  the  time  he  received  the  dreadful  news,  which  is  pre- 
sented in  his  journal,  is  the  heavy  black  line  which  he  drew 
under  the  bare  record  of  the  fact.  But  the  grief  inwardly 
consumed  him.     The  iron  had  entered  his  soul. 

He  had  been  sick  himself  that  summer,  and  had  come 
home  looking  alarmingly  thin  and  pale  and  downcast.  It  was 
almost  as  if  he  had  a  presentiment  of  coming  evil. 

I  shall  never  forget  his  appearance,  or  his  prayer  at  family 
worship,  on  the  evening  of  the  funeral.  He  was  resolute  and 
composed,  and  his  voice  did  not  fail  him  or  even  tremble  ;  but 
it  sounded  as  if  he  were  uttering  the  prophecy  of  another 
startling  and  irreparable  sorrow.  Alas,  the  prediction  came 
too  soon,  too  soon !  His  tones  thrilled  through  me  as  he 
closed  the  book,  and  said  "  let  us  pray,"  and  with  a  strange 
and  significant  solemnity  spoke  the  words,  "  O  God !  Thou 
art  a  God  of  judgment  and  of  mercy,  and  in  mercy  and  in 
judgment  hast  Thou  gathered  us  together  here  this  day." 

The  tone  of  the  correspondence  which  he  still  kept  up 
with  his  old  friend  at  the  State  capital  now  suddenly  changes  ; 
and  it  is  long  before  he  can  resume  the  air  of  waggish  pleasantry 
which  has  seemed  to  be  almost  inseparable  from  this  pleasing 
interchange  of  good  offices  and  equivocal  epithets.  His  be- 
loved brother  was  now  lying  dead  in  Virginia  (though  he  does 
not  yet  know  it),  and  his  own  heart  is  almost  breaking  with 


8^2  HIS  beotkee's  death. 


[1859. 


grief  and  anxiety  as  he  writes  the  hurried  sentences  which 
here  follow  : 

"Nkw  YoiiE,  August  1,  1859. 
"  My  deae  Sir  : 

"  I  left  town  on  Sunday  for  a  day  or  two,  and  on  returning  to  re- 
sume my  work  this  morning,  find  that  James's  sons  set  off  that  fame 
day  for  the  South,  having  heard  unfavourahle  news  from  their  father, 
and  that  Sam  followed  them  last  night,  after  preaching  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  receiving  a  despatch  between  tlie  service?,  saying  that  James 
was  rapidly  sinking.  He  was  seized  with  dysentery  on  liis  way  from 
the  Warm  to  tlje  Sweet  Springs,  where  it  seems  that  disease  is  epi- 
demic. I  hear  indirectly,  through  a  member  of  Dr.  Cabell's  family, 
that  at  the  beginning  of  liis  new  attack  he  suffered  nothing,  but  seemed 
nearly  insensible.  We  are  now  in  hourly  expectation  of  Liter  news, 
which  will  determine  my  own  movements.  In  the  mean  time  I  think 
it  right  to  let  you  know  what  we  know,  if  you  have  not  previously 
heard  it.  His  wife,  in  her  last  letter,  earnestly  desires  the  prayers  of 
friends  in  his  behalf,  though  he  may  now  he  far  beyond  the  need  of 
them. 

"I  cannot  yet  abandon  all  hope,  though  I  stand  prepared  to  hear 
the  worst. 

"  Yours  truly, 

"J,  A.  Alexander." 

From  this  time  until  the  first  of  September  he  remained  in 
New  York,  engaged  uj^on  his  commentary  on  Matthew.  But 
his  work  was  suddenly  arrested  on  the  first  of  August  by  the 
news  of  the  dangerous  illness,  and  on  the  next  day  of  the 
death,  of  his  brother  James  in  Virginia.  His  friends  heard 
but  little  from  him  in  regard  to  this  great  blow.  Perhaps  the 
following  letter,  written  a  Aveek  after  the  event,  contains  more 
of  his  feelings  than  he  ever  uttered  in  word  or  by  pen  : 

"  New  Yoek,  August  8,  1859. 
"Dearest  J. 

"I  had  a  delightful  sail  from  Amboy,  which  is  always  sootliing  and 

refreshmg.     On  the  way  I  read  the  Adelphi  of  Terence,  a  favourite  of 

James's,  and  containing  a  passnge  wliich  I  would  transcribe  if  I  had  it 

by  me;  it  is  so  beautiful  and  simple  that  I  think  you  would  not  need 

a  translation.     It  begins,  '0  frater!  frater!'     I  will  read  it  to  you 


^■^■^0.]  Aj^  AFFECTING   SEEMON.  873 

some  day.  I  am  constantly  reminded  of  our  late  great  loss,  in  a  very 
singular  and  unexpected  manner.  Hundreds  of  times  since  I  knew 
that  all  was  over,  I  have  caught  myself  saying  to  myself  (especially 
when  reading),  'I  must  tell  James  that,'  or  'what  would  James  say  to 
that? '  This  makes  me  sensible  that  I  feel  my  intellectual  and  literary 
loss  more  poignantly  than  any  other.  Yesterday  morning  I  went  to 
the  Brick  Church;  and,  being  rather  late,  found  Hoge  engaged  in  the 
second  prayer,  two  tiiirds  of  which  at  least  related  to  James's  death, 
his  church,  family,  &c.  Even  after  he  had  left  the  subject  he  returned 
to  it  to  pray  specially  for  Henry,  lie  expounded  the  first  Psalm ;  tak- 
ing my  analysis  and  interpretation,  but  amplifying  and  enforcing  with 
great  powin-  and  beauty.  After  going  through  with  a  description  of 
the  tree,  he  made  a  most  beautiful  and  touching  application  of  the  pas- 
sage to  our  dear  departed  brother.  This  was  unspeakably  affecting, 
and  I  cannot  now  recall  it  without  tears.  I  may  hereafter  give  you 
some  account  of  it,  but  now  can  only  mention  one  stroke  that  com- 
pletely overcame  me  :  After  spenking  of  his  rich  and  varied  fruits  (as 
a  preaclier  and  a  writer),  and  of  his  never-fading  foliage  (as  a  man  and 
a  Christian),  he  said:  'Even  now  that  he  is  cut  down— no,  not  cut 
down— to  the  root  of  such  trees  there  is  no  ase  laid— but  now  that 
God  has  gently  lifted  him,  with  all  his  roots  and  all  his  fruits  above 
them,  to  the  more  congeninl  soil  of  Paradise,  he  is  still  a  tree,  a  perfect, 
verdant,  fruitful  tree,  overhanging  that  river  of  life  the  washing  of 
whose  waves  upon  its  banks  was  the  music  of  his  soul  on  earth.'  The 
whole  was  beautiful  and  rendered  more  so  by  the  indications  of  sincere 
grief  on  his  own  part. 

"I  spent  the  intervals  between  the  services  at  Sam's;  where,  after 
reading  for  an  hour  or  two,  I  fell  asleep  and  woke  up  a  few  minutes 
before  four.     This,  with  the  heat  and  distance,  prevented  my  returning 

to  hear  Hoge  again  ;  and  recollecting  that  was  advertised  to 

preach  in  Twenty-third  Street,  I  went  there,  and  heard  one  of  the  most 
wonderful  performances  I  ever  witnessed.  It  was  a  sacramental  ser- 
mon on  the  Transfiguration.  The  whole  of  it  was  read,  but  in  thf( 
manner  of  a  madman,  with  the  most  unnatural,  unearthly  yeUs  and 
whispers,  sometimes  hurrying  over  half  a  dozen  sentences  without  re- 
gard to  stops,  and  then  drawling  out  what  followed  with  intolerable 
slowness.  There  was  no  appearance  o!"  affectation  or  aiming  at  effect; 
for  the  manner  was  ridiculous,  and  just  that  of  a  raving  maniac.  Yet 
in  spite  of  this,  the  sermon  perfectly  enchained  me,  and  I  still  regard 
it,  on  reflection,  as  one  of  the  most  beautiful,  original,  and  powerful 
discourses  I  have  ever  heard.  To  my  surprise  he  was  highly  orthodox, 
37* 


874  LETTER   TO   DR.    HALL.  rissa 

not  only  as  to  the  Trinity  and  the  method  of  salvation,  but  even  as  to 
Impiitatiun and  other  shuip  points  of  old  O.dvinisin.  It  was  also  intense- 
ly Baptist;  making  the  most  of  burial  in  baptism,  &c. ;  but  this  might 
be  expected  in  a  sacramental  sermon  and  amon^  themselves.  He  gave 
me  some  new  ideas  of  the  Transfiguration.  Ills  idea  is  that  it  was 
typical  of  the  Sjcond  Advent,  and  that  Moses  and  Elijah  represented 
the  two  cla-^ses  who  will  witness  it — the  dead  and  thosj  aUve  upon  the 
earth.  Ills  description  of  Elij  ill's  translation  and  Moses's  burial  was 
transcendent.  He  suggested  '  not  as  doctrine,'  but  as  his  idea,  that  the 
body  of  Moses  lay  for  ages  unci  irrupted  in  the  valley  where  God  buried 
him,  until  he  was  summoned  to  the  transfiguration.  As  soon  as  Peter 
spake  unadvisedly  (as  Moses  did  before  him),  a  cloud  came  over  them, 
and  Moses  .ind  Elijah  disappeared.  One  reason  was,  t!iat  ■Pe:er  pro- 
posed to  make  them  equal  with  the  Sdu  of  God.  One  of  the  finest 
passages  was  his  account  of  Moses's  di-appi>intraent ;  first  gLiiifying 
him  as  a  legi-lator,  general,  prophet",  poet,  &c  ,  then  telliny;  how  he 
turned  away  from  Caanan,  and  went  up  into  the  mount  to  die  .-.lone. 
The  man  is  a  great  poetical  genius,  but  with  far  more  appearance  of 
sound  doctrine  and  religious  feiling  than  I  ever  suspected.  I  came  out 
before  the  sacrament ;  not  choosing  to  be  formally  excluded  from  it. 
At  night  I  heard  a  Western  Methodist  in  John  street  (French),  au  ex- 
traordinary preacher  of  a  very  different  sort  from  both  the  others. 

"I  resumed  work  this  morning,  and  will  continue  it  a  few  d:iys.  I 
am  actually  cheered  by  the  thought  that  James  felt  such  an  interest  in 
my  labours  and  so  generously  valued  them.  It  is  al-o  a  consolatory 
thought  that  he  lived  to  see  the  change  in  my  employment,  which  he 
had  so  earnestly  desired,  and  of  which  be  was  in  fact  the  author,  hav- 
ing never  ceased  to  insist  that  I  should  give  up  Church  History  and 
devot:e  myself  entirely  to  Biblical  instruction. 

"  Your  brother, 

"J.  A.  A." 

^     From  the  same,  to  Dr.  Hall : 

"Prixoeton,  September  1,  1859. 
"MtDear  Sir: 

"On  returning  home  this  week  from  my  long  holiday,  I  find  two 
letters  of  yours,  not  more  remote  in  date  than  different  in  tone,  and  in 
the  recollections  which  they  severally  awaken.  I  have  since  learned 
with  great  regret,  that  by  an  unexpected  providence,  you  have  been 
placed  in  a  situation  similar  to  that  of  James  himself  eight  years  ago, 
when  he  lost  his  father  and  his  infant  child,  the  oldest  and  youngest  of 


^T,  50.]  CHANGE    IN   HIS    LOOKS.  875 

our  f  imily  circle,  within  a  few  weeks  of  each  other.  I  imitate  your 
wise  reserve  as  to  the  forms  and  commonplaces  of  condolence,  and 
sliall  only  say  that  I  sincerely  sympathize  with,  you  and  Mrs,  Ingham 
in  this  new  bereavement.  I  have  no  doubt  you  have  often  turned  in 
thought  to  our  departed  'sdh  of  consolation,'  as  if  he  were  still  living. 
With  a  strange,  but  not  unnatural  forgetfulness,  I  find  myself  looking 
to  him  f  )r  support,  even  under  the  irreparable  shock  of  his  own  death. 
I  had  no  conception  of  my  intellectual  dependance  upon  James,  until  I 
caught  my-elf  continually  laying  things  aside  to  tell  him,  as  the  person 
wiio  could  best  appreciate  and  enjoy  them.  All  this  says  very  loudly, 
'  Cease  ye  from  man  whose  breatli  is  in  his  nostrils,'  and  shows  the 
grace  and  wisdom  of  that  constitution  which  reserves  the  office  of 
comforter  for  a  divine  person.  The  circumstances  which  you  mention 
certainly  go  far  to  reconcile  us  to  his  death  at  this  time ;  but  I  feel 
now  and  then  a  disposition  to  repine  at  the  circumstances  themselves. 
I  have  no  doubt  that  Ijc  shortened  his  own  life  by  morbid  anxieties,  con- 
nected not  merely  with  his  health,  but  with  his  pastoral  duties.  I  find 
iD  hard  to  acquiesce  without  a  murmur  in  the  loss  of  such  a  man  from 
such  a  cause,  or  to  reflect  without  a  momentary  pang  of  discontent, 
that  he  might  have  preached  fur  many  years  with  ease  and  pleasure, 
but  sunk  under  the  weight  of  other  causes.  It  seems  an  argument  in 
favour  of  the  old  Princeton  arrangement  which  provided  both  a  pastor 
and  a  teacher  in  such  cases.  But  I  have  already  said  too  much  and  chide 
myself. 

"My  widowed  sister  is  recovering  her  strength,  and  was  expected 
to  set  out  for  the  North  about  this  time  Avith  her  two  sons,  who  are 
with  her,  and  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Cabell. 

"  Truly  yours,  &c., 

J.  A.  Alexaxdee." 

Not  long  before  lie  was  removed  from  his  labours,  his  more 
observing  pupils  had  begun  to  notice  a  striking  a  change  in  his 
looks. 

"I  shall  never  forget,"  says  one  of  them,*  "how  I  was  startled  and 
saddened  by  the  first  conclusive  sign  to  my  eye  that  he  was  failing. 
It  had  been  noticed  and  talked  about  among  us  that  he  was  losing 
flesh  and  colour,  but  no  serious  apprehensions  had  been  excited.  Once, 

*  The  Rev.  Alfred  Ycomans,  now  of  Orange,  N.  J. 


876  SEJUNAEY    CIIATirGES.  [1859. 

however,  in  the  class-room,  as  he  was  lecturing,  he  sat  with  his  elbow 
on  tlie  arm  of  the  chair,  the  thumh  of  his  riglit  hand  under  his  chin, 
and  the  fore-finger  extended  and  pressed  into  the  cheek.  "When,  after 
a  little  while,  he  withdrew  the  finger,  I  happened  to  look  up  from  my 
notes,  and  remarked  that  the  cheek  did  not  spring  out  again  to  its 
round  proportions  but  retained  a  deep  dent  from  tlie  pressure  of  the 
finger,  as  thongli  the  flesh  were  a  lump  of  inelastic  clay.  The  finger 
print  remained  for  some  considerable  time,  showing  how  the  tissues 
were  losing  their  elasticity.  The  sight  startled  me  like  an  evil  omen. 
Not  long  after,  he  was  upon  his  bed  from  which  he  rose  but  briefly,, 
only  to  return  to  it  and  die.  I  never  could  rub  out  that  finger-print 
from  my  memory.     I  see  it  yet,  whenever  I  think  of  him." 

I  now  lay  before  the  reader  certain  interesting  statements 
touching  the  last  of  Dr.  Alexander's  various  important  Semi- 
naiy  changes.  The  writer  of  the  subjoined  extracts  is  his 
colleague,  Dr.  McGill. 

"  In  the  autumn  of  1858,  whilst  Dr.  Green  was  yet  absent  in  a  jour- 
ney to  Europe,  he  took  charge  of  the  Hebrew  department;  returning 
to  that  elementary  instruction  in  the  language  which  had  formerly 
wearied  him  and  provoked  his  impatience.  The  whole  term  of  this 
employment  was  one  of  exhilaration  to  him;  like  that  of  a  child  re- 
covering possession  of  a  toy  which  he  had  been  tired  of  once,  and  now 
recognized  in  all  its  original  attractions.  The  large  class  entering  that 
year,  eiglity-seven  in  number,  were  so  captivated  with  his  fond  and 
sprightly  manner  as  to  form  a  new  estimate  of  his  character  and  kind- 
ness. We  little  thought  this  beaming  out  of  his  true  nature  was  a  play- 
ful i-ay  of  the  setting  sun.  That  class  followed  him  to  the  grave,  in  their 
middle  year;  mourning  not  only  the  loss  of  a  great  teacher,  but;  a  per- 
sonal friend  also,  who  had  been  'lovely  and  pleasant  in  his  life.'  " 

Dr.  Green  writes,  in  reference  to  his  last  words  to  his 
classes  : 

"  After  the  experiment  of  a  few  years  in  the  chair  of  Church  History, 
he  strongly  avowed  his  preference  for  the  work  of  giving  instruction 
directly  based  upon  the  text  of  Scripture.  When  the  last  change  was 
made  in  the  title  of  his  professorship,  giving  liim  tlie  New  Testament 
department,   lie  felt  that  he  was  precisely  suited  and  tliat  the  work 


^T.  60]  LAST   MESSAGE   TO    THE   STUDENTS.  877 

before  bim  was  more  exactly  to  his  miud  than  it  had  ever  been  :  that 
be  was  just  in  the  position  for  which  the  studies  of  his  life  prepared 
bim. 

"  I  enclose  the  last  communication  made  by  bim  to  the  students  and 
which  by  bis  request  I  read  at  evening  prayer?.  The  last  expression 
in  it,  you  may  be  interested  to  know,  was  suggested  by  one  of  your 
father's  letters,  wbo,  when  absent  in  Europe,  applied  to  himself  that 
touching  Scriptural  phrase." 

This  is  tlie  message  lie  sent  the  students : 

"I  have  hitherto  made  no  communication  to  the  students;  partly 
because  I  was  forbidden  to  exert  myself  in  any  way  ;  partly  because  I 
have  been  living,  for  the  last  six  weeks,  in  constant  expectation  of  a 
speedy  return  to  my  accustomed  duties.  Thus  far  this  expectation  has 
been  disappointed,  and  it  still  remains  entirely  uncertain  when  I  shall 
be  able  to  resume  my  place  as  an  instructor.  I  desire  to  bow  submis- 
sively under  this  trying  and  mysterious  dispensation,  but  at  the  same 
time  to  express  my  earnest  wisb  and  bope,  tbat  the  classes  will  not  ut- 
terly neglect  the  studies  which  belong  to  my  department,  and  in  which 
they  made  such  encouraging  proficiency  daring  the  first  three  months 
of  the  session. 

"  I  hesitate  the  less  to  ask  this,  because  it  bappens,  I  may  say  provi- 
dentially, tbat  in  this  more  than  any  former  year,  these  subjects  can  be 
prosecuted  to  a  great  extent  in  private,  with  the  aid  of  the  books  which 
we  have  used  or  I  have  recommended.  If,  however,  in  addition  to 
these  helps,  there  could  be  organized  a  voluntary  system  of  associated 
labour,  or  of  mutual  instruction,  Avhether  on  a  large  or  a  smaller  scale, 
this  might  cause  my  absence  to  be  still  less  felt ;  and  I  would  gladly 
make  occasional  suggestions  to  the  several  classes,  on  the  subjects  with 
which  they  are  occupied  respectively.  But  this  must  depend,  of  course, 
upon  my  actual  condition  at  any  given  time,  and  cannot  be  definitively 
promised.  Even  now  I  must  arrest  my  pen  and  close  by  simply  but 
importunately  asking  the  Divine  blessing  upon  all  connected  with  the 
Seminary,  and  in  turn  soliciting  their  prayers  for  one  who  has  been, 
and  may  still  be,  so  long  '  separated  from  his  'brethren.'' 

"J.  A.  Alexander. 
"Jan.  7th,  18G0." 

It  is  but  right  that  I  should  add  to  this  Dr.  Green's  own 
testimony  to  the  worth  of  his  teacher  and  colleague  : 


878  IMPEESSIONS    OF   DE.    HODGE.  [isco. 

"  Tlie  reverence  with  which  I  have  always  regarded  him  is  such  as 
to  preclude  any  attempt  at  an  estimate.  I  do  not  feel  as  if  it  were  pos- 
sible fur  me  to  place  myself  in  the  attitude  of  a  critic  or  a  judge  of  him- 
self or  of  any  of  hi^  productions.  They  seem  tome  as  nearly  perfect 
as  that  which  is  hnmnii  can  be.  The  kindness  and  consideration  with 
which  I  had  ever  been  treated  by  him,  made  me  feel  when  he  was 
taken  away  that  I  had  lost  one  of  my  best  friends,  as  well  as  of  my 
ablest  guides.  I  did  not  need  the  sight  of  his  quivering  lip  and  drop- 
ping tears  at  his  fatlier's  grave  to  convince  me  that  he  was  not,  as  some 
imagine  him  to  be,  mere  intellect;  and  that  beneath  his  ordinary  pas- 
sionless exterior,  there  was  a  deep  fount  of  warm  and  tender  feeling." 

It  was  about  this  time  that  he  received  a  visit  from  one 
Avho  had  been  his  colleague  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  his 
zealous  friend  and '  enthusiastic  admirer  for  a  much  longer 
period.  Of  course,  I  allude  to  Dr,  Charles  Hod^^e.  It  will  be 
noticed  that  he  prefaces  his  account  with  a  critical  analysis  of 
some  of  the  traits  of  his  remarkable  disposition.  It  will  also 
be  noticed  that  at  this  time  the  invalid  was  trying  to  per- 
suade himself  and  others  that  he  was  well. 

"  His  mental  peculiarities  were  as  remarkable  as  his  intellectual  en- 
dowments. One  of  the  most  marked  of  these  was  his  inability  to  do 
what  was  distasteful  to  him.  If  he  did  not  like  any  pursuit,  or  branch 
of  knowledge,  or  any  particular  subject,  he  could  not  bring  himself  to 
atrend  to  it.  In  tlie  conduct  of  the  Princeton  Eeview,  I  was  often 
culled  to  suggest  his  writing  on  some  particular  topic.  If  he  expressed 
any  disinclination  to  it,  the  matter  was  at  once  dropped  ;  for  I  well  knew 
tliat  however  willing  he  might  be  to  oblige  me,  or  to  have  the  topic 
discussed,  his  doing  anything  with  it  was  out  of  the  question.  This 
pecu'iarity  was  probably  due,  in  a  good  measure,  to  his  mode  of  educa- 
tion. He  was  in  a  great  degree  self-educated.  Being  spont  ineously 
devoted  to  intellectual  pursuit^,  wasting  no  time,  and  having  no 
inclination  for  the  unimportant,  he  was  allowed  to  take  his  own 
course.  He  thus  became  habituated  to  studying  what  was  agree- 
able to  him,  and  unable  to  bring  his  mind  to  bear  on  what  did  not 
interest  him.— With  this  was  connected  another  peculiarity  which  he  had 
in  a  remarkable  degree.  He  was  voluntarily  ignorant  of  mnny  depart- 
ments of  knowledge  with  which  educated  men  are  generally  more  or 
less  fiimillar.     TJiis  was  in  a  measure  true  in  reference  to  matters  of 


.et.50.]  visible  decline.  879 

science,  and  still  more  to  questions  of  mental  pliilosnphy.  His  reading 
was  largely  in  the  later  Gc-rmaii  wriieis,  but  their  philnsopbical  specu- 
lations were  singularly  distasteful  to  him  ;  and  he  never  gave  them  a 
thought.'^  He  would  neither  read  nor  talk  about  them.  I  have  heard 
him  say  that  when  in  his  historical  or  other  reading  he  came  across 
any  philo~opliical  speculation,  he  slammed  over  the  pages  until  he  came 
to  something  else.  It  wa^  specially  such  subjects  as  anatomy,  physiol- 
ogy, hygieoe,  of  which  he  determined  be  would  know  nothing.  He  had 
seen  bow  superficial  knowledge  on  this  matter  had  rendered  men  hypo- 
chondriac, and  consequently  miserable  and  burdensome.  He  t!ierefore 
went  to  the  opposite  extreme,  and  was  really  so  iinorantthat  be  did 
not  know  liovv  to  take  c  ire  of  himself.  That  is,  be  would  unconsciou-ly 
viiilate  the  laws  of  health,  especially  by  exposure,  greatly  to  his  own 
injury.  During  bis  last  illness,  wbicb  was  preceded  by  nearly  a  year 
of  gradual  decline,  be  tdd  me  that  instead  of  perspiring  freely  as  was 
hi-  habit,  his  skin  had  been  for  months  without  the  slightest  moisture  ; 
and  that  during  all  that  time  bis  mouth  iiad  been  so  dry  he  could  not 
wet  a  po-tage  stamp.  When  I  expressed  surprise  that,  those  symptoms 
did  not  satisfy  bini  th-it  he  was  seriously  unwell,  he  replied,  '  Oh,  you 
know  I  never  put  that  and  that  tOL'ether,'  and  even  within  ten  days  of 
his  death,  when  remonstrating  against  his  attempting  during  that  ses- 
sion to  resume  his  duties  in  the  seminary,  be  answered  with  some  im- 
patience, '  I  am  as  well  as  you  are.' 

The  desolation  caused  by  his  brother's  decease  had  told 
terribly  on  his  constitution.  lie  was  then  on  the  downward 
shelve  of  the  hill ;  but  afterwards  began  to  move  under  a 
greatly  accelerated  momentum.  The  increase  of  motion  was 
silent  but  observable.  His  flesh,  indeed,  had  decreased  rapidly 
within  the  last  year  of  his  life  ;  and  he  had  begun  to  look 
worn  and  haggard.  Students  of  the  early  days  of  his  tuition* 
would  have  hardly  recognized  him.  But  these  symptoms 
Avere  aggravated  after  his  brother's  death.  He,  however, 
complained  of  nothing  except  the  extreme  dryness  of  his 
throat,  which  of  late  had  been  almost  agonizing. 

*  His  journals  show  that  this  remark  is  only  true  in  the  general  way  iu 
which  Dr.  Hodge  iutendd  it  should  be  taken.  Ho  would  sometimes,  though 
very  rarely  indeed,  amuse  himself  with  these  vagaries. 


880  ANXIETY    OF   FRIENDS.  [I860. 

The  first  time  his  nearest  relatives  at  liorae  really  thought 
he  "Tvas  ill,  was  in  the  autumn  of  1859. 

On  his  return  to  Princeton,  after  his  great  circular  tour,  he 
used  to  tahe  Avalks  among  the  faded  leaves  which,  though 
they  merely  marked  the  season  of  the  year,  almost  seemed  to 
foretoken  the  decay  of  his  own  exuberant  strength.  He 
probably  did  this  at  the  urgent  request  of  friends.  These  little 
sauntering  excursions  proved  to  be  too  much  for  him  even 
then.  They  tired  him  excessively,  and  sometimes  almost 
grievously.  This  was  in  October.  He  would  complain  of 
weariness  even  after  a  short  walk,  and  express  a  wish  to  re- 
turn home. 

All  through  October  he  was  weak  and  miserable. 

It  was  this  unnatural,  and  in  his  case  unexampled,  loss  of 
bodily  vigour  (together  with  the  previous  and  startling  loss  of 
flesh  to  v\^hich  I  have  elsewhere  alluded)  that  produced  the 
fear  in  the  minds  of  those  who  were  nearest  of  kin  to  him, 
that  there  must  be  something  alarming  the  matter  with  him. 

It  was  afterwards  ascertained  that  the  jDreceding  summer 
he  had  had  a  sudden  check  of  perspiration.  He  was  wearing 
a  linen  coat.  From  this  time,  so  he  acknowledged  daring  his 
sickness,  he  never  perspired  again.  "  Ilis  moisture  was  turned 
into  the  drought  of  summer,"  From  this  time  his  health  was 
never  what  it  had  been,  and  soon  after  became  hopelessly 
shattered. 

About  the  latter  part  of  October,  he  began  to  suffer  from  a 

rasping  cough.     It  was  the  most  violent  cold  he  had  ever 

had,  and  was  connected  with  a  slight  but  distressing  difficulty 

►of  breathing.     He  nevertheless  attended  to  all  his  recitations. 

Among  the  many  friends  who  visited  him  in  the  chamber 
of  death,  was  one  *  who  feels  his  personal  loss  to  be  irrepara- 
ble, and  who  testifies  in  the  following  terms : 

"  During  his  sickness,  or  decline,  I  visited  him  frequently.  lie  was 
always  pleasant,  disposed  to  underrate  liis  own  suflerings  (scarcely 

*  The  Rev.  Dr.  Abraham  Gosnian,  of  Lawrenccvillo,  one  of  the  translators 
of  Lange. 


^■^-  51]  LAST   OF   HIS   DIAET.  881 

ever  speaking  of  them,  except  in  reply  to  some  question  as  to  liig 
liealtL),  and  hopeful  of  the  issue.  He  could  not  see  what  gave  his  ad- 
miring friends  so  much  anxiety  and  pain.  But  to  us  the  change  wag 
marked  and  alarming.  A  little  more  than  a  week  hefore  his  death,  I 
spent  a  pleasant  half  hour  with  him.  The  conversation  was  such  as  to 
dispel  my  fears,  at  least  partially.  '  The  confinement,'  he  said,  '  you 
know,  is  pleasant  to  me.  I  am  among  my  books,  and  find  no  reluc- 
tance to  work.'  He  was  anxious  only  about  the  suspension  of  his 
lectures  and  instruction  in  the  seminary.  Losing  sight  of  himself,  as 
his  custom  was,  he  entered  mainly  into  the  joys  and  prospects  of  my 
own  family,  saying  that  as  soon  as  he  was  able  to  ride  he  would 
make  his  first  visit  at  my  house  and  see  me  in  my  home.  I  parted 
from  him  fondly  hoping  that  I  should  soon  see  him  again,  when,  at 
the  close  of  a  Sabbath's  labour,  the  word  came  that  he  was  gone." 

I  can  discover  no  material  change  in  his  handwriting,  so 
flir  as  it  appears  in  his  diaries,  until  he  came  to  make  the  very- 
last  entry  but  one;  and  I  am  not  sure  that  this  is  irregular 
for  any  other  reason  than  that  it  is  made  at  the  bottom  of  a 
page  in  an  immense  folio  volume.  These  are  the  last  records 
he  inscribed  in  his  Journal;  the  very  latest  being  within  three 
days  of  his  death  : 

"Friday,  Jan. 20.  Read  over  my  analysis  of  Matthew  xvii— xxviii. 
Reading  as  usual.  Letter  from  John  Hall,  declining  to  come,  except  in 
case  of  urgent  need.  Wrote  to  Moffat,  requesting  him  to  preach  for 
me,  which  he  agreed  to  do. 

"Saturday,  Jan.  21.  Finished  the  second  volume  of  Stevens's  His- 
tory of  Methodism,  begun  Jan.  3d.  Visit  from  W.  H.  G.  Wrote  to 
Dr.  J.  H,  Jones. 

"Lord's  Day,  Jan.  22."  This  was  his  last  Sabbath  on  earth. 
"Nehemiah  in  Coverdale;  Hodge  on  2d  Corinthians;  Sohultz  on 
Deuteronomy;  Morning  Service  and  Litany;  Episcopal  Psalms  and 
Hymns;  three  of  my  brother's  'Discourses  on  Common  Topics  of 
Faith  and  Practice ; '  ten  of  Adolplie  Monod's  Dying  Speeches  (or 
Adicux  d,  ses  amis  et  d,  Veglise) ;  Anderson's  Colonial  Church  History ; 
The  Presbyterian  :  finished  Ecclesiastes  in  Hebrew,  with  the  Chaldee 
Paraphrase  (begun  Dec,  28). 

"  Monday,  Jan.  23.— Fiiiishetl  (in  bed)  Coverdale's  Version  of  Xe- 
hemiah  (begun  Jan.  11).  Visits  from  Dr.  At  water  and  Moffat,  the  latter 


882  ms   LAST   EEADINGS.  [1861. 

of  whom  preached  forme  in  the  chapel  yesterday.  Finished  Dickens's 
Tale  of  Two  Cities,  a  powerful  tr.igic  fiction,  nnrelieve;!  by  any 
comic  element;  for  Cruncher  is  a  miserable  failure.  Other  reading  us 
usual. 

"  Tuesday,  Jan.  2-i. — Left  the  house  for  the  first  time  since  my 
memorable  return  on  the  2Sth  of  November  (p.  543).  Took  a  drive 
with  my  sister  in  Dr.  Hodge's  carriage. 

"  Wednesday,  Jan.  25.— Shaved  by  Gilbert  Scudder.  S.  D.  A.  from 
Few  York  and  back.     Reading  as  usual.' 

It  seems  right  that  the  long  succession  of  manuscript  en- 
tries, which  he  bad  kept  up  so  faithfully,  should  close  with 
these  familiar  words. 

The  literary  zest  was  fully  as  great  in  him  as  ever,  and  his 
industry  as  unwearied  as  it  seemed  to  be  unconscious.  Fi'om 
November  the  28th,  the  "  memorable  day  "  in  Philadelphia,  to 
January  the  28th,  the  day  of  his  death,  he  read  more  than  two 
books  of  the  Bible  (Ecclesiastes  and  the  Song  of  Solomon)  in 
Hebrew  and  Chaldee.  The  version  of  Canticles  he  pronounces 
"  most  extraordinary."  He  also  read  David  Trumbull's  "  Cor- 
respondence with  a  Priest  in  Valparaiso ; "  J.  J.  Gurney's 
Life ;  two  volumes  of  Bancroft  ;  much  English  poetry  ;  the 
Rev.  H.  B.  Pratt's  sermon  (in  Spanish)  on  the  "  Right  of  the 
People  to  the  Scriptures  "  ;  the  weekly  religious  journals  and 
the  missionary  papers  (botli  regularly) ;  the  Life  of  Hedley 
Vicars  (which  he  declares  is  "a  beautiful  tale,  beautifully 
told  ") ;  the  Reminiscences  of  Rufus  Choate  ;  several  of  the 
then  late  numbers  of  Punch ;  Johnson's  Lives  (or  most  of 
it) ;  an  old  article  of  his  own  for  the  Repertory  ;  "Paris  and 
its  Environs  "  ;  Madame  D'Arblay's  Journal ;  the  President's 
Message,  and  the  Reports  of  the  Departments  (Dec.  28) :  and 
heard  read  the  Life  of  Daniel  Baker  and  other  books  and  tracts 
of  that  sort ;  "  skimmed  Evelina ;  "  looked  through  the  Dublin 
Calendar  and  examined  the  Irish  Examination  Papers.  Be- 
sides this  he  read  Schultz  on  Deuteronomy;  Hodge  on  2  Co- 
rinthians; Millhouse's  English  Grammar  (in  Italian);  nearly 
or  quite  all  of  Rawlinson's  Herodotus,  and  Findlay's  "  Greece 
under  the  Romans  " ;  part  of  the  Thousand  and  One  Nights  in 


^T.51.]  JOTTINGS   IN   THE   MAEGIN.  883 

Arabic ;  the  two  volumes  of  Abel  Stevens  ;  Helweg's  History 
of  the  Chnrcli  of  Denmark  (in  Danish);  morsels  of  Anderson's 
Colonial  History ;  Aristotle  and  Plato  in  Archer  Butler's 
Ancient  Philsophy;  and  a  great  deal  in  Coverdale's  Bible. 
His  last  mark  is  at  the  end  of  the  3d  chapter  of  Esther.  He 
carefully  looked  through  Dr.  H.  B.  Smith's  Historical  Tables ; 
read  several  of  Irving's  stories ;  perused  several  articles  of 
Brande's  Cyclopaedia;  examined  a  new  edition  of  Biichner's 
Concordanz ;  pondered  the  Office  for  the  Visitation  of  the 
Sick  in  the  Prussian  "  Agende  "  ;  several  of  his  brother's  Dis- 
courses; and  the  Morning  Service,  Litany,  and  Hymns  of  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer.  Most  of  the  books  he  handled  at 
this  time  are  copiously  marked,  and  show  him  to  have  been  in 
the  i'uU  possession  of  all  his  remarkable  powers.  The  pencil 
dashes  are  often  critical,  often  mirthful,  sometimes  pious,  and 
very  often  ambiguous.  Sometimes  he  jots  down  a  Avhole  sen- 
tence in  the  margin  ;  sometimes  a  single  word,  as  (twice,  at 
least)  the  word  "  Amen."  Almost  the  last  book  read,  which 
he  mentions  in  his  Journal,  is  the  Tale  of  Two  Cities ;  which 
aroused  his  enthusiasm.  I  have  studiously  considei'ed  his 
marks  in  the  two  volumes  of  Abel  Stevens,  and  (though  of  a 
much  earlier  date)  in  Boston,  in  Ben  Jonson,  and  in  one  of 
the  volumes  of  Irving's  Washington,  which  is  cut  up  like  the 
others ;  as  well  as  some  in  Campbell's  Lives.  The  Rev.  Wil- 
liam Harris,  of  Towanda,  informs  me  tliat  he  has  gone  over 
his  Rawlinson  in  the  same  way,  and  that  (like  his  Bengel)  it 
is  very  rich  in  marginal  annotations.  The  History  of  Meth- 
odism was  a  devotional  as  well  as  literary  treat  to  him. 

His  mouth  and  throat  now  became  so  dry  that  he  could 
not  moisten  a  wafer.  One  cheek  would  often  be  burning,  and 
the  other  cool.  He  did  not  seem  to  knoAv  whether  it  was  hot 
or  cold.  He  would  have  fires  when  everybody  else  was  warm ; 
so  that  this  had  to  be  regulated  for  him.  His  friends  at  one 
time  advised  a  change  of  climate,  and  I  think  one  of  them 
consu'ted  Dr.  Delafield  about  it. 

In  this  way  it  went  on,  until  November,  when  for  several 
weeks  he   insisted   on   taking  a  ti'ip  to  Philadelphia  every 


S84  GEOWnra   WOESE. 


[186L 


Saturday,  for  change  of  air.  On  one  of  these  visits,  on  a 
Sunday,  he  was  overtaken  by  a  torrent  of  rain,  and  drenched 
to  the  skin.  He  had  listened  in  the  morning  to  the  Irish 
pulpit  orator,  Guinness ;  and  with  great  though  not  unmeasured 
delight,  A  full  account  of  the  matter,  and  of  the  whole  trip 
and  its  consequences,  will  be  found  in  his  later  Journals. 
After  his  wetting,  he  got  in  bed,  dried  his  clothes,  then  put 
them  on  again,  and  went  back  to  the  church  and  heard  Guin- 
ness a  second  time.  At  the  end  of  the  first  volume  of  Dr. 
Abel  Stevens'  book  on  Methodism,  which  he  seems  to  have 
had  with  him  as  a  vade-mecwn  on  the  rails  and  in  the  hotels, 
occurs  the  jotting  in  pencil,  "  A  description  worthy  of  the 
glorious  subject. 

"  O  si  sic  omnia,  et  omnes  methodistae,  i.e.  Wesleyani !  " 

And  on  the  fly-leaf,  "Finished  in  bed  at  the  Girard  House, 
Philadelphia,  after  a  fall  and  ducking  in  the  street  during  one 
of  the  most  violent  rains  I  ever  saw  or  felt,  and  after  twice 
liearing  Henry  Grattan  Guinness  (who,  methinks,  has  made 
Whitefield  his  model,  and  resembles  him  in  some  jjoints,  but 
I  fear  not  the  most  important),  Nov.  13,  1859." 

He  came  home  very  hoarse,  yet  insisting  that  his  cold  was 
better.  It  was  evident  enough  to  all  that  it  was  worse.  The 
hoarseness  continued  until  Monday,  Nov.  the  28th,  when  he 
was  taken  with  a  bleeding  at  the  lungs.  This  was  just  a 
week  after  the  memorable  Sabbath  in  Philadelphia, 

The  hemorrhage,  though  a  most  alarming  symptom,  was 
regarded  as  a  Providential  interference  to  stop  him  in  a 
course  which  was  sure  to  end  in  a  kind,  of  voluntary  suicide. 
For  weeks  previous,  his  friends  had  been  in  pain  to  see  him 
going  through  so  much,  with  a  bad  cough — growing  steadily 
worse,  and  yet  neglecting  all  recourse  to  medical  skill.  Dur- 
ing this  whole  period  he  intermitted  none  of  his  usual  employ- 
ments. During  October  and  November  he  increased  rather 
than  diminislied  his  labours.  He  would  sometimes  go  to  his 
lectures  Avith  the  fever  actually  on  him.  It  was  only  the 
hemorrliage  that  brought  him  to  his  senses,  and  at  last  made 
him  fully  aware  of  his  imminent  danger.     He  came  home  per- 


^T.  51.J  A   SLIGHT   IMPEOYlEMElSrT.  885 

fectly  calm,  without  a  single  nervous  tremor,  and  yet  sufficiently 
apprized  of  bis  state,  and  as  docile  as  a  child  to  every  sugges- 
tion of  the  family,  and  of  the  capable  physician,  an  old  friend, 
who  was  at  once  called  in.  Dr.  Woodhull  found  his  system 
thoroughly  out  of  order,  and  making  light  of  the  hemoptysis 
sought  to  repair  his  general  constitution.  There  was  not  the 
slightest  recurrence  of  the  bleeding  after  the  first  ten  days ; 
though  his  cough  continued  very  bad,  and  he  laboured  for 
breath,  and  had  some  fever  daily.  But  from  this  time  ho 
steadily  improved  in  every  respect  but  one.  He  continued 
to  grow  weaker. 

He  was  down-stairs,  and  in  his  study,  all  this  time  ;  until 
November  the  28th,  when  he  consented  to  remain  on  one  floor. 
Until  the  bleeding  from  his  lungs,  there  was  nothing  about 
him  to  attract  the  notice  of  a  stranger,  except  his  dreadful 
cold.  He  staid  up-stairs  a  few  days,  without  once  going 
down.  With  the  cessation  of  hemoptysis,  there  was  manifest 
improvement  in  his  case  in  several  other  respects.  The  new 
symptom,  startling  and  even  terrifying  as  it  was,  procured 
him  a  sudden  relief,  and  after  a  time  total  exemption,  from 
his  cough  and  the  oppressive  weight  upon  his  lungs.  He 
soon  got  into  the  way  of  going  down  to  his  study  again ;  and 
would  sit  there  nearly  the  whole  time,  until  nine  at  night;  as 
he  had  done  before.  This  he  did  to  the  last.  After  a  few 
weeks  he  seemed  much  better,  though  the  cough  held  on  for 
a  time  ;  his  system  was  in  a  better  state  than  it  was  before  the 
alarm  was  sounded.  He  was  not  confined  to  bed  at  all  except 
the  day  he  died.  Even  when  at  his  worst  before  this,  he  used 
to  go  across  the  entry  into  his  sister's  room,  and  would  often 
spend  the  day-light  there,  reading  and  talking.  He  was  sitting 
up  most  of  the  time,  but  sometimes  reclined.  He  was  very 
cheerful  and  very  comfortable,  reading  a  little  in  the  mornings, 
and  enjoying  himself  greatly.  Indeed,  he  had  never  seemed 
to  enjoy  himself  more.  He  often  said  it  was  really  "  so  luxuri- 
ous "  to  sit  up  there  that  his  conscience  troubled  him  about  it. 
He  was  going  through  a  strange  experience  for  him ;  he  had 
seldom  before  known  what  it  is  to  rest !     He  used  to  have 


886  A   NOTE   FROM   DE.    JONES.  [1861. 

books  and  hymns  read  aloud  to  him  after  he  had  gone  to  bed 
for  the  niglit.  This  was  so  for  a  month  preceding  his  death. 
Among  the  books  he  thus  listened  to,  was  the  Lite  of  Daniel 
Baker.  He  read  himself  the  Life  of  Adelaide  Newton,  and 
spoke  of  her  departure  as  "  euthanasia."  Miss  Elliott's  "  Just 
as  I  am,"  he  had  repeated  to  him  several  times;  till  he  knew 
it,  and  often  repeated  it  himself  entire.  He  did  not  miss  one 
morning  reading  in  Coverdale's  Bible,  or  the  Targum  of  Jona- 
than ;  as  bis  pencil  marks  will  show.  The  last  date  is  Jan. 
27,  the  very  day  before  his  death. 

The  late  Dr.  Joseph  H.  Jones,  of  Philadelphia,  shortly 
before  his  own  decease,  wrote  the  following  respecting  Dr. 
Alexander ; 

"  Some  time  previous  to  the  decline  of  his  health,  our  correspondence 
had  become  less  frequent ;  and  I  did  not  see  him  so  of'en  in  Pliihulel- 
pliia  as  heretofore;  but  that  there  was  no  abatement  of  interest  or 
confidence  on  his  pai-t  near  the  close  of  his  life,  I  was  assured  by  the 
following  most  affecting  testimonial.  A  few  days  before  his  death,  he 
Avrote  from  Princeton,  requesting  me  to  '  take  his  place  as  preaiher  in 
the  Seminary '  on  the  subsequent  Sabbath,  and  was  obliged  to  decline 
on  the  arcnunt  of  tlie  extreme  illness  of  my  brother,  Judge  Jones,* 
who  was  then  very  near  his  deatii. 

"  In  my  letter,  however,  I  made  a  conditional  promise  of  preaching 
for  him  on  some  future  occasion,  if  he  should  desire  it.  He  replied  at 
once,  thanking  me  for  the  offer,  and  at  the  same  time,  referring  to  his 
improving  health,  expressed  the  hope  that  he  '  sliould  so^n  be  well.'  " 

In  the  first  letter  he  asked  Dr.  Jones  to  "  take  his  place  in 
the  chapel  for  one  Sabbath  and  be  his  guest."  The  reason  for 
inviting  him  was  his  unwillingness  to  "  impose  on  his  colleagues 
the  service  which  properly  belonged  to  himself"  In  the 
second  letter  he  promptly  and  delicately  apologized  for  "  mak- 

*  Judge  Joel  Jones,  of  Philadelphia,  a  man  whose  tastes  and  abihtios  re- 
sembled those  of  Sir  William  Jones,  of  England. 

In  tlie  funerid  oration,  Dr.  Shield'^,  his  piistor,  exclaimed:  "but  yesterday 
the  scholars  of  the  Church  were  gathered  at  the  grave  of  its  most  learned 
clergyman ;  there  are  those  present  who  will  deem  it  no  exaggeration  to  say 
that  to-day  we  are  burying  its  most  learned  layman." 


iBT.51.]  A   LAST   LETTEE.  887 

ing  his  request  at  such  a  time,  not  having  heen  apprized  of  his 
brother's  extreme  illness,"  With  regard  to  Dr.  J's  pro- 
posed assistance,  he  observed  that  "  he  hoped  to  be  so  much 
better  as  not  to  need  it ;  but  inasmuch  as  he  had  been  kind 
enough  to  offer  it,  he  should  be  very  happy  to  see,  and  shoiild 
expect  him." 

The  next  information  concerning  him  received  by  his  friend 
in  Philadelphia,  -^-as  that  of  his  sudden  departure.  "From 
his  request,"  writes  Dr.  Jones,  "  that  I  would  be  his  guest, 
I  inferred  that  he  would  take  the  opportunity  to  disclose  his 
religious  feelings,  and  pi'obably  impart  more  benefit  from  the 
interview  than  he  would  receive.  There  was  no  exj)ression 
of  them  in  his  letter." 

It  appears  from  the  daily  journal  Dr.  Alexander  was  still 
keeping,  that  this  reply  to  Dr.  Jones's  letter  was  dated  Jan- 
uary the  21st,  just  a  week  before  his  own  death.  Dr.  Jones 
winds  up  an  affectionate  tribute  to  his  friend,  a  tribute  full  of 
love  and  admiration,  with  the  familiar  words  of  Horace : 

"  Multis  ille  bonis  flebilis  occiclit ; 
Xulli  flebilior  quam"  mihi. 

Tlie  following  letter  was  among  the  last  from  his  pen ;  on 
the  19th,  he  wrote  to  Dr.  Hall;  on  the  20th,  a  note  to  Dr. 
Moffat;  and  on  the  21st,  which  is  actually  the  last,  a  note  to 
Dr.  Jones. 

"Peixcetox,  January  18tli,  18G0. 
"  Eeyeeexd  and  Dear  Sam.  : 

"  The  Irvings  are  repacked  ;  and  now  that  they  are  gone,  I  feel  as 
if  I  should  like  to  spend  the  money  upon  something  else.  Ic  would 
make  no  difference  to  Eandolph,  and  tbey  must  be  thrown  back  upon. 
Putnam  anyhow.  If  this  view  is  correct,  I  wish  you  would  order  a 
large  batch  of  Memorial  and  Sacramental  sermons,  to  any  amount  with- 
in the  price  of  Irving,  and  in  any  proportion  that  you  choose,  for  Jane 
and  me  to  give  away.  The  whole  sum  need  not  be  exhausted  in  one 
order.  By  the  bye,  I  -wish  you  would  look  in  your  Washington  and 
see  if  I  have  marked  how  far  I  read  when  I  was  staying  with  you.  I 
generally  scribble  such  things  even  in  other  people's  books.     *      ■<=      * 

"  I  beg  you  cot  to  think  of  coming  out  hei'e  upon  my  account. 


888  BISHOP   OF   CARLISLE.  [1801. 

Tliongh  always  glad  to  see  you,  I  should  feel  mucli  happier  to  know- 
that  you  were  at  your  work.  Feeling  the  need  of  spiritual  no  less  than 
of  bodily  medicine,  I  have  invited  Dr.  Jones,  of  Philadelphia,  to  pay  me 
a  pastoral  visit,  and  preach  for  me  next  Sunday.  My  cough  and  op- 
pression have  entirely  left  me,  and  my  present  ailment  is  the  non-action 
of  my  skin.  I  have  not  shed  a  drop  of  sweat  for  many  months.  It 
goes  off"  by  the  kidneys,  and  the  mucous  membrane  is  affected  by  the 
skin-disorder.  But  I  like  my  treatment  and  believe  it  will  restore  me. 
My  situation  otherwise  is  not  only  comfortable  but  happy.  The  stu- 
dei:t3  lose  nothing,  and  I  am  free  from  all  responsiblity  and  care.  I 
will  write  the  Preface  when  wanted.  I  cannot  do  such  things  long 
beforehand.     Give  my  love  to  the  dear  children  and  their  parents." 

I  give  below  a  letter  from  the  late  Bishop  of  Carlisle, 
which  arrived  after  his  friencrs  decease. 

"  Basfoed  St.  Maetin,  Mt.  Salisbtjet, 

"June  8th,  1860. 
"Mt  Dear  Sir: 

"  I  am  doubly  in  your  debt :  first,  for  your  exposition  of  St.  Mark, 
and  now  for  your  sermons.  Accept  my  most  sincere  thanks  for  this 
kind  remembrance  of  me,  and  remember,  I  pray  you,  that  if  ever  you 
should  come  to  England  I  shall  be  too  glad  to  welcome  you  to  my 
home. 

"For  the  last  fifteen  years  and  a  half  that  home  has  been  in  this 
lovely  valley  in  Wiltshire.  For  the  last  three  years  of  tliat  period,  I 
have  had  a  three  months'  annual  migration  to  the  neighbouring  city  of 
Salisbury,  where  by  the  goodness  of  our  God,  I  had  the  opportunity  of 
preaching  his  Gospel,  as  Canon  (not  Dean)  of  the  Catheclral. 

"  You  can  well  understand  how  my  heart  is  bound  up  with  the 
spiritual  interests  of  the  Church  of  God  in  this  neighbourhood.  You 
can  therefore  believe  me  when  I  say  that  I  am  at  the  present  moment 
deeply  tried.  For  it  has  pleased  God  to  call  me  to  a  yet  higher  post  in 
his  vinej'ard,  and  but  a  few  weeks  will  have  elapsed  before  I  take  my 
place  in  the  far  North  of  England — severing  all  Southern  ties — as  over- 
seer of  the  Diocese  of  Carlisle.  It  is  a  joy  to  me  to  succeed  such  a  man 
as  Bishop  Villiers  has  been:  but  still  the  pang  of  parting  is  bitter. 

"  Pray  for  me,  my  dear  sir,  that  I  may  be  kept  faithful,  humble, 
watchful,  prayciful.  We  have  had  to  pass  through  very  deep  waters 
lately.     I  now  see  for  what  they  were  designed  to  prepare  us. 

"  Yours  for  Jesus's  s.ake, 

"  Saml.  Waldegkave." 


^T.51.]  GEATEFUL   FOR    LITTLE    KINDNESSES.  880 

During  the  interviil  between  Dec.  the  20tli,  and  Jan.  the 
iTth,  the  hopes  of  his  friends  were  somewhat  revived.  The 
feverish  excitement  seemed  to  have  left  his  system.  He  ap- 
peared better  than  he  had  been  for  a  year,  and  said  himself  he 
"was  better  than  he  had  been  for  years:'  His  whole  look  and 
expression  Avere  much  changed,  and  in  the  most  gratifying 
way. 

One  of  his  relatives,  who  was  with  him  at  the  time,  wrote 
to  the  present  biographer  soon  afterwards :  "  If  you  had 
looked  in  upon  him  in  his  study  as  he  read  in  his  various  books, 
wrote  in  his  journal  until  the  20th,  and  in  his  commentary  on 
Matthew  a  little  each  morning  till  Jan.  18th,  ten  days  before 
he  died,  reading  with  zest  the  papers  and  interested  in  all 
that  w^as  going  on,  writing  letters,  etc.,  you  would  not  have 
known  anything  was  the  matter." 

His  brother's  widow  then  lived  in  the  adjoining  house,  and 
she  will  never  forget  his  tenderness  and  generosity  to  her  dur- 
ing these  last  days. 

His  sister,  Mrs.  Alexander,  sent  him  a  Christmas  dinner, 
which  he  relished  exceedingly ;  indeed  he  was  never  known  to 
enjoy  a  dinner  more.  He  appeared  most  grateful  for  this  and 
every  other  similar  act  of  kindness.  He  spent  a  really  merry 
day  in  the  good  old  sense  of  the  M'ord  ;  but  from  this  time  he 
seemed  to  give  up. 

On  Dec.  the  17th,  Dr.  Hope  of  the  college  died  suddenly 
in  his  chair.  Dr.  Alexander  was  much  aHected  by  the  start- 
ling tidings,  though  he  had  never  been  specially  intimate  with 
that  singularly  good  and  attractive  man.  Mrs.  Green  sent 
him  some  jelly  that  day;  and  he  seemed  to  read  the  news  in 
the  doAVUcast  face  of  the  kind  friend  who  brought  the  refresh- 
ment, 

I  think  that  up  to  the  last  month  of  his  life  he  judged  he 
might  get  well ;  but  not  so  confidently  afterwards.  His  letters 
and  diaries,  which  had  breathed  hope,  are  still  full  of  content- 
ment, but  a  contentment  not  wholly  produced  by  earthly  expec- 
tations. The  frequency  with  which  he  marked  passages 
relating  to  the  last  exorcises  of  good  men,  and  the  manner  of 


890  LAST   BOOKS    EEAD.  [1861. 

their  dying,  is  very  striking.  But  still  more  so,perhaps,  is  tlio 
yet  more  frequent  occurrence  of  Lis  customary  strictures  and 
comments  on  the  style.  These  marginalia  also  abound  in  wit 
and  evince  high  spirits.  The  ruling  passion  never  left  him  in 
this  respect,  nor  as  regards  his  taste  for  the  most  solid,  and 
even  forbidding,  literature.  I  draw  from  this  circumstance 
tlie  animating  inference  that  even  when  drawing  near  to  the 
portals  of  the  grave  he  was  himself,  and  he  was  calm  and  even 
cheerful. 

Some  of  the  most  remarkable  though  not  the  latest  of  these 
jottings  are  to  be  found  in  Dr.  Stevens's  History  of  Methodism 
both  Wesleyan  and  Calvinistic.  '^ 

One  of  the  last  books  he  read  was  Adolphe  Monod's  ies 
Aclieux ;  which  I  think  came  in  time  to  be  read  and  sorrow- 
fully pondered  by  his  brother  James.  The  marred  pages  of 
his  Flavel  prove  decisively  that  he  was  now  drawing  water 
out  of  the  wells  of  salvation.  There  is  a  passage  about  the 
Resurrection  in  Dr.  Hodge's  commentary  which  he  evidently 
enjoyed,  and  which  it  is  now  a  comfort  to  his  friends  to  read. 
During  the  last  few  weeks  it  was  that  he  was  so  greatly  re- 
vived and  exhilarated  by  committing  to  memory  a  number  of 
hymns,  and  especially  Elliott's  "  Just  as  I  am  without  one 
plea,"  Wesley's  two  beginning  "  Come  let  us  anew  our  journey 
pui-sue,"  f  and  Watts's  "  Show  pity,  Lord,  O  Lord,  forgive." 

Nothing  could  exceed  the  devotion  of  his  kind  and  indefati- 
gable physician  the  late  Dr.  Woodhull ;  who  had  also  pro- 
longed the  life,  and  comforted  the  last  hours,  of  Dr.  Archibald 
Alexander.  This  feeling  was  heartily  reciprocated  by  his 
patient.  Dr.  Addison  Alexander  was  never  forgetful  of  the 
wants  of  his  domestics  and  particularly  mindful  of  the  interests 

*  The  most  significant  places  marked  in  those  volumes,  are  about  an  old 
Christian  veteran  who  expected  to  "  die  sword  in  hand,"  and  Whiteficld's  pre- 
diction that  he  should  himself,  after  his  many  testimonies  when  living,  "die 
silent."  Both  these  modes  of  departure  were  actually  realized  in  the  case  of 
the  man  who,  when  himself  dying,  marked  these  words  with  bold  pencil  strokes. 

f  The  one  he  most  admired,  goes  on,  "  With  vigour  arise."  lie  admked 
this  hymn  not  only  practically,  but  intellectually — that  is,  as  poetry. 


^^•51-^  STILL   WEAKEE.  891 

of  Marsh,  his  capable  and  attentive  black  man-servant.  He 
has  left  on  record,  too,  his  devoat  thoughts  respecting  the  spirit- 
ual state  of  old  Ben.  Sausbury,  the  eccentric  hall^breed  who 
having  been  a  useful  servant  of  Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  for 
twenty  years,  and  after  Iiaving  given  the  strongest  proofs  of 
his  fidelity,  survived  him  but  a  few  years. 

The  dying  Christian  now  seemed  to  be  meekly  setting 
his  house  in  order.  He  was  awaiting  the  angels— if  they 
should  be  sent  to  him;  he  was  perhaps  looking  for  those  glori- 
ous battlements,  of  which  he  had  so  often  and  rapturously 
preached,  that  "city  Avhich  hath  foundations,  whose  builder 
and  maker  is  God." 

Yet  his  love  of  letters  v/as  as  strong  as  ever.  The  day  before 
he  died,  I  find  him  not  only  at  his  usual  tasks,  but  amusing 
himself  over  the  pages  of  Rawlinson's  Herodotus.  He  came 
down  to  the  last;  walking  without  any  efibrt :  rode  out 
on  Tuesday  ;  enjoyed  it ;  said  he  felt  better  for  it ;  lay  down 
on  his  settee  afterwards,  but  directed  some  one  to  tell  Dr. 
Hodge  if  he  called,  that  "Ae  teas  not  lying  down  because  he  was 
weak,  for  he  felt  better  in  everi/  respects  During  all  the  days 
of  that  week  it  was  seen  and  deeply  felt  that  he  was  going 
down,  but  it  was  not  dreamed  that  the  end  was  so  near,  indeed 
it  was  thought  that  he  might  linger  for  years.  Though  one 
could  not  feel  that  he  would  ever  get  well. 

Just  before  the  very  last,  he  went  about  his  room  repeating 
to  himself,  in  a  plaintive  voice,  the  words  of  Watts's  "Show 
pity.  Lord,  O  Lord,  forgive;  Let  a  repenting  rebel  live." 
This  he  did  in  a  solemn,  devotional  manner,  as  if  he  was  ex- 
pressing his  own  penitential  and  prayerful  feelings. 

On  Wednesday  he  was  visited  by  his  brother^Samuel,  from 
I^ew  York,  who  thought  him  much  changed,  and  he  told  him 
he  was  weak;  and  the  next  night,  Thursday,  he  told  his  sister 
he  was  getting  weaker  and  must  ask  the  doctor  about  it.  His 
brother  William  came  the  very  last  day.  On  Friday  he  was 
much  exhausted  in  dressing,  but  would  shave  and  coma  down 
and  drive  out.  This  was  the  last  time  he  ever  left  the  house. 
He  seemed  to   enjoy  the  drive,— more,  he  said,  than  the  first 


892  ASLEEP  IN   JESUS.  [isei 

one  ;  but  his  feebleness  was  more  apparent  than  ever,  when  he 
came  to  get  out  of  the  carriage.  There  was  manifestly  an  alter- 
ation  in  him  ;  though  some  of  his  friends  thought  he  might 
lino-er  for  weeks.  But  he  sat  at  the  table  as  usual,  and  ate  chick- 
en soup  and  the  leg  of  a  chicken.  A  connection  who  saw  him 
that  day  was  greatly  shocked  at  his  appearance,  and  felt  that 
death  was  written  on  his  face ;  but  never  dreamed  his  end  was 
quite  so  near.  During  the  afternoon  he  sat  by  the  fire,  read- 
ing in  the  books  he  usually  read  in  the  afternoons.  He  had 
a  glass  of  lemonade  about  four.  At  six  a  member  of  the  family 
took  him  a  bowl  of  sago,  of  which  he  was  very  fond.  He  was 
sitting  reading  when  she  went  in  ;  spoke  as  usual ;  seeming  no 
weaker  than  he  had  done  all  day.  Wlien  she  went  back  for 
the  bowl,  an  evident  change  had  come  over  him — a  change  in 
kind  rather  than  degree.  It  is  believed  now  it  was  c?ea«/i,  and 
had  nature  been  left  to  itself,  he  would  have  survived  but  a 
few  liours.  It  was  a  kind  of  helpless,  sinking  look,  as  the 
only  witness  said,  "  as  if  he  had  been  trying  to  get  up,  and 
could  not." 

His  mind  evidently  wandered  :  he  expressed  a  wish  to  go 
to  bed  :  he  could  not  walk  across  the  floor  without  assistance. 
A  light  French  mahogany  bedstead  was  brought  down  to  his 
study.  He  did  not  like  a  wide  bed  :  this  was  a  narrow  one. 
His  brother  Archibald,  who  is  a  physician,  and  the  servant-man 
were  with  him  all  that  night.  Only  once  the  next  day  he  seem- 
ed to  know  the  members  of  the  family.  It  was  when  his  i)il- 
low  was  arranged  to  suit  him.  lie  said,  "  that's  delightful." 
He  did  not  speak  all  day.  At  about  3  A-  p.m.  he  softly  fell 
asleep.  He  had  no  suffering:  indeed  a  more  painless  or  quiet 
death  cannot  be  conceived.  An  infant's  slumber  is  not  more 
serene  and  peaceful.  "  Wonderful !  wonderful ! "  wrote  a  friend 
at  the  time.  "  And  I  had  always  thought  it  would  be  so  hard 
for  him  to  die.  One  lesson  taught  is  '  Take  no  thought  for  the 
morrow.'  " 

He  was  in  a  stupor  the  whole  of  the  last  day  and  the  only 
day  he  was  in  bed.  .His  great  resolution  ;  his  fixed  determin- 
ation  to  keep  up  and   stick  to  his  book,  probably  made  his 


^T  61.]  LOJSTGED   FOR    EEST.  893 

end  more  sudden  than  otherwise  it  would  have  been.  It  is 
likely,  too,  that  it  appeared  more  sudden  than  it  really  was. 
The  shock  Avonld  not  have  been  so  considerable,  if  all  had 
been  known.  *'  We  know  now^'  writes  one  at  the  time, "  that 
there  was  a  serious  cause  for  the  wasting  away  of  Addison's 
flesh."  Although  there  were  no  indications  of  positive  disease 
visible  to  the  family,  yet  if  he  had  been  at  least  observant  of 
his  own  state,  or  had  ever  "  put  this  and  that  together  "  (as 
he  told  Dr.  Hodge  he  never  did);  in  short,  if  he  had  been 
in  the  least  like  anybody  else  as  to  his  bodily  condition,  and 
had  attended  in  the  most  oi-dinary  ways  to  the  care  of  him- 
self, it  is  reasonable  to  think  that  the  collapse  might  have  been 
averted.  Even  as  his  end  drew  neai-,  he  seemed  to  recognize 
the  languor  and  prostration  only  as  a  desire  to  go  to  bed,  and 
nothing  more;  we  have  all  heard  of  children  just  before  they 
died  saying  they  were  tired,  and  wanted  to  go  to  sleep:  and 
that  was  all  this  lofty  intellect  seemed  to  know  of  his  own 
case. 

"  There  is,"  wrote  one  of  the  household,  "  a  sublimity  of  mercy  ia 
all  this,  to  my  apprehenslDU,  in  being  allowed  to  live  a  life  of  such  en- 
joyment as  a  man  of  intellect  and  learning,  and  then  give  up  life 
like  a  tired  infant  going  to  sleep— free  from  pain  or  the  slightest  anti- 
cipation of  even  physical  discomfort.  I  never  heard  of  such  a  case.  It 
is  a  most  mysterious  thing,  and  I  find  myself  constantly  speculating 
about  it.  Sometimes  I  think,  Could  it  liave  been  consummate  skill  to 
keep  the  end  out  of  our  view  as  long  as  possible  ?  But  no  !  — a  dying 
man  has  not  strength  for  any  such  skill." 

He  had  said  that  at  the  first  sight  of  the  blood,  when  on  the 
steamboat  with  Dr.  Hodge,  he  made  up  his  mind  to  the  worst. 
He  was,  however,  perfectly  free  from  all  nervous  fear  and  ap- 
prehensions. But  some  others,  from  the  beginning,  disre- 
garded this  symptom  except  as  connected  with  an  obscure 
and  grave  disorder  which  might  yet  yield  to  remedies. 
Among  these  was  his  astute  friend  Dr.  Woodhulk  His  patient 
often  spoke  of  this  with  admiration ;  as  being  "  very  little  like 
an  empiric  "  as  the  doctor  had  been  accused  of  being.  A  rela- 
tive records: 


894  HE   DIED   SILENT.  [1861 

"He  so  wonderfully  concealed  the  extent  of  liis  -weaknes?!,  that  tliG 
crash  at  the  last  was  not  really  so  sudden  as  it  seemed.  If  it  liad  b  en 
anybody  else,  I  mi;;ht  think  they  were  trying  to  conceal  from  fiiends 
or  evea  f.-oin  one's  self  the  worst :  but  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  in 
his  case  it  was  the  uucousciousneis  of  an  infant." 

Like  Whitefield,  he  said  nothing.  The  only  M"ords  White- 
field  uttered  in  his  agony,  were,  "  I  am  dying."  Joseph  Ad- 
dison Alexander  nttei-ed  none. 

And  so  he  died  ;  and  "  all  Israel  mourned  for  him,"  Avho 
had  been  as  the  roe  *  upon  the  mountain-tops  of  Judah,  the 
one  of  all  other?.,  "  swifter  than  an  eagle,"  and  "  stronger 
than  a  lion."  The  ministers  of  the  Presbyterian  church  in 
particular  wept  over  him  who  had  given  them  so  liberally  of 
his  own  regal  wardrobe  of  sanctified  scholarship  and  genius  ; 
who  had  "(dothed  them  with  scarlet  and  other  delights;  who 
pat  on  ornaments  of  gold  upon  their  apparel."  And  they  "  la- 
mented with  this  lamentation :  '  How  are  the  mighty  fixllen, 
and  the  weapons  of  war  perished.'  " 

He  was  confined  to  the  bouse  just  two  months.  The  Sem- 
inary students  had  come  to  love  him  with  a  much  more  gene- 
ral attachment  than  in  former  years,  and  were  overwhelmed 
with  emotion  when  they  heard  that  the  great  teacher  of  whom 
they  were  all  so  proud,  was  forever  silenced. 

Dr.  McGill  remarks,  in  connection  with  other  observations 
on  this  subject : 

"  Many  a  student  learned  t'le  tenderness  of  his  heart,  and  the  over- 
flow of  his  good- will,  in  acts  of  substantial  kindness;  but  only  his  col- 
leagues knew  the  extent  of  his  interest  in  them,  and  the  tender 
magnanimity  with  which  he  watched  for  their  welfare." 

The  wish  of  some  that  a  picture  should  be  taken  of  his 
appearance  after  death,  was  sadly  complied  with,  and  the  de- 
sign was  executed  by  Mr.  Alfred  Yeomans,  who  thus  speaks 
of  his  grand  ruins  • 

*  See  Dean  Stanley's  comment  on  the  passage  in  1  Samuel  i  :  10,  as  given 
in  bis  work  on  the  Jewish  Church. 


^T.  51.]  APPEAEANCE   AFTER    DEATH.  895 

"My  last  impressions  wero  received  as  ho  was  lying  in  his  coffin  in 
the  Semin  ;ry  chapel  jast  before  the  faneral.  There  had  been  no  recent 
photograph  of  his  face,  and  Dr.  Hodge  was  anxious  to  have  some 
likeness  of  him  as  he  appeared  in  his  latter  days.  Learning  that  I  had 
some  little  skill  with  the  pencil,  the  Doctor  sent  me  a  request  to  try  an 
outline  of  the  head  and  face  before  the  coflfia  was  closed.  It  lacked 
but  a  few  minutes  of  the  hour  of  the  funeral.  Going  hastily  into  the 
chapel,  I  attempted  a  pencil  sketch  on  the  fly-leaf  of  a  music  book 
from  the  choir  gallery,  but  soon  abandoned  the  effort  as  a  failure.  The 
outline,  however,  being  shovrn  to  Dr.  Hodge,  he  was  struck  with  a  re- 
semblance due  certainly  rather  to  accident  than  skill,  and  sent  me  a  re- 
quest fur  a  copy  of  it.  The  last  time  I  was  in  his  study,  I  saw  it  hang- 
ing there  upon  the  wall.     I  have  this  outline  before  me  as  I  Avrite. 

"  The  cheeks,  of  course,  were  much  fallen  away  but  the  magnificent 
•  Websterian  dome  above  the  eyebrows  seemed  larger  than  ever,  by  con- 
trast with  t!ie  shrunken  face.  Is  it  not  a  suggestive  fiict  that  death 
which  f-hrivels  up  the  muscles  that  more  especially  pertain  to  the 
animal  existence,  cannot  throw  down  the  temple  of  the  mind,  or  con- 
tract its  proportions,  but  leaves  it  more  marble-like  and  seemingly 
larger  than  in  life.  I  had  so  seldom  seen  Dr.  Addison's  full  open  eye, 
that  in  drawing  the  sketch  I  could  not  make  anything  at  all  resembling 
it  as  in  life,  and  was  obliged  to  leave  it  closed  as  in  death.  Even  now 
a  picture  of  him  with  the  eye  cast  down  and  the  lid  half  shut,  would 
be  a  better  likeness  to  me  than  one  with  the  eye  fully  open." 

It  Tvas  tlie  sweet  fancy  of  Dr.  William  Hoge,  who  under- 
stood him  perfectly,  that  Dr.  Addisou  Alexander  was  like  a 
man  who  was  allowed  for  a  short  time  to  roam  over  a  great 
palace ;  and  who  would  open  one  door,  look  in,  and  then  rush 
to  another.  If  I  may  be  permitted  to  continue  this  noble 
image,  he  was  now  not  a  transient  spectator,  but  a  life-long 
proprietor  of  a  much  greater  house,  where  he  might  forever 
roam  at  will. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Wm.  H.  Green  has  given  me  the  following 
account  of  the  Conference  in  the  Oratory,  immediately  suc- 
ceeding Dr.  Alexander's  death : 

"The  Sabbath  afternoon  conference  on  the  Sabbath  following  his 
death,  was  the  most  solemn  one  I  have  ever  attended.  The  subject 
which  had  been  assigned  on  the  previous  Sunday,  without  a  thought  of 


896  UNDEVELOPED   POWEE.  [IS6I. 

the  loss  whicli  we  were  to  experience  in  the  interval,  was,  '  The  Lord 
reigneth.'  It  was  the  very  truth  to  wiiich  our  stricken  hearts  instinct- 
ively turned  for  comfort  and  repose.  Dr.  Hodge  could  not  control  his 
voice  sufficiently  to  read  the  usual  chapter.  But  when  the  time  came 
for  remarks,  as  he  touchingly  said,  '  We  were  assembled  as  a  bereaved 
family,  and  Avoidd  spend  the  time  that  we  were  together  in  talking  of 
him  whom  we  loved  and  who  had  been  taken  from  us.'  How  prema- 
ture his  death  appears  to  human  view  and  how  irreparable  his  loss!  " 

Dr.  Hodge  records  it  as  his  opinion  that, 

"His  death  in  the  prime  of  life  was  like  the  foundering  of  a  richly 
laden  treasure-ship  in  mid-ocean.  To  human  view  it  was  a  dead  loss. 
So  much  was  expected  of  him  beyond  what  he  had  accomplished.  Had 
he  lived  ten  years  hmger,  he  would  probably  have  written  more  in  that 
period  than  during  the  preceding  thirty  years  of  his  literary  life.  lie 
was  gradually  overcoming  that  fastidiousness  of  taste  and  judgment 
which  rendered  him  dissatisfied  with  his  ov;n  productions,  and  which 
led  him  to  discard  or  abandon  so  many  projected  or  partially  accom- 
plished works.  He  has  left  enough,  however,  to  secure  perpetuity  to 
his  memory.  The  public,  indeed,  can  never  know  him  as  he  was 
known  by  his  intimate  friends.  The  abiding  impression  which  he  made 
on  their  minds  was,  that  the  power  of  the  man  was  far  beyond  his 
works ;  that  there  was  in  him  far  more  than  he  had  yet  revealed ;  that 
he  was  a  mine  whose  treasures  had  been  only  partially  brought  into 
view  or  use." 

Soon  after  he  was  gone.  Dr.  McGill  contributed  to  tlie  Prcfibyterian 
the  following  account  of  the  illness  and  last  hours  of  Dr.  Alexander. 

"  Owing  to  the  peculiarly  retiring  habits  and  remarkable  delicacy  of 
the  man,  and  to  the  extraordinary  indilference  with  which  he  treated 
his  physical  nature  and  all  hygienic  science,  manyof  his  nearest  friends 
and  among  these  his  own  colleagues,  did  not  know  of  his  disease  till 
the  day  of  his  death.  Hjs  gigantic  mind  was  in  full  vigour  until  Friday 
last.  On  the  morning  of  that  day  he  was  occupied  with  liis  usual  course 
of  polyglot  reading  in  the  Bible,  being  accustomed  to  read  the  Scrip- 
tures in  some  six  different  languages  as  a  part  of  his  daily  devotions. 
He  seems  also  to  have  entertained  himself  during  some  part  of  the  day 
with  one  of  the  Greek  classics,  Herodotus,  as  a  pencil  mark  on  the 
margin,  'January  27,  18G0,'  is  said  to  show.  In  the  afternoon  of  that 
day  he  rode  out  in  the  open  air,  for  the  first  time  since  his  attack  of 


^T.5l.]  THE   BUEIAL.  89*7 

hasmorrliage.  During  tliat  ride,  however,  which  was  not  continued 
more  tiian  fortj-five  minutes,  a  sudden  sinking  of  life  came  on  Lim, 
so  much  so  that  he  was  home  almost  entirely  by  the  help  of  others 
from  the  carriage  to  his  chamber.  This  sinking  continued  all  Friday 
night,  and  on  Saturday  he  was  hardly  conscious  of  anything  until  )je 
died  at  half  past  three  o'clock,  p.  m.  His  death  was  perfectly  calm, 
without  a  struggle,  without  one  heaving  breath.  lie  died  in  his  study. 
"  During  the  whole  confinement  from  his  sickness,  about  two  months, 
he  was  cheerful  and  happy;  seeming  to  regret  nothing  but  his  inabili- 
ty for  the  ordinary  duties  of  his  chair  in  the  Seminary.  He  occasion- 
ally expressed  a  fear  that  he  was  not  sufficiently  chastened  in  fec4ing 
by  the  affliction  upon  him.  When  dissuaded  from  severer  studies,  he 
seemed  to  find  pleasure  in  committing  hymns  to  memory,  and  hum- 
ming them  in  his  study;  and  these  the  most  simple  that  could  be  found, 
to  breathe  the  childlike  trust,  with  which  his  heart  was  leaning  on  the 
Saviour.  Instead  of  chanting  in  Greek  the  ancient  hymn  of  Clemens 
Alexandrinus,  or  any  other  lyric  which  a  scholar  like  himself  might  be 
supposed  to  prefer,  his  favourite  hymn  was— 

"  Just  as  I  am,  without  one  plea,"  &c. 

Full  of  touching  kindness  towards  all  his  colleagues,  he  seemed,  if  pos- 
sible, to  take  a  deeper  place  than  ever  in  their  love,  as  he  approached 
his  end ;  and  brilliant  as  his  whole  career  in  teaching  sacred  literature 
had  been,  he  never,  probably,  impressed  his  pupils  with  more  efl"ect  and 
delight  than  he  did  this  session.  He  said  at  the  begining  of  it  that  he 
had  never  entered  on  a  Seminary  term  with  so  much  pleasure  and  alac- 
rity—speakmg  of  the  change  made  in  his  title  and  duties  by  the  last 
General  Assembly. 

"  The  funeral  was  attended  on  Tuesday  with  a  very  large  concourse 
of  friends  and  distinguished  gentlemen,  mostly  from  New  Jersey  and 
Few  York. 

"The  funeral  services  were  held  in  the  First  Presbyterian  Church. 
The  sermon  was  preached  by  Dr.  Hall,  of  Trenton ;  and  a  better  dis- 
course for  the  occasion  could  not  be  imagined.  It  was  all  the  immense 
congregation  of  cultivated  men,  bowed  with  grief  and  yearning  for 
comfort,  could  ask.  All  were  edified  with  the  discriminating  and  just 
delineation  of  the  deceased.  No  one  was  disappointed ;  and  this  is  say- 
ing much  for  a  sermon  over  the  remains  of  Joseph  Addison  Alexander. 
Dr.  Hall  was  assisted  in  the  solemnities  by  Drs.  Spring,  Potts,  and 
Macdonald." 

38* 


«198  TRIBUTE    OF   DE.    BUEROWES.  [1861. 

As  soon  as  the  melancholy  news  was  known,  letters  of 
condolence  and  sympath}'-  began  to  pour  in  from  every 
quarter.  The  shock  was  keenly  felt,  even  in  Great  Britain. 
Among  those  who  wrote  were  the  late  Hon.  and  Rev.  Samuel 
Waldegrave,  afterwards  Bishop  of  Carlisle,  and  the  Rev. 
Charles  Brown,  D.  D.,  of  Edinburgh,  afterwards  the  able 
editor  and  warm  eulogist  of  his  sermons. 

His  friend,  Dr.  Burrowes,  expresses  himself  as  follows: 

"In  these  times,  when  pride  of  intellect  and  philosophy  running 
riot  are  trying  to  make  havoc  of  God's  truth,  and  feel  it  almost  a  con- 
descension to  touch,  even  for  its  destruction,  our  old  priceless  system 
of  the  doctrines  of  grace,  it  is  refreshing  to  contemplate  the  'sim- 
plicity and  godly  sincerity,'  the  humility  and  whole-?ouled  heartiness, 
with  which  he  took,  without  the  least  abatement,  these  humbling  doc- 
trines to  his  very  heart  of  hearts.  The  greatest  of  intellects,  the  most 
profound  of  scholars,  he  was  the  humblest  of  Christians. 

'  Just  as  I  am,  without  one  plea, 
Save  that  Thy  blood  was  shed  for  me ! ' 

In  this  one  feeling,  all  those  great  powers  and  attainments  centred  in 
life  and  in  death.  With  all  lying  around  him  that  talents  and  repu- 
tation could  contribute  to  gratify  ambition  and  intoxicate  the  heart, 
he  turned  away  his  dying  eye  to  Jesus,  and  there  found  rest  for  his  soul. 
With  his  home  amid  as  wiile  and  rich  an  intellectual  paradise  as  is 
often  accessible  to  the  mind  of  man,  he  had  used  these  things  as  not 
abusing  them,  and  had  turned  from  them  to  'live  by  every  Avord  that 
proceedeth  out  of  the  mouth  of  God.'  He  was  a  marvellous  instance 
of  the  power  of  God's  grace  in  sobering,  and  sanctifying,  and  keeping 
a  man,  amid  the  dangerous  and  fiery  temptations  incident  to  a  mind  of 
such  powers.  Fervent  love  to  Jesus,  's-hed  abroad  in  tlie  heart  by  tlie 
Holy  Ghost  which  is  given  unto  us,'  was  the  element  in  his  being 
which  held  all  his  varied  knowledge  and  great  attainments  in  solu;ion, 
and  caused  them  to  enter  into  combinations  tint  enriched  and  adorned 
the  living  temple  of  the  Redeemer.  His  crowning  glory  was,  that  wh  le 
he  was  in  fact  a  self-educated  man,  he  had  in  reality  but  one  teacher, 
Christ ;  and  had  been  taught  by  Ilim,  '  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus.' 
Accordingly  he  held  tlie  truth  in  purity,  as  the  heart  receives  that 
truth  under  the  refining  and  sanctifying  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  To 
liim  was  fulfilled  the  promise,  '  His    truth   shall   be   thy  shield   and 


^T.  51.]  DE.    HUMPHEEy's    ADDEESS. 


899 


buckler.'  The  buckler  borne  on  the  breast  of  this  prince  in  Israel  ia 
his  post  In  front  of  the  hosts  embattled  around  the  walls  of  our  Zion, 
had  no  mixture  of  earthy  alloy.  It  was  compacted  of '  the  word  of 
God  pure  as  silver  tried  in  a  furnace  of  earth,  purified  seven  times.' 
Among  the  scholars  of  the  age  who  might  be  considered  his  peers,  he 
was  like  Ifestor  alone  with  his  entire  shield  of  solid  gold  among  the 
Grecian  princes  under  the  walls  of  Troy,  preeminent  above  them  all  by 
the  purity  and  solidity  of  this  buckler  of  revealed  truth,  which  threw 
over  all  his  other  intellectual  armour  a  splendour  and  impenetrable 
defence. 

Alev  apicrrevetv,  Kal  vTTiipoxov  'ifj.fx.ivai  6.Wu}v' 
MjjSe  761/05  iraTfpaiv  alffxwtfiiv'  ot  /xey'  apiaroi.' 

In  the  spirit  of  these  grand  words  of  Homer,  may  we  say  of  him  :  his 
character  was  of  the  noblest  tone  and  loftiest  aim ;  he  distanced  all 
competition ;  and  he  shed  additional  honour  on  his  ancestral  fame, 
though  so  illustrious." 

On  the  morning  after  the  intelligence  of  the  death  of  Dr. 
Alexander  reached  Danville,  the  Rev.  Dr.  E.  P.  Humphrey 
before  beginning  his  daily  lecture  to  the  theological  students, 
took  notice  of  that  afflictive  providence. 

Among  other  things,  he  said : 


"Dr.  Alexander's  whole  public  life  has  been  given  to  theological 
research  and  instruction. 

"  He  liad  nearly  completed  his  twenty-seventh  year  as  a  teacher  of 
theology  — dying  now  in  the  fifty-first  year  of  his  age.  The  main 
business  of  his  life,  as  these  statements  show,  has  been  with  the  word 
of  God.  It  was  with  great  reluctance  that  he  undertook  instruction  in 
any  other  branch  of  learning ;  and  he  embraced  the  earliest  opportunity 
of  release  from  Church  History,  and  of  return  to  an  exclusive  attention 
to  the  Scriptures.  His  conception  of  the  science  and  method  of  Church 
History  shows  that  he  would  have  become  one  of  the  eminent  masters 
of  the  subject,  if  he  had  given  that  direction  to  his  vigorous  intellect. 
But  he  turned  from  every  other  form  of  knowledge  to  the  written 
Word,  in  the  spirit  of  the  Psalmist :  '  My  soul  breaketh  for  the  longing 
It  hath  unto  thy  judgments  at  all  times.' 

"He  belonged  to  a  class  of  men  of  whom  there  are  but   few  in 


900  CHAEACTEKISTICS.  [1861. 

tbe  Church.  It  did  not  please  the  Lord  to  establish  him  either  in  tha 
pastoral  charge  or  in  the  family  state.  .... 

"  Tbe  fruits  of  his  public  labours  are  to  be  found,  in  the  fir-^t  place, 
in  the  attainments  of  the  ministers  of  the  Gospel,  several  hundred  in 
number,  who  have  enjoyed  the  rare  advantages  of  his  instruction;  and, 
still  further,  in  his  published  writings.  The  fruits  of  his  proficiency  in 
Divine  knowledge  were  rapidly  maturing ;  and,  if  we  may  reverently 
say  so,  the  los3  which  tbe  Church  has  sustained  in  his  premature  death 
is  beyond  computation.  How  are  all  'his  purposes  broken  olf'!  A 
visit  to  his  study,  an  inspection  of  his  unfinished  manuscripts,  his  in- 
complete criticisms,  bis  half-developed  thoughts  and  inquiries,  and  the 
pencilled  margins  of  his  books,  would  hut  too  painfully  teacli  us  the 
meaning  of  the  parable,  '  How  is  tbe  sti-ong  staff  broken  and  the  beau- 
tiful rod ! ' 

"It  is  not  difficult  to  determine  his  characteristics.     One  of  the 
most  obvious  of  these  was  breadth  and  comprehensiveness  of  mind. 
He  contemplated  subjects  in  their  widest  as  well  as  their  most  intimate 
relations.     In  his  exegetical  writings,  he  is  the  linguist,  closely  interro- 
gating the  words  themselves  of  Scripture,  word  by  word:  he  is  the 
philologist  also,  analyzing  the  sentence,  verse  by  verse,   according  to 
its  internal  structure  and  its  logical  relations  to  the  context:  he  is 
more,  he  is  the  expounder  of  tbe  book  as  a  whole,  explicating  the  argu- 
ment, and  tracing  the  leading  idea  as  it  is  unfolded  from  the  beginning 
to  the  end.  ....... 

He  does  more  than  that  even :  He  deals  Avith  every  book  not  only  as  a 
whole  in  itself,  but  as  a  part  of  the  larger  and  absolute  whole,  tbe  en- 
tire Scriptures,  to  wit,  of  both  Testaments,  the  Old  and  the  ISTew.  As 
a  logical,  in  distinction  from  a  vei-bal,  interpreter,  he  resembled  (I  am 
not  sure  but  I  ouglit  to  say  he  equalled)  John  Calvin,  who  has  been 
hitherto  unequalled  in  that  high  quality ;  while  as  a  verbal  critic  Dr. 
Alexander  excelled  that  great  master  of  biblical  exposition.  His  eye 
was  both  microscopic  and  telescopic.  But  his  distinction  among  schol- 
ars rests  mostly  upon  tbe  breadth  of  his  general  views,  by  which  he  not 
only  obtained  tlie  mind  of  the  spirit  as  a  whole,  but  which  he  used  as 
the  true  organon  for  the  solution  of  specific  difficulties.  His  concep- 
tion of  the  Scriptures  as  a  history  of  Redemption,  his  skill  in  pointing 
out  the  evolution  of  this  history  through  all  the  sacred  pages  and  by 
means  of  all  the  Divine  dispensations,  qualified  him,  beyond  any  of  his 
contemporaries,  to  demonstrate  that  wbole  matter  to  the  entire  satis- 
faction of  God's  people.  As  a  product  of  this  rare  gift  of  discerning 
the  sequences  of  Scripture,  I  refer  you  to  his  exposition  of  the  Gospel 


iET.51.]  USE    OF    GEEMAN    CEITICS,  901 

by  Mark ;  which  he  clearly  proves  to  be  not  a  book  of  random  recol- 
lections, as  some  pretend,  nor  an  abridgment  of  Matthew's  Go?pel,  aa 
others  suggest,  nor  a  collection  of  unrelated  memoirs  of  Christ,  as 
others  still  suppose,  but  a  systematic,  independent  history,  composed 
after  a  strict  method,  upon  a  i^Ian  preconceived,  rigidly  executed,  and 
controlling  the  selection  and  arrangement  of  the  materials  which  were 
in  the  possession  of  the  inspired  author. 

"  Another  quality  in  him  was  his  balanced  judgment.  He  was  equi- 
poised and  ever  poised.  It  would  be  difficult  to  discover  the  instance 
in  which  he  was  blinded  by  passion  or  prejudice,  or  fascinated  by  novel 
but  insufficient  theories,  or  imposed  on  by  tlie  whims  of  other  men,  or 
the  creations  of  his  own  quick  fancy  and  brilliant  imagination.  His 
eminent  judgment  was  reinforced  by  his  reverence  for  the  "Word  of 
God.  He  sought  most  diligently  the  truth  intended  to  be  revealed. 
He  allowed  himself  no  liberties  with  the  text  which  expresses  that 
truth, 

"In  dealing  with  places  hard  to  be  understood,  he  states  with  con- 
scientious accuracy  the  difficult  points  involved,  suggests  the  explana- 
tions which  have  been  proposed,  perhaps  offers  an  original  solution, 
and,  with  a  kind  of  judicial  impartiality,  judges  both  himself  and  other 
men,  and  if  the  case  be  so,  frankly  confesses  his  inability  to  solve  tlie 
problem. 

"  Not  the  least  of  his  merit  as  an  interpreter  is  exhibited  in  his  use 
of  the  German  critics.  He  read  the  language  with  facility ;  he  had 
spent  some  time  in  study  at  the  universities  of  Halle  and  Berlin  ;  and 
was  thoroughly  conversant  with  the  critical  literature  of  that  country. 
He  fearlessly  levied  contributions  on  that  whole  scholarsliip,  whether 
of  the  pantheistic,  or  the  thoistic,  or  the  semi-orthodox,  or  the  evangeli- 
cal school.  Yet,  with  a  quick  insight  into  its  falsehoods,  or  half-truths, 
or  sound  conclusions,  as  the  case  might  be,  he  sifted  the  wheat  from 
the  chaff;  he  cast  the  magnet  into  the  snnd-heap,  and  drew  therefrom 
the  particles  of  ore,  and  then  cast  the  ore  itself  into  the  crucible,  and 
purged  away  the  dross  that  remained,  and  so  extricated  the  precious 
from  the  vile.  He  went  into  Egypt,  and  returned  laden  with  the  corn 
well  winnowed,  he  went  again,  and  tarried  long  there,  but  he  came 
forth  again,  having  never  once  bowed  the  knee  to  the  idols  of  the  land, 
prince's  idols,  but  bearing  with  him  the  spoils  of  both  ;  even  gold,  onyx 
stones,  and  embroidery,  for  the  service  of  the  house  of  the  Lord  and 
for  the  holy  garments.  This  is  one  of  his  crowning  honours  as  a  Chris- 
tian scholar,  possibly  some  may  think  the  chief  of  his  great  services)  to 
the  Church  of  God.     ISTo  man  has  done  more  than  he  to  protect  the 


902  HIS   LAST   AETICLE.  [1891 

ministry  in  tliis  country  against  the  skeptical  criticism  of  Germany ; 
none  more,  wlii!e  doing  that,  to  enrich  our  Biblical  literature  with  the 
sound  results  of  its  truest  learning. 

"  The  manner  in  which  his  labours  are  set  forth  is  answerable  to 
their  intrinsic  value.  Ilis  pages  are  adorned  with  the  felicitous  expres- 
sion, the  luminous  criticism  ;  the  argument  and  conclusion,  colierent 
and  compact  like  a  coiled  chain  or  a  folded  coat  of  mail ;  possibly, 
here  and  there,  a  gleam  of  that  trenchant  sarcasm,  which  certain 
enemies  of  the  truth  have  the  be>t  reason  for  remembering ;  but  every- 
where the  fruits  of  the  most  patient  and  exact  scholarsliip,  thoroughly 
divested  of  the  parade  of  learning.  The  soundest  thinker  and  the  most 
thorough  scholar  will  best  appreciate  his  merits. 

"  What  has  now  been  said  concludes  to  the  judgment  that,  take  him 
for  all  in  all,  in  his  special  province,  the  interpretation,  namely,  of  the 
historical,  prophetical,  and  poetical  Scriptures  (for  he  attempted  no- 
thing in  the  doctrinal  epistles),  he  was  not  inferior  to  any  critic  of  his 
generation:  why  should  I  not  add,  of  any  generation?  I  do  not  deny 
that  men  could  be  named  who  have  severally  surpassed  him — one  as  a 
linguist,  another  as  a  philologist,  and  another  still  as  an  antiquarian,  or 
a  logical  interpreter,  or  a  dogmatic  theologian;  but  what  man  has 
combined  more  of  these  qualities,  and  added  to  them  a  faith  so  sound 
and  orthodox?  In  whom  have  these  gifts  coexisted  in  a  higher  average 
or  a  juster  combination?  If  it  be  asked  what  made  him  to  differ  from 
others,  the  reply  must  be,  the  gracious  purpose  of  God;  who  bestowed 
upon  bim  unusual  natural  endowments,  together  with  rare  advantages 
of  parentage,  position,  culture,  erudition,  and  profession,  and  then 
consecrated  this  gifted  man  to  his  own  service  in  the  Regeneration. 

"  In  his  last  published  essay,*  if  I  do  not  mistake  the  authorship,  he 
discusses  the  location  of  the  garden  of  Eden,  as  determinable  by  the 
description  of  the  'river  that  went  out  of  Eden  to  water  the  garden.' 
He  admits  that  the  problem  has  not  yet  been  solved,  but  suggests. 
with  his  characteristic  breadth  of  view,  that  '  in  the  relation  of  the  an- 
tediluvian annals  to  the  later  Scriptures,  the  solution  of  the  question 
is  no  doubt  to  be  souglit,  and  will  be  ultimately  found.'  The  type  was 
hidden  from  him,  but  he  has  beheld  that  of  which  it  was  the  type.  He 
has  found  a  guide  who  has  first  carried  him  away  in  the  spirit  to  a 
great  and  high  mountain,  and  shown  that  great  city,  the  holy  Jerusa- 
lem, and  then  has  taken  him  within  .its  gates  and  sliown  him  a  pure 
river  of  water  of  life,  clear  as  crystal,  proceeding  out  of  the  throne  of 

*  See  Princeton  Review  for  January,  1860,  p.  90. 


^T.5l.]  EPITAPH   OF   EDWAEDS.  903 

God  and  tlie  Lamb.  lu  the  midst  of  it,  and  on  either  side  of  the  river, 
is  there  the  tree  of  life,  which  bears  twelve  manner  of  fruits,  and  yields 
her  fruit  every  month.  What  a  vision  of  wisdom  and  glory  has  entered 
the  soul  of  this  gifted  Biblical  scholar!  solving  the  problems  which 
were  too  intricate  for  hira  here  ;  even  the  most  wonderful  of  them  all, 
the  salvation  of  the  sinner  by  the  incarnation  and  death  of  the  Eternal 
Son. 

"  He  was  buried  yesterday  in  Princeton,  near  the  grave  of  Jonnthan 
Edwards.  From  the  monument  of  that  great  man  we  may  take  words 
expressive  of  the  conflicting  emotions  which  have  been  again  expe- 
rienced in  the  dwelling  places  of  the  living,  and  in  the  everlasting  habi- 
tations of  those  who  are  dead  but  are  alive  for  evermore. 

"  *  Amissum  plorat  collegium,  plorafc  et  ecclesia  ; 
At,  60  recepto,  gaudet 
Coelum.' " 


INDEX. 


Alexander  Rev.  Archibald,  D.D.,  Father 
of  Joseph  AddisoQ  Alexander,  1 ; 
Removal  to  Philadelphia,  5  ;  Pastor 
of  old  Pine  Street  (3d  Presbyterian) 
Church,  5 ;  Removal  to  Fourth 
Street,  8  ;  One  of  his  Sermons,  10  ; 
Removal  to  Princeton,  li  ;  Method 
of  Teaching  his  Sons  Latin,  21  ; 
Opinion  of  Addison's  Mental  Ca- 
pacity in  181 7,  23  ;  Letter  to  Mrs. 
Graham  on  Addison's  Industry  and 
Tastes,  43  ;  Reminiscences  by  Dr. 
Buriowes,  259  ;  His  Preaching, 
864,  374;  Letter  to  his  Son  James 
W.  on  Addison's  proposed  Change 
of  Professorship,  665 ;  A  Sermon, 
from  Addison's  Journal,  426  ;  Re- 
ceived News  of  Addison's  First 
Sermon,  440 ;  Declining  Healtli, 
Spring  of  1851,  684;  Hig  Death, 
686 ;  Mrs.  Lundy  Duncan's  Recol- 
lections of  Him,  489. 

Alexander  Mrs.  Archibald.  Her  Por- 
trait, by  Mooney,  1 ;  Her  Character 
and  Attainments,  1 ;  Rev.  Dr. 
Baird  on  her  Excellencies,  2 ;  As 
an  Interpreter  of  Scripture,  3 ;  Her 
Decease,  697. 

Alexander,  Rev.  Dr.  James  W. — 
Sophomore  at  Princeton,  24  ;  First 
Acquaintance  with  Rev.  Dr.  IJaird, 
40 ;  "  Cyprian "  Papers  in  the 
Christian  Advocate,  65  ;  German 
Lessons  from  Mr.  Zadig,  55  ;  Com- 
menced Regular  Study  of  Greek 
and  Latin,  66 ;  Criticism  of 
Edward  Irving,  56  ;  Letter  to  Dr. 
Hall  on  American  Scenery,  56 ; 
Appointed  Tutor  at  Princeton 
College,  58  ;  His  Religious  Ardour, 
60 ;  Attack  of  Sickness,  60  ;  Letters 
to  Dr.  Hall  on    Addison's  Studies,  I 


155  ;  To  Addison,  May,  1829, 175; 
To  Addison  on  Abridgment  of 
Rosenmiilier's  Alterthumskunde, 
192  ;  Connection  with  the  Biblical 
Repertory,  198;  Elected  Pastor  of 
Trenton  Congregation,  280  ;  Elect- 
ed to  Chair  of  Belles  Lettres,  315  ; 
Death  of  his  Little  Son  Archibald, 
3J6;  Essays  of  "Charles  Quill," 
410;  Imaginative  Poetical  Sketch 
of  Princeton  Homes,  410;  Death 
of  his  Eldest  Child,  George,  471 ; 
Numerous  Calls  in  1840  and  After- 
wards, 481  ;  Elected,  but  Declined, 
Presidency  of  Lafayette,  486 ; 
Declined  to  Resume  his  Trenton 
Charge,  491 ;  Lectured  before 
Trenton  Mechanic's  Institute ; 
Presented  with  Gold-headed  Cane, 
492 ;  Installed  at  Duane  Street 
Church,  New  York,  595  ;  Colloquies 
with  his  Brother  Addison,  637 ; 
Succeeded  Dr.  Miller  in  Prince- 
ton Chair  of  Church  History,  665; 
First  Introductory  Lecture,  669 ; 
Inauguration,  670 ;  Elected  to 
New-York  Duane  Street  Church, 
683;  Visited  England,  May,  1851, 
684  ;  His  Return  in  October,  685  ; 
Death  of  his  Daughter  Jessie,  685  ; 
Second  Installation  at  Duane 
Street,  691  ;  "  Consolation,"  his 
Book  Entitled,  698;  New  York 
Labors  in  1855,  760 ;  Delivered 
1855,  Princeton  Commencement 
Address,  769  ;  Fifty-Second  Anni- 
versary, 1856,  of  his  Baptism,  775  ; 
His  work  on  the  American  Sunday- 
School,  805  ;  Compelled  by  Throat 
Affection  to  Suspend  his  Labors, 
806  ;  Sent  to  Europe  by  his  Con- 
gregation, 808  ;  Returned  to  New 


906 


INDEX. 


York,  815;  Letter  to  Addison  on 
Commeutai-y  on  Mark,  823 ;  In- 
creasing Weakness ;  Journey  to 
Virginia  Springs,  868;  Last  Entry 
in  his  Diary,  874  ;  His  Deatli,  87  L 

Alexander  H.  0.  (tlie  author),  see  Re- 
collections, Appendix  C. 

Alexander  Hon.  \V.  C,  Intellectual 
Contests  with  his  Brotlier  Addison, 
30 ;  Article  on  a  Trip  to  the  Le- 
vant, 081. 

Alexander  Stephen.  Appointed  Ad- 
junct Prolessor  at  Princeton,  344. 

Alexander.  Sec  Al-o  Letters  of  Dr. 
Addison  Alexander. 


Adams,  President  John  Q.,  His  Arti- 
cle on,  ill  the  Patiiot,  119. 

Allgemeine  Zeitang^blunder  of  Would- 
be  Literary  Men,  837. 

Alumni  of  Princeton,  See  Princeton. 

American  Wiiig  Society,  75,  76. 

Arabs,  Historical  Style  of  the,  168. 

Assembly,  See  Presbyterian. 

Augustine's  Confessions,  224. 

Baird  Kev.  Dr.  R.,  Arrival  at  Prince- 
ton as  Student,  39  ;  Readings  with 
the  Brothers  Alexander,  39  ;  Suc- 
ceeds to  Princeton  Tutorship,  39  ; 
Became  one  of  Addison's  Teach- 
ers, 41  ;  Principal  of  Princeton 
New  Academy,  40;  His  Growing 
Reputation,  40  ;  Married  ;  resigned 
for  more  active  Life,  55  ;  Allusion 
to  Addison's  Conversion,  220. 

Barbour  Governor,  on  Eloquence  of 
Rev.  James  Waddel,  1. 

Beggars,  Addison's  Kindness  to,  436. 

Belcher  Governor,  proposal  to  name 
Princeton  College  after,  and  his  re- 
ply, 15. 

Bethune  Rev.  Dr.  G.  "W.,  Student  and 
Friend  of  James  W.  Alexander,  64. 

Bible,  his  love  of  the,  261. 

Biblical  History,  his  lectures  on,  806. 

Biblical  Repertory.  First  appearance, 
195;  Changes  in  Form,  in  183iJ 
and  1837,  197;  Transferred  by 
Dr.  Hodge  to  an  Association,  197  ; 
Prosperity  in  1841,  523. 

Biblical  Repertory,  See  also  Princeton 
Review. 


Bishop  of  Carlisle,  Letter  to  Addison 
on  Appointment  to  his  Diocese,  888. 

Blair  Rev.  D.,  visits  to,  8. 

Boiling  Mr.,  a  Fellow-Student  at 
Princeton,   127. 

Books,  his  rough  treatment  of,  678. 

Breckinridge  Rev.  Dr.  John,  Mr. 
Bairds  predecessor  at  Princeton, 
41  ;  The  Death  of,  495. 

Brown  Rezeau,  Addison's  Bosom 
Friend  at  College,  173 ;  Memoir 
of  him,  182;  His  death,  188; 
Traits  of  Character,  189;  'fheonly 
Letter  by  him  discovered,  191. 

Brown's  Pldlosophy  of  the  Human 
Mind,  a  Criticism  of,  1G8. 

Buffalo,  the  Bank  Check  and  Self- 
identification,  856. 

Burrowes  Rev.  Dr.  George,  36  ;  Rem- 
iniscences of  Addison,  259,  476. 

Calligraphy,  Love  of,  40. 

Campbell  Mrs.,  of  Virginia,  sketch  of 
him,  31. 

Candlish  Dr.,  The  preaching  of,  707. 

Cappadocian  Society,  601. 

Centennial,  See  Princeton. 

Chalmers  Dr.  Thomas,  Addison  com- 
pared to,  633  ;  A  sketch  cf,  728. 

Chicken  College,  Addison's  when  a 
boy,  29,  90,  91. 

Children's  Books  on  the  Bible,  his 
Opinion  of,  259. 

Cicero,  a  Criticism  of,  172. 

Classical  Knowledge  of  Great  Men,  677. 

Cocquerel  M.,  A  Sketch  of,  722. 

Coffee,  an  Essay  on,  by  Addison  and 
James  W.,  211. 

Colton  Calvin,  a  Criticism  of,  526. 

Comfort  in  the  Bible,  Confessions,  &c. 
223,  224,  225. 

Comfort  David,  a  Fellow-Student,  40. 

Commonplace  Book  at  College,  96. 

Congregational  Union  of  England, 
Delegate's  Visit  to  Princeton,  339. 

Cooper's  Novels,  a  Criticism  of,  150. 

Cordolia,  Extracts  from  Byron  and 
Southey,  76. 

Coulombe  M., French  Teacher  at  Prince- 
ton, 132. 

Cowper,  his  Admiration  for,  96. 

Crimean  Soldier  and  the  Military  at 
Quebec,  854. 

Cunnning  Dr.,  of  London,  a  Sketch 
of,  713. 


INDEX. 


90* 


Cyprian,  a   nom  de  plume  of  James 

W.  Alexander,  iu  18-24,  55. 
Dancing,  New  Jersey  Patriot  Discus- 
sion CM,  102. 
Dante,  a  Criticism  of,  169. 
Death,  Reflections  in  1830  on,  238. 
Detroit  Steam  Dyeing  Establishment,  a 

Burlesque,  Sol. 
Dunn  Rev.  Mr.,  of  Germantown,  9. 
Duncan  Mrs.  Lundy,  Recollections  of 

Dr.  Archibald  Alexander,  489. 
Edwards  Jonathan,  Dr.  Hall's  Allusion 

to,  14  ;  Inscription  on  his  Monu- 
ment, 903. 
Edwards  on  the  Collections,  224. 
English  Coldness  of  Manner,  '78. 
English   Metaphysics,  his  Notions  of, 

168. 
English  Studies,  149  et  seq. 
Episcopacy,  a  New  'i'heory  of,  324. 
Exegeiical  Study,  his  Method  of,  434. 
Family  Worship  at  Addison's  Home, 

787. 
Faraday's  Character,  its  Likeness  to 

Addison's,  660. 
"Felix    Trembled,"    Anecdote   of    a 

Student's  Sermon,  570. 
Flournoy  Thomas,  Letters  on  Addison 

in   1825,  76;  Shake  of  Addison's 

Hand  in  1845,  78. 
Fire    VVorsliippers,   His  Senior  Class 

Thrme,  75. 
Forty  Years  Familiar  Letters,  193, 1 95, 

205.  2(16,  259,  260,  416,  561,  640, 

659,  665,  667. 
Geographical   Research,   a    Plan  for, 

a54. 
Germantown,  8. 
German  Idealists,  Addison's  Parodies 

of,  253. 
Graham  Mrs.,  his  Aunt,  Letter  to  Dr. 

Alexander  on  his  C.ipacity,  23. 
Grammars,  Foreign,   the  Consti-uction 

and  Study  of,  271. 
Greek  Exiles  at  Princeton,  396. 
Green  Rev.  Dr.,  President  of  Princeton 

College,  on  Princeton  in  1793,  16  ; 

His  Valedictory  before  Washing- 
ton, 69. 
Griswold,  Bishop,  A  Criticism  of,  526. 
Guinness,    Rev.    Henry    Grattan,    the 

Iri-h  Pulpit  Orator,  884. 
Hall  Rev.  Dr.,  Addison's  Jeu  D'esprit 

on,  837  ;  (see  also  letters). 


Hall,  Robert,  on  Character  of  Jonathan 
Edwards,  14. 

Ilalsey  Dr.  Leroy  J.,  Editor  of  Dr. 
Liiidsley'a  Works,  61. 

Halyhurton  Thomas,  the  Life  of,  257. 

Hamilton  James,  Addison's  early  Latin 
Teacher,  36  ;  Removal  to  Nashville 
University  ;  Return  to  New  Jersey  ; 
Death  at  Nashville,  37. 

Hamilton  Dr.,  of  London,  an  account 
of,  712. 

Hare  Rev.  S.  B.,  His  first  Latin 
Teacher. 

Hargons  M.  Louis,  His  French  Les- 
sons from,  161. 

Hart  J.  S.,  Adjunct  Professor  at 
Princeton  College,  344  ;  Extract 
from  "  The  Schoolroom,"  608. 

Hengstenberg  Dr.,  His  Study  and 
Friendship  with,  266;  Messianic 
Interpretation,  354. 

Hodge  Rev.  Charles,  Editor  of  the 
Biblical  Repertory,  195;  Return 
from  Europe  and  Address  to  Class, 
197  ;  Resumed  sole  Editorship,  198. 

Hope  Dr.,  of  Princeton  College,  The 
Sudden  Death  of,  889. 

Hotciikiss  Miss,  Her  care  of  Addison 
at  School,  and  his  Recollections 
thereon,  9. 

House  Mountain,  Virginia,  760. 

Howell  Dr.,.  Princeton  Physician,  and 
his  son  Samuel  H.  Howell,  394. 

Humphrey  Rev.  Dr.  E.  P.,  Address 
on  Addison's  Death,  899. 

Irving,  Edward,  Rising  into  Fame  in 
Scotland,  56  ;  Sketch  of,  289. 

Jackson,  Andrew,  His  Editorial  on, 
119. 

Janvier  Francis  D.,  The  Princeton 
Coach-painter,  70. 

Jewish  admirers  of  Addison's  learnin"- 
619. 

Johnson  Dr.,  and  Boswell,  an  opin- 
ion of,  465. 

Jones  Dr.  Joel,  of  Philadelphia,  886 ; 
Reminiscences  of  Mr.  Walsh,  2o7. 

Jones  Sir  William,  Addison's  admira- 
tion of,  43. 

Journal,  what   its  contents  were,  504. 

Journal,  Extracts  from,  146  &c.,  159, 
165,  221,  222,  226-241,  243,  257, 
262,  340-344,  351,  352,  354,  355, 
356,  359-363,  380,  381,  419,  420, 


908 


INDEX. 


421,  424,  425,  426,  427,  429-435, 
437,  438,  439,  440,  446,  448,  449, 
452,  453,  454,  457,  458,  464,  701, 
769,  770,  771,  770,  800,  804,  ScO, 
807,  808,  814,  816,  819,  826,  849, 
882. 

Justice  Joseph,  of  the  Trenton  Empo- 
rium, 126. 

King  WilHam,  a  fellow-student  of 
Addison's,  40  ;  Addison's  Walks 
and  Companionship  with,  127. 

Kirk  Rev.  Dr.  E.  N.,  an  early  Play- 
mate, 21 ;  Was  a  Pupil  of  James 
Hamilton,  37. 

Koran,  See  Languages,  Persian, 

Lacy  Rev.  H.  T.,  Account  of  Dr.  Archi- 
bald Alexanders'  Funeral,  687. 

Languages,  See  Appendix  D. 

Leightou  Arclibishop,  On  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  226. 

Lenox  James,  a  visit  to ;  Ilis  Collec- 
tion of  Old  Bibles,  493. 

Letters  of  Dr.  J.  A.  Alexander,  See 
Appendix  to  Index — B. 

Library,   Addison's,  in  1828,  158. 

LindsleyRev.Dr.  Phihp,  37;  His  Prince- 
ton Classical  School,  38  ;  His  Char- 
acter and  Attainments,  01  ;  Col- 
lected Works,  Edited  by  Dr.  Hal- 
sey,  61;  Various  tributes  to  his 
Worth,  63. 

Literary  and  Philosophical  club,  a 
Meeting  of,  429. 

McCall  Hon.  Peter,  Drawing  Lots  with 
Addison  for  the  Valedictory, 
88 

McCall  Rev.  W.  S.,  and  the  Phila- 
delphia Synod  of  1836. 

McCarrier  Jemmy  and  Joe,  The  Col- 
lege Servants,  72  ;  Their  Father, 
73. 

Maclean  John,  Account  of  in  Cen- 
tennial Address,  68. 

McCleese  Mr.,  Addison's  Third  School- 
ing with,  9. 

McCliing  Mrs.,  Addison's  visit  to,  in 
1858,  821. 

McDowell  Hon.  James,  Address  at 
Princeton  Commencement,  459. 

McGill  Rev.  Dr.,  Exchange  of  Prince- 
ton Chairs  with  Addison,  849 ; 
Account  in  the  Presbyterinn  of 
Addison's  Last  HIuvjss  and  Death, 
896. 


McNeile  Dr.,  of  Liverpool,  Sketch  of 
hU  Preaching,  700. 

Mansfield,  Lord,  Early  Literary  As- 
pirations, 136. 

Martvn  Henry,  The  Oriental  Scholar, 
Criticism  'of,  173;  The  Life  of, 
225. 

Melville  Dr.,  of  London,  A  Sketch  of, 
719. 

Messianic  Interpretation  and  Hengstea- 
berg,  354. 

Mezzofanti  Cardinal,  Method  of  ac- 
quiring Languages,  21  ;  Further  of 
Him,  861. 

Mickle  William  Julius,  An  Imaginary 
Letter  of,  112. 

Miller  Rev.  Dr.,  Resignation  of 
Church  History  Chair  at  Princeton, 
663  ;  Last  Sickness  and  Death,  671, 
672. 

Minnie,  One  of  the  Three  Young  Ca- 
nadian Ijadics,  859. 

Missionary  Herald,  Addison's  Fond- 
ness for  the,  431. 

Mohammedan  Race,  A  College  Theme, 
75. 

Jlohammedan  History,  An  Essay  on, 
20;>. 

Mohammedanism,  The  False  Prophet, 
267. 

Monachism,    A  College  Paper  on,  75 

Moore  Dr.,  Account  of  Addison's  visit, 
in  1858,  to  Mrs.   McClung,  821. 

Moot  Court,  the,  at  Princeton,  45. 

Napton  Hon.  William  (Judge),  A 
Student  at  Princeton  and  one  of 
Addison's  two  only  Companions  in 
1823,  40, 45,  52,  53,  65  ;  His  Recol- 
lections of  Princeton  Society,  and 
Celebrities,  69,   70. 

Nassau  Hall,  Piinceton  College,  His- 
tory of,  1 5. 

New-Haven  Preachers,  A  Description 
of,  700. 

New  Jersey  Bible  Society,  Executive 
Committee  in  1827,  114. 

New  Jersey  Historical  Society,  De- 
sign of  a,  429. 

New  Jersey  Internal  Improvement 
Convention  in  1827,  114. 

New  Jersey  Patriot,  Description  of 
the.  111. 

New  Jersey  Patriot;  for  Contributions 
to,  see  Addison's  Works,  &c. 


INDEX. 


909 


tTewiran  John  Henry,  A  Ciiticlsm 
of,  62'7. 

Newton  John,    The  Writings  of,  228. 

Onderdonlc  Bishop,  A  Criticism  of, 
52G. 

Oratorical  Warning  in  Boyhood,  Value 
of,  29. 

Oral  Discussion,  An  Opinion  upon, 
515. 

Oriental  Languages,  See  Languages. 

Owen  on  Spiritual  Mindedness,  225. 

Oxford  Tracts,  the,  and  John  Henry 
Newman,  527. 

Pains  and  Pleasures  of  a  College  Life 
— Prinoeion  Valedictory,  88. 

Park,  Rev.  James,  Amusing  account 
of  Matriculation  before  Addison, 
576. 

Parnell's,  The  Hermit,  a  quotation 
from,  283. 

Patton,  Professor  R.  B.  of  Princeton, 
97,  98,  100;  His  School,  212; 
His  edition  of  Donnegan's  Greek 
Lexicon,  213  ;  Addison's  Religious 
Impressions  at  his  School,  219; 
Death  of  Mr.  Patton's  little  daugh- 
ter Harriet,  and  its  effect  on  Ad- 
dison during  conversion,  237. 

Personal  Traits — Early  Love  of  Fic- 
tion, 19;  Domestic  Cliaracter,  25  ; 
Fondness  for  Music,  25 ;  Diffid- 
ence, 41 ;  Truthfulness,  47  ;  Like- 
ness to  Bonaparte,  47 ;  Long 
Wiilks,  50  ;  Kindness  to  Class- 
mates, 53 ;  Memory,  64,  502, 
606  ;  Irreproachable  Monils,  82  ; 
Versatility,  83  ;  Metaphysical 
Study,  253 ;  Various  Personal 
Traits,  366,  367,  368,  369 ;  Tours 
about  Home,  508;  Tastes  in  Art, 
610;  Consu-uctive  Powe-s,  622; 
Not  an  Innovator,  624  ;  Disdain  of 
Pulpit  Arts,  652;  His  Study  and 
his  Library,  Habits  in,  694. 

Philadelphians,  Sketches  of  Old,  8. 

Poems,"Ad  Joannem,"  a  Young  Friend 
on  15th  Birthday,  482;  Brown 
Rezeau,  the  Death  of,  190  ;  "  Char- 
ity," Extract;  Doomed  Man,  Com- 
ments upon,  415  ;  Earliest  Efforts, 
30;  Fall  of  Ispahan,  140;  Flib- 
bertigibbet in  liijuor,  an  Imitation 
of  Shelley,  117  ;  Italy,  Vci-ses  Writ- 
ten in,  304,  312;  Juvenile  Poems, 


32,  S3  ;  His  own  opinion  of  them, 
35 ;  Latin  Verses  of  Mock  Condol- 
ence with  James,  60  ;  Lurid  Leper, 
the,  562  ;  McCarrier  Brothers,  Fa- 
cetious Verses  on,  72  ;  Motherless 
Girl,  lines  to  a,  687  ;  Peruvians, 
the,  96  ;  Princeton,  lines  on,  54  ; 
Tears  of  Esau,  133;  Vision  of 
Greece,  142. 

Poems,  compared  with  those  of  con- 
temporaries,  144. 

Pope,  Alexander,  a  criticism  on,  194. 

Potts,  Silas,  a  young  college  compan- 
ion, 9. 

Potts,  Judge  S.  G.,  and  the  Trenton 
Emporium,  126. 

Pratt,  Horace  S.,  Private  Tuition  from, 
39. 

Preparation  for  the  Ministry,  Addi- 
son's Scheme  of,  243. 

Presbyterian,  the,  on  his  Linguistic 
Attainments,  23. 

Presbyterian  Emigration  from  North 
of  Ireland,  4. 

Presbyterians,  Old  and  New  Schools 
of,  359. 

Presbyterianism,  Geneva  Letter  on, 
299,  625. 

Presbyterian  Philadelphia  Synod  in 
1836,  397. 

Pi-esbyterian  Assembly  of  1837,  408  ; 
of  1856,  798. 

Presbytery  of  New  Brunswick  Centen- 
nial Meeting  in  1838,  434,  457. 

Presidential  Contest  of  Adams  and 
Jackson,  119. 

Pressense  M.,  The  Paris  Preacher,  722. 

Price  Mrs.,  a  Friend  of  Addison's 
Childhood. 

Princeton,  Congress  Meeting  at,  in 
1783,  16  ;  Slip  from  Early  History, 
17  ;  Called  the  Montpellier  of  Am- 
erica, 17 ;  Graveyard  of  and  its 
dead,  18  ;  Society  and  Celebrities, 
40,  67,  156. 

Princeton  College  Alumni,  Distinguish- 
ed, 14 ;  Belcher  Hall,  Proposed 
Name,  15;  Alumni  Association, 
First  Meeting  and  Officers  of,  114  ; 
Centennial  Extracts,  4,  14,  15,  16, 
17,  66,  67,  68,  69  ;  Commence- 
ment in  Old  Times,  66,  67  ;  Chair 
of  History,  663  ;  Commencement, 
New  Jersey  Patriot  on,  113;  Des- 


910 


INDEX. 


ciiption  of  the  College,  14  ;  Facul- 
ty and  Curriculum  in  1824,  65  ; 
Golden  Age,  1814,  of.  59a  ;  Green, 
Dr.  Ashbel,  on  appearance  in  1783, 
16;  Moot  Court,  45  ;  Nassau  Hall, 
16;  rhilologian  Society,  lOi; 
Eound  Tiible  and  Clironomiau 
Clubs,  63 ;  Susj^eusion  Temporary, 
in  IT  SO,  16. 
Princeton  Literary  Association,   838, 

341. 
Princeton  Magazine  of  1850,  681. 
Princeton   Review,  Change  of  Name, 

531. 
Princeton  Valedictory,  Addison's,  88. 
Punch,  the  London,  Addison's  opinion 

of  Writers  of,  665. 
Punctuation,  an  Opinion  on,  132. 
Quebec,  a  Description  of,  863. 
Kaniiolph    John,     On      Candor     and 

Modesty,  4*7. 
Recollections    by  Relatives,   Friends, 
and  Pupils,  See  Appendix  to  in- 
dex—C. 
Reporter  A,    Instance    of    Addison's 

Pulpit-power  Over,  648. 
Rice  Rev.  Dr.  Benjamin  H.,  344  ;  His 

Death,  776. 
Rice  Rev.  Dr.  John  H.,  in  1828,  161  ; 

Removal  to  New  York,  180. 
Riches  of  the  English  Language,  51. 
Richmond    'llieaiie.    Dr.    A.    Alexan- 
der's Sermon  on  Burning  of,  10. 
Ridge  Recorder,  the,  Origin   and  Ex- 

Iract.s,  544. 
Ritualists  and  the  Chinese,  528. 
Rives  Hon.  W.  C,   Letter  wiih  Euro- 
pean Introductions,  284. 
Rosenmiiller's  Alterthumskunde,  192. 
Ross     J;imes,     Addison's     Scliooling 

with,  9. 
Scott  Kev.  Dr.,  of  New  York,  345. 
Scott's  Life  of  N;ipolcon,  a  Criticism 

of,  171. 
Scriptural  Dramatic  Sketches,  a  Plan 

for,  399. 
Secession,  Forebodings  of  James  W. 

on,  803. 
Self-Identification,  a    Curious  Process 

of,  856. 
Scrmnns,  Criticisms  of  Styl  s,  178. 
Sl;aliJS|)enrc,  a  Criticism  of.    166. 
Si.ea,    Mr.    Sergeant,    a    Sketch    of, 
716. 


Shellev's  Hymn  to  Intellectual  Beauty, 
28. 

Smith  Samuel  Stanhope,  at  Princeton 
College,  14. 

Snowden  Dr.  Isanc  C,  Editor  Phila- 
delphia Monthly  M.igazine,  1S5; 
Letter  to  Addison  on  Contributions 
to,  lo7. 

Spencer  Edmund,  a  Criticism  of,   \10. 

Steele  Revs.  Robert  and  Samuel,  7. 

Steele  Mr.  John,  Kindness  to  Addison, 
V. 

Stewarts  Philosophy  of  the  Human 
Mind,  255. 

Stockton  l*'iimily,  the,   67. 

Stories  of  Old  Black,  Peter  Arun,  &c., 
163. 

Strong  Salmon,  Head  of  Dr.  Lindsley'a 
School,  38. 

Sunday  School  Journal,  a  Letter  on 
the,  263. 

Swift,  AddLson,  Dickens,  and  Others, 
Remarks  on,  362. 

Thomson  Madame,  His  First  School,  7. 

Thrice  Transplanted,  a  Sonnet,  86<i. 

TransccndeniaUsm,  Amusing  Letter 
on,  521. 

Trenton,  Emporium  of  Joseph  Justice 
and  Judce  Potts,  126. 

Turner  Mr.  W.  W.,  The  Abilities  of, 
635. 

Ulster,  Account  of  Early  Settlers 
from,  4. 

Teth;,ke  Henry,  Sketch  of,  275. 

Waddel  Dr.  AddiMin,  6. 

Waddel  Rev.  James,  the  Blind  Preach- 
er, 1. 

Wuhiegrave  Hon.  and  Rev.,  Letter 
with  Index  of  Authors,  772. 

Walsh  Mr  Rob  rt,  History  and  Schol- 
ar-hip of,  204. 

Wasliiiigion  George  and  Pres.  Green's 
Addiess,  69;  I'cale's  Poitrait,  16. 

Washington  (Jity  and  Congress,  Im- 
pressions of,  512. 

Westminster  Hall  and  the  Law  Courts, 
715. 

Wistar's  Magazine,  552  to  564. 

Witherspoon  Ri  v.  Dr.,  President  of 
Princeton  College,  14. 

Wordswoitli  Wiliiiim,  Lines  Applied 
to  Francis  D.  Janvier. 

Writings,  His  Sermons,  See  Appendix 
E. 


INDEX. 


911 


Xenophon,  an  Estimate  of,  176. 
Yeomans   Dr.  Edward,    on  Addison's 
Prayers,  3'78. 


APPENDIX  A. 

PERSONAL    HISTORY    OF    DR.  J.    A.    ALEX- 
ANDER. 

Birth  and  Parentage,  1 ;  Ancestry,  4  ; 
Removal  of  Family  to  Philadelphia, 
5 ;  Recollections  of  Philadelphia 
during  Childhood,  5  ;  Early  Study 
of  Latin,  6,  30  ;  Love  of  the  Classics, 
'J  ;  Last  Schooling  with  Madame 
Thomson,  1 ;  A  Pupil  of  Mr.  Littell, 
8  ;  Removal  to  Fourth  St.,  8  ;  His 
First  Latin  Teacher,  Rev.  S.  B. 
Hare,  9  ;  His  Second  Latin  Teach- 
er, James  Ross,  9;  Alexamler  Mag- 
nus, 9 ;  His  Manuscript  Recollec- 
tions of  Early  Life,  10  ;  Removal 
to  Princeton,  12  ;  His  Mental  Pro- 
gress, 18  ;  His  Early  Playmate,  E. 
Is",  (now  Dr.)  Kirk,  21  ;  First  Les- 
sons in  Helirew,  22 ;  His  Mental 
Capacity  in  1817,  23  ;  Teaches  him- 
self to  Write,  23  ;  First  Lessons 
in  Greek,  36  ;  Attends  Dr.  Linds- 
ley's  School  at  Princeton,  38  ;  Pri- 
vate Teaching  by  Horace  S.  Pratt, 
39  ;  First  Acquaintfince  with  Robert 
Baird,  39  ;  Moot  Court  Exercises 
with  \V.  B.  Napton,  40  ;  A  Student 
under  Mr.  Baa-d,  40  ;  Edits  a  News- 
paper at  the  Academy,  and  aids 
Formation  of  a  Literary  Society,  40, 
42  ;  Appearance  at  Fourteen  ;  like- 
ness to  Napoleon  Bonuparte,  47; 
School  Feats  in  English  Composi- 
tion, 50;  Attachment  to  his  Broth- 
er James,  60;  Centennial  Address 
on  Princeton  of  Old  Times,  66  ; 
Matriculation  in  1824,  at  Fifteen, 
73 ;  High  Class  Standing,  74 ; 
American  Whig  Society,  75  ;  His 
Paper  on  Monachism,  75  ;  Growth 
of  Character  and  Manners,  86 ; 
His  College  Debating  Society,  86 ; 
Created  B.A.  88  ;  Appointed  Clerk 
of  Borough  of  Princeton,  8'J ; 
First  View  of  the  Sea,  at  Long- 
Branch,  91 ;  His  Father's  Account 
of  Final  Examination  and  Valedic- 


tory, 93  ;  His  Princeton  Medal  for 
Composition,  93;  Declined,  in 
1827,  Tutorship  at  Princeton  Col- 
lege, 97;  Picture  of,  about  that 
Time,  98  ;  Editor  of  the  Patriot, 
117;  His  Library  in  1823,  158; 
Sketch  of,  at  Nineteen,  173  ;  At 
Twentv,  175;  Visit  in  1829  to 
New  York,  180;  Began  Study  of 
Arabic  and  Persian  ;  Prize  Essay, 
201 ;  Becomes  Teacher  of  Latin, 
History,  &c.,  at  Prof  Patton's 
School,  212;  Wishes,  in  1829,  to 
Settle  in  the  East,  214;  Increased 
Attention  to  Greek  Study,  216 ; 
Conversion,  His  First  Deep  Reli- 
gious Impression.s,  219,  221  ;  His 
Journal  of  the  Same,  and  His 
Father's  Opinion,  221  ;  Resolutions 
of  Religious  Training,  235  ;  Twen- 
ty-first Birth-day,  Solemn  Self-de- 
voiion  to  God,  239;  Appointed 
Adjunct  Professor  of  Ancient  Lan- 
guages and  Literature,  at  Pi-inco- 
ton,  242;  Attack  of  Scarlet  Fever, 
242  ;  Resolution  to  Prepare  for  the 
Ministry,  243  ;  Characteristics  and 
Appearance  at  this  Time,  246 ; 
Studies  During  1831,  252;  Reli- 
gious Expeiiences,  257,  262  ; 
studies  in  1832,  262;  Residence 
with  Dr.  Vethake,  275. 
Sailed  for  London  April  10,  1833,  In- 
troductions by  W.  C.  Rives,  284  ; 
Farewell  Letter  to  his  Mother,  284  ; 
Officers  of  the  Samson,  285  ;  From 
Portsmouth  to  London,  286  ; 
Stiige  Coaches,  286,  2i)2,  293  ; 
Enj;lish  People,  287 ;  London, 
House  of  Commons,  Exeter  Hall, 
&c.,  288 ;  Bishops  of  Winchester 
and  Chester,  288;  Chancery, 
Brougham,  Edward  Irviii;:,  28y ; 
London  to  Oxford,  292 ;  Edin- 
burgh, House  of  John  Knox,  Prof. 
Lee,  293,  294  ;  Arrived  in  France, 
French  Politeness,  294 ;  From  Do- 
ver to  Calais,  295  ;  General  Lafay- 
ette, a  Visit  to,  295 ;  St.  Denis, 
297  ;  Munich,  the  Students'  Church, 

297  ;     Berne      Cathedral     Church, 

298  ;  Laus;)iine,  a  Travi-ling  Com- 
panion, 298 ;  Geneva,  Church  of 
the  Eglise,  299  ;  Visit  to  D'Aubigne, 


912 


INDEX. 


302  ;  Frauciscan  Friar,  308  ;  On 
to  Rome,  310;  Via  Cassia,  311; 
Austria, Veiiico,S14 ;  Halle,  Dr.  Tho 
luck,  316;  Mr.  Sears,  and  Mr.  Ilaver- 
stick,  Tholuck's  American  Tupils, 
31(3 ;  Daily  Life  at  Halle,  317  ;  Vis- 
it to  Von  Gerlach,  317  ;  Tholuck's 
Preaching  and  Lectures,  319  ;  Ger- 
man Life  and  Customs,  321;  Tho- 
luck's Estimate  of  Addison,  323  ; 
Celebrated  German  Professors, 
325 ;  Neander,  327 ;  lleturn  to 
Princeton,  in  May,  1834,  332. 

Appointed  Adjunct  Professor  of  Orien- 
tal Literature,  at  Princeton  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  332;  Declines, 
361 ;  Biblicid  and  Oriental  Labors 
in,  351  ;  Attends  New  York  Anni- 
vers.trie>!,  in  183.",  358;  Elected 
but  Declines  Chair  of  Oriental  and 
Biblical  Literature,  in  Union  Theo- 
logical Seminary,  New  York,  380; 
Companions  in  183G,  394  ;  Travels 
in  New  Jersey,  the  Sam(!  Year,  395  ; 
Attacks  of  "  Jaw  S»vell,"  His  Old 
Remedy,  390 :  Class  of  1837,  402  ; 
High  Pressure  Teaching,  405  ;  Se- 
vere Illness  in  1837,  407;  Com- 
menced Notes  on  Isaiah,  414 ; 
Learns  Polish,  414 ;  Received,  in 
1838,  as  Candidate  for  License, 
435;  Licensed,  439;  His  First 
Sermon,  440  ;  Journeys  to  Phila- 
delphia, Washington,  &c.,  445  ; 
Accepted  Seminary  Professorship 
Offered  in  1835,  445  ;  Au  Editor 
of  the  Biblical  Repertory,  450 ; 
Residence  with  his  Brother  James, 
454 ;  Installed  in  Professorship, 
Inaugural,  458 ;  Ordination  Ex- 
amination, 469  ;  Tours  about  Home, 
508  ;  Supplied,  in  1847,  Tenth 
Church  (Dr.  Boardman's),  in  Phila- 
delphia, 639 ;  Residence  at  Hou.se 
of  Dr.  Harris,  653 ;  Assists  Dr. 
Cuyler,  at  Second  Presbyterian 
Church,  Philadelphia,  662  ;  Lec- 
tured at  Close  of  1850  at  Prince- 
ton,  680  ;  Occupying  Chair  of  Ec- 
clesiastical History,  697 ;  Second 
Journey  to  Europe,  704. 

Sailed,  May  18,  1853,  for  Liverpool, 
704;  Arrived,  705;  Dr.  McNeile, 
705  ;  Dr.   Candlish,   707 ;  Melro-^e 


Abbey,  711;  Dr.  Hamilton,  712; 
Dr.  Cumniing,  713 ;  Westminster 
Hall  and  the  Courts,  715  ;  Ser- 
geant Shea,  716;  Judges,  717; 
Mr.  Binney,  718;  Dr.  Melville, 
719  ;  At  Paris,  721  ;  M.  Cocquerel, 
M.  Pressense,  722  ;  On  the  Rhine, 
723;  The  Low  Countries,  726; 
London,  727  ;  Dr.  Chalmers,  727  ; 
Return  Home,  728. 
Death  of  his  Aunt,  Mrs.  Gra- 
ham, 731  ;  And  of  his  Uncle, 
Major  John  Alexander,  737; 
Autumn  1854  Journal,  737; 
Visits  to  Virginia  in  1855,  753; 
Back  at  Princeton,  769  ;  Preached 
fur  his  Brother,  775;  His  Home 
in  1856,  785;  Left  New  York, 
803  ;  Visits,  in  1858,  to  Virginia, 
and  Canada,  819,  820;  Declining 
Health,  831;  Manner,  in  1858,  of 
Living,  844 ;  Visiting  the  Sick, 
847 ;  Exchanged  to  Chair  of  New 
Testament  Ilistorj',  849;  Visit  to 
Quebec,  853  ;  A  Crimean  Soldier, 
853;  Acquaintance,  in  1853,  with 
Three  Young  Canadian  Ladies, 
859  ;  Removed  to  his  Brother  Sam- 
uel's House,  New  York,  861 ;  His 
Brother  James'  Death,  Effect  on 
Addison,  871  ;  His  Continued  Fail- 
ure of  Health,  875 ;  Assumed 
Charge  of  Hebrew  Department  of 
Hebrew  at  Princeton,  876 ;  Last 
Message  and  Letter  to  the  Stu- 
dents, 877  ;  His  Visible  Decline, 
879  ;  The  Anxiety  of  his  Friends, 
880 ;  Seized  with  Hemorrhage  of 
the  Lungs,  884  ;  His  Last  Letters, 
887;  The  Last  Books  he  Read, 
890;  Increasing  AVeakness,  891; 
His  Peaceful  End,  892;  Confer- 
ence of  the  Oratory  on  the  Event, 
895 ;  Alfred  Yeomans'  Impres- 
sions of  Addison  in  his  Coffin,  895  ; 
Dr.  McGill's  Account  of  his  Illness 
and  Death,  896  ;  His  Funeral  Ser- 
mon, 897;  Tribute  of  Dr.  Bur- 
rowes,  898:  His  Grave  at  Prince- 
ton, 18. 


INDEX. 


913 


APPENDIX  B. 

LETTERS   OF   DR,  J.  A.  ALEXANDER. 

To  His  Mother,  in  1833,  on  Sailing  for 
Europe,  284;  on  July  27,  ISJfi, 
615  ;  in  1850,  67-i. 

His  Sister  Jane,  on  His  Visit  to  Dr. 
Moore,  820. 

His  Brother,  Henry  M.,  a  Khyming 
Letter,  394;  from  Clifton,  in  1855, 
757. 

His  Brother  James,  probably  in  1828, 
128,  131  ;  His  Early  Wish  to 
Settle  in  the  East,  217;  From  Ge- 
neva, 299  ;  Introduction  to  Isaiah, 
602,  603,  610;  In  1846,  Subject 
of  Unusual  Learned  Interest,  619  ; 
From  Geneva,  on  Presbyterianisin, 
625  ;  In  1846,  Learned  Authors, 
634  ;  Work  on  Popular  Theology, 
660;  Literary  Subjects,  661; 
Printing  Book  of  Psalms,  662  ;  In 
1852,  on  Literary  Subjects,  692; 
In  1853,  on  Ancient  Liturgies, 
Reading  English,  ef.  al.,  698 ; 
Princeton  Chair  of  History,  663 ; 
On  Interpretation,  701 ;  Anecdote 
of  Pallavicino,  752 ;  Church  His- 
tory, 778 ;  Progress  of  His  Mat- 
thew, 828  ;  Money  for  Presents  of 
Books,  842;  In  1859,  on  Return 
from  Journey,  851;  In  1859,  on 
Bufialo  and  Detroit,  855. 

His  Brother  James'  Death,  a  Letter 
on,  872. 

His  Brother  Samuel  D.,  New  Haven 
Preachers,  700 ;  In  1854,  738 ; 
May,  1855,  753;  October,  1856, 
803  ;  During  His  Last  Illness,  887. 

His  wife's  Relatives,  in  1819,  24. 

Canadian  Three  Ladies,  as  '■  The  Un- 
known," 859. 

Friend,  A.  on  Projected  Work  on 
Isaiah,  474,  475,  476. 

Hall,  Rev.  Dr.  John,  on  Sunday-School 
Journal,  263  ;  Character  of  Cor- 
respondence with  Dr.  Hall,  372; 
With  Latin  Dictionary,  &c.,  381  ; 
With  Word  "  day  "  in  Several  Lan- 
guages, 398;  In  1836,  Various 
Topics,  400 ;  July  and  August, 
1837,  409;  On  a  Parallel  Bible, 
417;  Seminary  Instruction,  418; 
Various   Literary    Subjects,    428 ; 

39 


On  Cicero,  465 ;  On  Multiplying 
His  Labors,  507;  Indiscreet  Over- 
work, 574 ;  On  His  Doctorate,  591 ; 
Sending  Student  to  Preach  for 
Dr.  Hall,  597;  Ministerial  Supphes, 
613;  Ironical  and  Playful,  638; 
Similar  to  the  Retiring  Professor, 
683 ;  His  Extraordinary  Desk, 
691;  On  a  Cutter,  739;  Duties 
and  Engagements,  775  ;  His  First 
Book,  814;  With  Humorous 
Poem  "  by  Sir  Knight  John  K. 
Hall,"  850;  On  Illness  of  His 
Brother  James,  872  ;  On  Death  of, 
874. 

Hodge,  Rev.  C.  W.,  from  New  York, 
in  1856,  800. 

John,  a  Young  Friend,  with  Verses 
on  Fifteenth  Birthday,  482. 

Little  Girl,  To  a,  859. 

Little  Pupil,  a  Letter  to,  412. 

Old  Correspondent,  As  Transcenden- 
talist,  Covenanter,  and  Ritualist, 
521, 

Repertory,  Questions  in  Interest  of 
the,  412. 

Schaff,  Dr.,  Church  History,  German 
Authors,  310  ;  Literary  Subjects, 
740;  Proposed  Work  by  Dr. 
Schaff,  813. 

Scribner,  Mr.,  Proposed  Volume  of 
European  Travels,  703,  704 ;  On  a 
Popular  Church  History,  744; 
Offer  of  Book  on  Acts,  751 ;  Re- 
printing Repertory  Essays,  and  on 
Book  on  Acts,  772,  773,  777,  779, 
780,  781 ;  Progress  of  His  Book, 
805. 

Young  Pupil,  in  1838,  450,  451. 


APPENDIX  C. 

RECOLLECTIONS       BY       HIS       RELATIVES, 
FRIENDS     AND     PUPILS. 

Alexander  H.  M.  His  Youngest  Broth- 
er, on  Addison's  Habits  while 
Working  on  Isaiah,  597. 

Alexander  H.  C.  (The  Author).  Of  Ad- 
dison in  1849,  666  ;  in  1855  to  1858, 
785,  826  ;  At  Home  in  1857,  811 ; 
His  Innocent  Playfulness,  835. 

Alexander  J.  McD.  Of  him  in  1855, 
758. 


914 


INDEX. 


Alexander  Dr.  Samuel  D.  On  his  Laboi 
on  Ooinmentaries,  824. 

Alexander  Dr.  Addison.  His  own  MS 
Recolleclions  of  Early  Life,  10. 

Adger  Dr.  J.  B.  Of  Mm  in  182? 
213. 

Baird  Prof.  Ilenry  M.  His  Preaching 
65G. 

Baird  Dr.  His  Early  Talents  and  Diffi 
dence,  41 ;  Powers  as  a  Linguist 
45. 

Baldwin  Hon.  J.  B.  Addison  in  1855 
'768. 

Boiling  G.  W.  A  Classmate  of  College 
Life,  87. 

Breckinridge  Judge.  Addison  in  1828 
and  1829,  549. 

Burrowes  Kev.  Dr.  Characteristics  in 
1830,  249,  276;  Intellectual  Sym- 
metry, 631,  032;  Tribute  to  "his 
Memory,  898. 

Cameron  Professor.  His  Mem.ory, 
693 ;  Preaching,  817  ;  Day  with 
him  in  the  Cars,  833. 

Campbell  Charles.  College  Days,  31. 
Some  years  after,  98. 

Cattell  Dr.  W.  C.  Of,  in  1849  and 
1850,  733. 

Comfort  David.  His  Great  Promise, 
46  ;  Intellectual  Powers,  85. 

Cuyler  Kev.  Dr.  Sketch  of  two  Even- 
ings with  him,  654. 

Dabney  Rev.  Dr.  On  Visit  to  Lexing- 
ton, 757;  Last  Visit  to  him,  798. 

Dale  Rev.  J.  W.  His  Philadelphia 
Preaching,  644. 

Davies  Mr.     His  Preaching,  487. 

Ewing  James.  His  Promise  as  a 
Preacher,  46. 

Favorite  Pupil.    Recollections,  551. 

Field  Hon.  Richard  S.  His  Power  over 
an  Audience,  453. 

Friend  A.    His  Method  of  Study,  588. 

Godwin  Parke.     Recollections,  250. 

Gosman  Rev.  Dr.  A  close  i'riend. 
Recollections,  585  ;  At  work  on 
Isaiah,  601 ;  His  Last  Illness,  880. 

Graham  Mrs.  his  Aunt.  Letter  on  his 
mental  capacity,  23. 

Green  Rev.  Dr.  Addison  as  a  Preacher 
and  Scholar,  3()5,  5(j9  ;  His  Last 
Words  to  his  Classes,  876  ;  Testi- 
mony to  his  Worth    877. 

Hodge  Dr.  A.  A.     Recollections  ;  trib- 


ute to  Father  and  Brothers  of  Ad- 
dison, 683. 

Hall  Rev.  Dr.  John.  Life-long  Rela- 
tions with  him,  383  ;  Addison 
before  1841,  496  ct  seq.  ;  Sermon 
"The  City  with  Foundations," 
502;  Customary  Silence,  516;  His 
Tenderness  of  Nature,  843  ;  Sincer- 
ity and  Affection,  845. 

Halsey  Rev.  Dr.  L.  I.  His  first_  and 
Subsequent  Preaching,  442  ;  What 
he  might  have  Achieved  in  Litera- 
ture only,  540. 

Hamilton's  Oijinion  of  him  in  1819, 
36. 

Harris  Rev.  Dr.  William.  His  Phila- 
delphia Preaching,  644;  Treatment 
of  Books,  679 ;  Abhorrence  of 
Notoriety,  647  ;  Addison  at  Phila- 
delphia, 653. 

Hart  Prof.  John  S.,  LL.D.  Recollec- 
tions, 99,  349  ;  Princeton  Review 
Articles,  523 ;  Powers  of  Sarcasm, 
631  ;  Preaching  at  Philadelphia, 
641. 

Hepburn  Prof.  Andrew  D.  Recollec 
tions,  420  ;  Lectures  and  Methods 
of  Teaching,  801  ;  Public  Reticence 
of  Opinion,  807,  809. 

Hewitt  Rev.  Dr.  His  Last  Ilhiess, 
626. 

Hodge  Rev.  Dr.  Charles.  Addison  in 
1834,  333,  334  ;  Early  Preaching, 
449  ;  Intellectual  Ascendency,  506  ; 
Aversion  to  Society,  542  ;  Of  Addi- 
son for  nearly  48  years,  748  ; 
Changeablencss,  779  ;  Impressions 
in  1860,  878  ;  Death  in  the  Prime 
of  Life,  896. 

Hooper  Rev.  T.  W.  The  Brothers 
Alexander,  840. 

Humphrey  Rev.  Dr.  E.  P.  Address  on 
Addison's  death,  899. 

Jacobus  Rev.  Dr.  Ability  as  a  Com- 
mentator, 472  ;  Brooklyn  Ser- 
mons, 618. 

James  Henry.  Addison  at  Princeton, 
493  ;  Charity  of  his  Nature,  530. 

Joline  Vandyke.      His  Charactpr,  82. 

Jones  Rev.  Dr.  Beach.  His  Biblical 
Scholarship,  784. 

Jones  Rev.  Dr.  of  Bridgeton.  Recol- 
lections, 365  ;  Preaching,  650. 

Jones  Rev.  Joseph  H.     Recollections, 


IISTDEX. 


915 


5V2  ;  Preaching,  645  ;  Last  Illness, 
886. 
King  Wm.  His  Student  Days,  48. 
Lacy  Rev.  Dr.  B.  T.     His  Preaching, 
456  ;  Scholarship,  Impartiality,  and 
Candour,  574,  575,  576  ;    His  Ap- 
^  pearance,  580  ;  Rank  as  a  Divine, 

634. 
Ladv  A.      Philadelphia  Preaching  in 

1847,  642. 
Lcftwich  Rev.  James  T.     His  Pi'each- 

ing,  832. 
Lenox  James,  Esq.   Addison  in  1841, 

493. 
Leyburn  Rev.  Dr.  John.     Addison  in 
1830,  247  ;    At  Philadelphia,  669. 
Leyburn    Rev.    George.      Addison   at 

Princeton,  248. 
Little  Rev.  James.    Addison  in  1854, 

745. 
Lord   Rev.   "W.   W.     Impressions   of 
*      him,  594. 
Lyon  Dr.  James.     Recollections   1832 

to  1836,  336. 
McCall  Mr.      Opinion  of  Addison  by 

the  Faculty,  94. 
Maclean    Rev.    Dr.   George    M.      His 
Early  Promise,  46 ;  His  Childhood, 
86. 
McClung  Mrs.      His  voungest  Aunt, 

763. 
McGill  Rev.  Dr.  A.  T.  Disposition  as 
a  Teacher,  335;  His  Preaching 
651  ;  Goodwill  towards  Friends 
'746  ;  Mobility  and  Steadfastness 
761 ;  Exchange  of  Chairs  with  him 
849 ;  Love  of  Change,  852  ;  Mag 
nanimity,  894. 
Miller  Rev.  Dr.  S.     Addison's  Return 

from  Europe,  329. 
Moore  Rev.  Dr.  T.  V.     In  1839  and 
afterwards,  478  ;    Visits  to  Rich- 
mond, 763. 
Napton  W.  B.     Moot-court  Exercises 
with,  40;   As  a  Student,  79,  80; 
His  Learning,  83  ;  Habits,  127. 
Park  Rev.  James.     Addison  at  Matric- 
ulation, 576. 
Philadelphia  Lady.     His  Influence  in 

Society,  643. 
Phillips  Prof.  Charles.    His  Kindness. 

572. 
Pupil  A.    Good  Sense  and  Christian 
Faith,  620. 


Ramsey  Rev.  Dr.  James.     Addison  in 
1836  to  1839,  383  et  scq.  ;  First  and 
Subsequent   Sermons,    440,    441 ; 
His  Visits  to  Virginia,  760. 
Read  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  A.     His  Pulpit 
Power,    648;     Effect    on     News- 
paper Reporter,  648. 
Rice   A.  A.,  M.D.     His  Polygonal  In- 
tellect, 548  ;  Rare  Humour,  836. 
Rice   Rev.   Dr.    John   H.     Picture  in 
1828,  161  ;    Hatred  of  Duluess  or 
Laziness,  S68  ;  In  his  Study,  519  ; 
Mental  Gifts,  627  ;    In   1853,   730. 
Ruffner  Rev.  Dr.  W.  H.     Preaching, 
618  ;    In    1848,   659  ;    Oratorical 
Specialties,  668  ;  Visits  in  1851-3, 
695. 
Scott   Rev.   Dr.      Recollections,   345 ; 
Addison's  and  Chalmers'  Preach- 
ing, 633. 
Sears  Rev.  Dr.    At  Halle,   Germany, 

320. 
Smith  Rev.  Dr.  B.    Visits  to  Addison, 

740. 
Snowden  Rev.  Dr.     Papers  in  Phila- 
delphia Magazine,  137. 
Spragae  Rev.  Dr.  William  B.  Addison 

as  a  Boy,  408. 
Stevenson   Rev.    Paul   Eugene.      His 
Poetical  Character,  539  ;  Last  In- 
terview, 825  ;  Tribute  to  him,  848. 
Sunday  School  Times.     His  Writings 

and  Preaching,  535. 
Teese  Rev.  David.     In  Class  of  1837, 

402  ;  While  a  Licentiate,  468. 
Virginia  Lady,  a  Pupil.    His  Modes  of 

Teaching,  610. 
Waddell  J.  A.,  Esq.    Addison  in  1855, 

765. 
Western  Physician.      His   Preachinff, 

455. 
Wilson  Rev.   Dr.  H.  N".     Addison  in 
1834  and   1835,   348  ;    Anecdote, 
839. 
Wilson  Rev.  Joseph  R.     Virginia  Vis- 
its in  1862,  762,765. 
Yeomans  Rev.   Dr.  E.   D.    Recollec- 
tions, 616. 
Yeomans    Rev,  A.      Addison's    Fail- 
ing Health,  870  ;    Addison  in  hia 
Coflin,  895. 


916 


INDEX. 


APPENDIX  D. 

lANGCAGES    ACQUIRED   BY   HIM. 

Arabic,  Facsimile  of  Translation  of 
Waverley  Title  Page,  44 ;  Studies 
of  the  KorAn,  149,  &c. ;  When  he 
Be'^an  Study  of,  201  ;  Extract  on 
Study  of,  271 ;  His  great  Familiar- 
ity with  the  Language,  274. 

Arabic,  see  also  Koran. 

Chinese,  Study  of,  159. 

DaniA,  Study  of,  253  ;  His  Rapid  Ac- 
quirement of,  731. 

Frencli  Studies,  Telcmaque,  &c.,  149. 

Greek,  His  First  Lessons  in,  36. 

Hebrew,  Studies  in,  147,  et  scq.  ;  In- 
scription in  his  Hebrew  Grammar, 
22  ;  Methods  of  Recitation  and 
Study,  421 ;  Readings  of  Homer, 
128;  Study  in  1828,  129. 

Italian,  his  Opinion  of,  21 ;  Tasso,  132. 

Oriental,  his  Love  of,  43  ;  Word  "  Day" 
in  Several,  398. 

Persian,  43, 103, 148,  d  scq.,  201,  590  ; 
Koran,  131,  149,  267. 

Polish,  414. 

Portuguese,  253. 

Spanish,  Masters  Grammar,  132;  Don 
Quixote,  &c.,  14  8,  &c. 

Translation,  rigid  Method  of,  636. 

Turkish,  began  Study  of,  253. 

Languages  he  Learned,  a  hst  of,  862  ; 
Questions  on  Formation,  132;  See 
also  Journal. 

Linguists,  Comparison  of  several  Cele- 
brated, 861. 

APPENDIX  E. 

HIS  WRITINGS BIBLICAL,    LITKRARY, 

AND    MISCELLANEOUS. 

Acts,  Offer  to  Mr.  Scribner,  752 ;  Pub- 
lication, 782,  882. 

Adams,  President  John  Q.,  Patriot 
Editorials  on,  119. 

Assentative  People,  an  Essay  on,  764. 

Biblical  Repertory,  Contributions  to, 
195, 199,  341. 

Children's  Papers,  Wistar's  Magazine, 
&e.,  542  to  564. 

Church  Government,  Treatise  on,  Com- 
menced, 566 ;  at  work  on  and  other 
Labors,  732,  733. 


Church  History  and  New  Testament 
Literature,  801. 

Coffee,  an  Essay  on,  by  Addison  and 
James,  211. 

"  Diagnosis  of  the  I  and  not  I,"  253. 

Donnegan's  Greek  Lexicon,  Work  on 
New  Edition,  213. 

Druse,  The,  an  Essay  on,  199. 

Emporium,  The,  Contributions  to,  85, 
126. 

Fandango  of  Osiris,  The,  52. 

Ham  and  Eggs,  a  Flea  for  Silent  Leg- 
islation, 515. 

High  Church  Episcopalianism,  528. 

Isaiah,  Notes  on,  Commenced,  414, 
592  ;  Resumed,  567  ;  With  Publish- 
er, 596  ;  Origin  of  the  Work,  604 ; 
Early  Prophecies  published,  604, 
611 ;  Second  Volume  Commenced, 
614 ;  Published,  635. 

Jewess  of  Damascus,  The,  122. 

Johnson  Dr.,  Imitation  of,  in  "  Persian 

Justin  the  Martyr,  Extract  from  Trans- 

lation,  196. 
Koran,  Article  on  the,  267  (See  also 

Languages). 
Linn  Lane,  Storj  of,  163. 
Medley,   The,   Contributions    to,   51 

52". ' 
Mohammedan  History,  209. 
Mohammedanism,  Papers  on,  75,  209, 

267. 

Mark,  The  Introduction  to,  820. 

Mothers'  Magazine,  a  Brochure  in  1 820, 
675. 

Newspapers,  Contributions  to,  82. 

New  Jersey  Patriot,  Contributions  to, 
101,  112,  116,  119. 

"  Nothing,"'  a  Prize  Essay  on  German 
Ideahsts,  254. 

Old  Black,  his  Story  of,  163. 

Oriental  Languages,  see  Languages. 

Parallel  Bible,  a  Plan  for,  417. 

Philadelphia  Monthly  Magazine,  Con- 
tributions to,  102,  136. 

Presbyterian,  The,  List  of  1832  & 
1833  Articles,  281. 

Primitive  Church  Offices,  His  Work 
entitled,  567,  683. 

Princeton  Magazine  and  Review  Con- 
tributions to,  51,  265,  518,  5iiy 
533,  682,  865. 

Psalms,  His  Work  on,  66S. 


INDEX. 


917 


Rambler,  Spectator,  &c..  Imitations  of, 
192. 

RosoQiuiiller's  Alterthumskmide,  Ad- 
dison and  James'  Abridgment  of, 
192. 

"  Russia,"  a  College  Effort,  75. 

Sacred  Geography,  192. 

Shelly,  Flibbertigibbet  in  Liquor,  a 
Burlesque  on,  117. 

Souvenir,  The,  Paper  by  "  Horace  Sca- 
ford,"  102. 

Trochylus,  Articles  under  Signature, 
112. 


True  Happiness,  an  Essay  in  Boyhood, 
412. 

Walsh's  Quarterly,  Oriental  Criticisma 
in,  85. 

Wandering  Baboon,  School  Composi- 
tion, 50. 

Wickliffe  Johnson,  Crowe,  and  Lane, 
Story  of,  164. 

Wistar's  Magazine,  Origin  and  Papers 
in,  552  to  664. 

Writings  in  1830,  250. 


TABLE  OF  EMENDATION'S. 


Always  read  hutnour,  hvmoro-us,  humourist,  humoroitnly, 

"  "     rigour,  vigour,  vigorous,  favotir,  favourite,  ardour,  labour,  hoyionr, 

colour^  (Sec.     But  terror,  horror,  d'c. 
"  "     ivithout,  or  heyond,  or  not  of,  or  except  among,  instead  of  outside  of. 

"  "     decipher  for  decypher,  &c.    And  after  p.  290,  Br.  for  Mr.  (J.  A.  A.) 

"  "     d  for  French  proposition  a,  and  jusqu^l,  and  Rosenmuller. 

"  "     Latin  ablatives  mcA,  Burgundid,  hdc,  notd,  tud. 

"  "     Telemaque,  Finelon,  Moliere,  hotel,  mechanicien,  Beirut. 

*'  "     Pelletiere,  Gerlach,  Ilamill,  Bascom,  Talmage,  Latude. 

"  *'    porta,  doomo,  popolo. 

"  "     Burnet,  Biesenthal,  Mephislopheles,  Abeninelech. 

*'  "      Conybcare,  Merle,  memoires,  Reaheorterbuch. 

"  "     icainscoted,  rhythm,  Lehrgebdude,  postilions,  despatch. 

"        for    di'(XQo}.o(;ve2iddLdpo).oq;  iov Michan,  3Hdian ;  iov gaizing, gazing. 
"  "     capricios  read  capriccios  ;  fov  memoirs,  memoires  ;  iov  Murkland, 

MirJchood. 
"  "     Mascara  read  Mascaron ;    for   Neronec,   Ncrone ;  for   Max'dria, 

Malaria. 
"  "     Madame  (Eng.)  read  Madam  ;  for  drank  (partic.),  drunk;  for 

Flechia,  Flechier. 
"  "     JPoggibousi  read  Poggibonsi ;  for  Rorego  (perhaps)  Rovigo, 

"       read  should  iov  would  on  pp.  735  bis  802,  805,  844. 
On  page    25,  16th  line  from    top,    for  appearances  read  appearance. 
"      "       26,  13th     "       "         "        "   Arabic  "     Persian. 

"     "       59,  iTth     "       "        "  read  thus :  h.Tih  toO  S^iov. 

For  fTTTtt  eirt  ^riffas,  in  a  letter  of  "  J.  A.  A.,"  read  iirra  inl  3^/3ay. 
On  page    90,  23d  line  from  bottom,  for  ^ovXik;  read  fiovXn. 
"      "        "      "         "       "         "        "  unaccented  Greek  words  read  accented, 
"      "       91,3d        "       "        top      "    Gratto  read  gatto. 
"     "     100  expunge  foot-note. 

"      "     112,  2d     line  from  bottom,  for  Camo^Ms   read    Camoens, 
"      "     132,  14th    "       "        top,      "   ottara  "      ottava. 


920 


EaiENDATIONS. 


On  page  146,  21st  line  from  bottom,  for   Coelio,    read  CaeciUum. 

"      "     147,  11th    "       "         "         "    TT-iX  "  d"«X 

"     "       "        9th    "       "         "         "   nv{  "  ujix 

"      "       "        5th    "       "         "         "    n'  "  n 

"      "     148,  18th     "       "         "         "    Novella        "  Novela. 

"      "       *'      23d      "       "         "         "  predicadorc '■'■  prfdicador. 

a       a         u  2d       "         "        top,         "     dir-  "        ^^- 

"      "       "      12th    "       "         "         "    curloso        "       Curioso. 

"      "       "     for  Spanish  sentence  read  : 
"  No  excusards  con  el  secrefo  In  dolor ;  antes  icndnis  que  Uorar  coniino  si  no 

layrimds  de  los  ojos,  lagrimcis  do  sangre  del  coi-azon." 
On  page  175,  note,  for  Floria  d'ltalia  read  Storia  d'' Italia. 
On  page  187,    6th  line  from  bottom,  for  c_^o)-i       read     opportunity. 

"      "     196,  15th    "       "        top,       "    av  "      av. 

"      "     204,    1st     "       "   bottom,  immediately  after  foot-note,  insert  ^jff^re  23. 

"      "     224,15th    "       "  "        read  thus :   KaTaprlaai,  ffr-rjpi^at,  a^evucraif 

On  page  233,  15th  line  from  bottom,  for  f^odos  read  e|o5o9. 


234,  17th 

(( 

"       top. 

read  thus  :  iv. 

hs  e'jTi  XP*^"- 

255,  11th 

(1 

11            11 

"    this 

read 

that. 

270,  4th 

" 

11            11 

"   remit 

11 

emit. 

296,  1st 

11 

"            " 

"    entrez 

11 

entrer. 

u        u 

» 

U                 (1 

"    Vheur 

" 

r/ieure. 

"     4th 

(1 

"  bottom. 

"    la 

" 

le. 

"     5th 

u 

11         11 

"    des 

11 

de. 

297,    2d 

11 

11         11 

"   augst 

"   witzender 

(1 

angst. 
sckwitzender. 

304,  15th 

" 

"      top. 

"      0 

u 

h. 

U               <( 

» 

11         ii 

"    &v 

" 

tu. 

311,    4th 

11 

"   bottom. 

"  sepolecso 

11 

sepolcro. 

314,  running 

title. 

"   Leave 

11 

Leaves. 

"    note, 

"   columnc  nosirata  read  columna  rostrata 

315,  15th  line  from  bottom, 

"   of  date  of 

read  dated. 

323,  15th 

11         (1 

"    Hahn 

11 

Halle. 

329,  18th 

erase  daggae  i 

after  Bonn,  an 

d  put 

;  after  Paris. 

339,  8th 

from   top, 

for  about 

read 

upon. 

352,  5th 

11               u 

"   music 

11 

mine. 

354,  2d 

" 

It           11 

"  gales  stem 

(( 

gale  seems. 

370,  1st 

" 

11              u 

put  asterisk  after  questions. 

383,  15th 

11 

"    bottom 

"    Hall 

read 

Ramsey. 

"     4th 

" 

" 

U            11 

" 

U 

384,  13th 

" 

"      top, 

"    childish 

" 

childlike. 

"     3d 

" 

"    bottom, 

"    believe 

11 

feel. 

EMEND  ATIOI^S.  921 

On  page  419, 12th  line  from  bottom  for  reign  read   rain. 

"      "     439,  16th    "       "       top,      "   rode  "      drove. 

"      '*     506,    Vth    "       "   bottom,         sXter  first  insert  names. 
"     537,  20th    "       "       top,       "   reappear     read    reappears. 
"     572,  24th    "       "         "         "   he  "      I. 

"     579  put  asterisk  before  foot-note. 
"     583,  in  page-title,  for  Memoirs  read  Memories. 
"     602,  loth  line  from  bottom,  for  2ise  read   abuse. 

"    Luretto         "      Luzzatio. 

"    on  "      in. 

"    New  York    "      up-toicn. 

put  /^e  o«/j/  daughter,  &c.,  in  a  footnote. 
"    Stevens's  read  Stephcri's. 
"    !i'rts  "      were. 

"    Barnabas      "      Barabbas. 
"   campana        "      (perhaps)  campanae. 
"   o?«7ii  "      omnes. 

insert  ?Ae  before  pious. 
Sentence  from  Polybius,  on  p.  751,  evidently  wrong  ;  perhaps  read  TOIOI2AE 

AniE2Tn2,  &c. 
On  page  753,  17th  line  from  bottom,       transpose  host  and  pupil. 
"      "     854,    4th   "       "         top     for  percke  "      perehe. 


619,     eth 

u 

a            (( 

620,    1st 

u 

"      top. 

647,    1st 

(1 

"     bottom, 

675,  19  th 

u 

U                <( 

687,    2d, 

(( 

"       top. 

701,  12th 

(( 

u           u 

709,  14th 

«( 

"     bottom 

714,    5th 

(( 

"         " 

625,    5th 

«1 

i(         (1 

"       7th 

(( 

It           a 

744,  16th 

(1 

"      top. 

EDINBITRGH  REVIEW.  — "The  BEST  History  of  the  Roman  Republic." 
LONDON  TIMES. -"BY  FAR  THE  BEST  History  of  the  Decline  and  FaD 
of  the  Roman  Commonwealth." 


FROM  THE  EARLIEST  TIME  TO  THE  PERIOD  OF  ITS  DECLINE. 

By  Dr.  THEODOE  MOMMSEK 

Translated,  with  the  author's  sanftion  and  additions,  by  the  Rev.  W.  P.  Dickson,  Regius 
Professor  of  Biblical  Criticism  in  the  University  of  Glasgow,  late  Classical  Examiner  in 
the  University  of  St.  Andrews.  With  an  Introduaion  by  Dr.  Leonhard  Schmitz,  and 
a  copious  Index  of  the  whole  four  volumes,  prepared  especially  for  this  edition. 

REPRINTED  FROM  THE  REVISED  LONDON  EDITION. 

Four  Volumes  crown  8vo.  Price  per  volume,  $2.00. 


Dr.  MoMMSEN  lias  long  been  knowTi  and  appreciated  through  his  researches 
into  the  languages,  laws,  and  institutions  of  Ancient  Rome  and  Italy,  as 
the  most  thoroughly  versed  scholar  now  living  in  these  departments  of  his- 
torical investigation.  To  a  wonderfully  e.xafl  and  exhaustive  knowledge  of 
these  subjetSls,  he  unites  great  powers  of  generalization,  a  vigorous,  spirited, 
and  exceedingly  grapliic  style  and  keen  analytical  powers,  which  give  this 
history  a  degree  of  uiterest  and  a  permanent  value  possessed  by  no  other 
record  of  the  decline  and  fall  of  the  Roman  Commonwealth.  *'  Dr. 
Mommsen's  work,"  as  Dr.  Schmitz  remarks  in  the  introducflion,  «'  though 
the  produ6lion  of  a  man  of  most  profound  and  extensive  learning  and 
knowledge  of  the  world,  is  not  as  much  designed  for  the  professional 
scholar  as  for  intelligent  readers  of  all  classes  who  take  an  interest  in  the  his- 
tory of  by-gone  ages,  and  are  inclined  there  to  seek  information  that  may 
guide  them  safely  through  the  perplexing  mazes  of  modern  history." 

CRITICAL  NOTICES. 

"  A  work  of  the  very  highest  merit ;  its  learning  is  exa(5t  and  profound  :  its  narrative  full 
of  genius  and  skill ;  its  descriptions  of  men  are  admirably  vivid.  We  wish  to  place  on 
record  our  opinion  that  Dr.  Mommsen's  is  by  far  the  best  history  of  the  Decline  and  Fall 
of  the  Roman  Commonwealth." — Lindoit  Times. 

"  Since  the  days  of  Niebuhr,  no  work  on  Roman  History  has  appeared  that  combines  so 
much  to  attraft,  instruft,  and  charm  the  reader.  Its  stj-Ie — a  rare  quality  in  a  German  au- 
thor—is vigorous,  spirited,  and  animated.  Professor  Mommsen's  work  can  stand  a  com- 
parison with  the  noblest  produAions  of  modern  history." — Dr.  Schmitz. 

"This  is  the  best  history  of  the  Roman  Republic,  taking  the  work  on  the  whole the 

author's  complete  mastery  of  his  subjedV,  the  variety  of  his  gifts  and  acquirements,  his 
graphic  power  in  the  delineation  of  national  and  individual  charafter,  and  the  vivid  interest 
which  he  inspires  in  every  portion  of  his  book.  He  is  without  an  equal  iu  his  own  sphere." 
—Edinburgh.  Review. 

"  A  book  of  deepest  interest." — Dean  Trench. 


si>ECi-A.ii    -A-asrnsroTJisroEHN^EisrT. 


COMPLETION  OF 

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CRITICAL    NOTICES. 

"The  ease  and  spirit,  the  -gentleness  and  force,  the  grace  and  energy,  the  descriptive  and 
passionate  power,  the  unstudied  ease,  and  the  consummate  art  of  both  imagery  and  diction 
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interesting  and  distinguished  of  those  who  have  attempted  to  write  any  portion  of  tlie  won- 
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in  favor  of  this  mode  of  composition."  —  London  Quarterly. 


THE  LIBRAET  EDITION  OP  PROUDE'S  HISTORY. 

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